CLEAN SWEEP BY MATT WINSTANLEY
30 October 2006 - British Supermoto

Winstanley and Higgs lead from the front while Cornish takes SM4 at Rowrah

Matt Winstanley demonstrated why he is this years SM1 and SM2 British Supermoto Championship with a masterclass at the Rowrah circuit where he made a clean sweep of the big bike class and the overall as Ricky Higgs rode brilliantly to ‘lock-out’ SM2 while Lewis Cornish wrapped up the SM4 title.

In a change of format the British Supermoto Championship was run on the Saturday at the Cumbria venue and the SM1 and SM2 classes were combined which provided some thrilling races as the ‘big and small’ bikes went head-to-head.

Winstanley whitewash in SM1

Winstanley totally dominated proceedings at Rowrah securing pole position by more than a second over nearest rivals Chris Hodgson (SM2) and Lee Jones. In each of the three races he led from start to finish with the exception of the first race when Hodgson briefly challenged.

The real excitement was in the battle for the other podium places with top South African rider Craig Venske consistently in the mix as was Martin Robbins with the occasional flash of brilliance from Lee Jones as the trio swapped positions throughout the day.

SM1 Wrap-Up

Round 8, Rowrah

Pole: Matt Winstanley

Race 1: 1. Matt Winstanley, 2. Craig Venske, 3. Martin Robbins

Race 2: 1. Matt Winstanley, 2. Lee Jones, 3. Craig Venske

Race 3: 1. Matt Winstanley, 2. Martin Robbins, 3. Craig Venske

Overall: 1. Matt Winstanley 77, 2. Craig Venske 52, 3. Martin Robbins 47

Hodgson fires first shot but Higgs does the business in SM2

Ricky Higgs emerged as one of the real stars of the meeting managing to outperform many of the SM1 runners to finish second overall in each race on the way to winning all the SM2 contests.

Chris Hodgson’s form has been impressive of late having won the Red Bull KTM Euro Cup the previous weekend at Wigan as well as putting in some strong performances in the SM2 class. He started at Rowrah where he left off taking pole position by just a tenth of a second over Higgs who then turned the tables and won the first two races by just over a second from the young KTM rider.

The contest for the final slot on the podium was a closely fought affair with the trio of Scott Woodacre, Richard Blakeman and Chris Hodgson all taking turns at being third across the line with Woodacre doing enough to take third overall.

SM2 Wrap-Up

Round 8, Rowrah

Pole: Chris Hodgson

Race 1: 1. Ricky Higgs, 2. Chris Hodgson, 3. Scott Woodacre

Race 2: 1. Ricky Higgs, 2. Chris Hodgson, 3. Richard Blakeman

Race 3: 1. Ricky Higgs, 2. Scott Woodacre, 3. Chris Hodgson

Overall: 1. Ricky Higgs 75, 2. Chris Hodgson 58, 3. Scott Woodacre 49

Cornish keeps nose in front to take SM4 title

The SM4 championship for Junior’s was always going to go down to the wire. Following the Three Sisters double header young Lewis Cornish finally gained the ascendancy where he took maximum points in each race.

Going into the final round at Rowrah, Cornish had a small points buffer which gave him a little room to manoeuvre while for Ryan Blandford and Oliver Harrison it was ‘win or bust’. As it turned out Cornish was able to maintain his strong form picking up pole position and the first two race wins. Even a third place in the last race didn’t dent his points haul greatly and he finished on top overall taking the British SM4 Championship class in the process.

SM4 Wrap-up

Round 8, Rowrah

Pole: Lewis Cornish

Race 1: 1. Lewis Cornish, 2. Oliver Harrison, 3. Ryan Blandford

Race 2: 1. Lewis Cornish, 2. Oliver Harrison, 3. Ryan Blandford

Race 3: 1. Oliver Harrison, 2. Owen Connell, 3. Lewis Cornish

Overall: 1. Lewis Cornish 68, 2. Oliver Harrison 65, 3. Owen Connell 46

For further details on the British Supermoto Championship please log on to the series website www.britishsupermoto.com or the AMCA website www.amca.uk.com.

www.britishsupermoto.com.

More News
  For October 2006
  From British Supermoto
  For Supermoto
  Biker247.com Home Page