British Motocross Championship (Fourstrokes, Sidecars and Under 21s) - 2003

British Motocross Championship 2003 for Fourstrokes, Sidecars and Under 21s at Winterpick Farm

Sunday 13th April 2003

Winterpick Farm - track plan, and directions.

Led from first corner by Brown/Peters from Pelling/Wernham and Wilkinson/Burt. Whilst Brown extended his lead, it took four laps before Wilkinson was able to get past Pelling and a further two laps before Rogers/Meaton were able to barge past - putting Pelling into the rough and relegating him to the back of the field. On the same lap Guilford/Batten, who had been a comfortable fifth, came under severe pressure from the Watson boys. Just after the end of that lap the Watson's took the place by squeezing past on a right-hand bend. Unfortunately for Watson his race was run shortly afterwards when the Zabel engine seized.

With Brown extending his lead lap by lap he appeared safe in first and Wilkinson seemed to be safe in second, but on the penultimate lap disaster struck Wilkinson when his ignition failed.

Wilkinson led from Brown with Eastman third and Rogers fourth. At the end of the start straight a 4-bike crash took out Pelling/Wernham and the Watsons. By the end of lap two Brown was in the lead and was never troubled for the rest of the race. Wilkinson held a comfortable second, but on lap six Eastman lost his third place to Guildford.

The final race of the day was led by Guildford from Wilkinson with Brown third and the Watsons fourth. By the end of lap one Brown had the lead and was going away. On lap two Wilkinson passed Guildford and on lap three Watson relegated Guildford to fourth.

They are in PDF format which means you need Adobe Acrobat (click on the link to download it) to see them.

Preparation for the Fourstroke, Sidecar and Under 21 Championship round at Winterpick Farm, Near Horsham is well underway. There is a Full line up of Fourstrokes, in the Sidecar class Roy Barton is talking to some Eastern European riders with the hope that they will enter as wild cards, further details should appear in next week's paper. The club are still looking for reliable marshals, if you can help out please contact Roger Brown on 01273 563931 or Myra Hayden 01403 732124, so that we may send you admission tickets, to make things easier on the day for the gate staff. Each Marshal point will receive £20 travel expenses and there will be complimentary hospitality available. If you can't get hold of us on the 'phone then e-mail on roger@66bramble.freeserve.co.uk

British Championship Moto Cross heads to Sussex next weekend, when the Horsham Motorcycle Club host the 2nd round of the Sidecar Cross Championship at Winterpick Farm, Plummers Plain, near Horsham. Seventeen of the country's top charioteers will battle it out in their quest to be British Champion. Stuart Brown and Luke Peters will be defending their 2002 crown, and they lead this year's title race having scored top points at the first round 2 weeks ago at Whiteway Barton in Devon. Local riders Scott Wilkinson and Gary Burt are in second spot, with the Watson brothers all the way down from Northumberland in third.

A full line of 40 competitors should ensure the thunder rolls when the gate drops for the first round of the Fourstroke Championship. With the Japanese manufacturers heavily into developing fourstroke machinery, this class has become much more competitive. Local riders David Williams from South Norwood, Chris Lillywhite from Midhurst and Capel's Ray Smith should be near the front of the field which is made up with riders from as far a field as Dumfries, Doncaster and Cwmbran.

The youngsters are not to be outdone, in the under 21's 2002 champion Ben Saunders from Ledbury will pilot his 125cc KTM hoping to keep the pack of recently upgraded riders at bay. This is also the first round of their championship and as yet many of the names in the programme are new to us as they have just graduated to the Adult ranks from schoolboy sport. One name to lookout for is that of Dustin Whitehead, who has recently landed on these shores from South Africa. Having competed in his homeland winning many youth titles Whitehead wanted to taste the European scene, he has based himself at Worcester Park and is riding a Yamaha for Moto Ward.

Winterpick Farm will be sign posted from the B2110, Admission for Adults is £10, Children under 16 free and Car Parking is Free.

Horsham and District Motorcycle and Light Car Club are once again promoting a round of the British Tripleheader Championship with classes for Fourstrokes, Sidecars and 125cc Under 21's. April 13th is the date to put in your diary. Unfortunately Frank Dixon who has fronted this event for the last couple of years has had to step down due to a commitment at the Dutch, Valkansvaard GP on the same day. Those of you that have been to Holland and in particular Valkansvaard, will know the tracks are sandy and of a similar terrain to Rushmoor Arena, therefore Frank wants to see what tips he can pick up ready for the "Alternative British GP" in August. Frank however will be doing what he enjoys most, and some would say what he is best at, that is preparing the track and the venue ready for us. Ably assisted as usual by his son Yan and Steve Rowell.

The advertising and the management of the event are being taken over by Roger Brown from the Brighton and District Club. Roger plans to enlist the help of as many officials from other South Eastern Clubs as possible. As Roger says, "We have such a wealth of experience available to us that we must utilise it to the full to make this a meeting to remember, as long as it's for the right reasons". Alan Clarke from the Sidcup club has agreed to be Clerk of the Course. Alan has officiated at all levels over many years and we can think of no one better to take this post. The Brighton Club will take charge of the Start Gate and start area headed by Kevin McDavitt, assisted by Bernie Bird. After ten years or so of providing the gate and personnel for various clubs across the centre I think they should know what they are doing. In Kevin's words " The riders only do three starts per meeting, we do twelve, four times the chance to get it right, and hopefully we always do". We are looking at having transponders and computer timing but that has not been tied up yet. Even so we will still need the back up of our Lady Lap scorers, hopefully Liz Argent from the Twickenham Club will be I.C. with Sidcup's Margie Clarke collating and keeping the records straight. So you can see this really is going to be a joint effort. If you think you would like help in any way then please contact either the event secretary, Myra Hayden, on 01403 732124, e-mail myra@fchayden.freeserve.co.uk or Roger Brown 01273 563931, e-mail roger@66bramble.freeserve.co.uk.

We will also need experienced marshals; a contribution towards your travel will be made a long with refreshment in the hospitality tent.