Cypress, CA (4/9/2008) - A cold
and wintry Whiteway Barton race circuit near Kingsteignton
in Devon was the venue for the opening round of
the ACU British MMX Quad Championship on Sunday
the 6th of April, the freak weather conditions
providing a mixture of glorious sunshine with
intermittent snow showers and hailstones thrown
in, the large crowd in attendance reminded of
the Crowded House song “ Four Seasons In
One Day”. Having spent numerous late nights
over the winter months preparing both riders and
machines for the start of the season, team manager
Richard Cole and the hard working crew at GYTR
Team Yamaha were keen to get the year of to a
good start, and as they washed off the dark Devon
mud in preparation for their journey home, not
even the miserable conditions could prevent the
team being in buoyant mood, new signing Ricky
Tordoff finishing 2nd overall with a fantastic
3-2 scorecard.
Race One
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A blistering lap during timed qualification less
than two tenths off pole was good enough to secure
second pick of gate, and as the gates dropped
for the start of moto one Ricky got a great start
and rounded the first corner in 3rd only to be
clipped by another rider and thrown from his machine
in the next corner. Dropping to dead last while
he turned his machine right side up and remounted,
Ricky set off at a furious pace and over the next
three laps had moved in to the top twenty from
33rd when the race was red flagged. The Goldspeed
tyres hooked up well on the restart and Ricky
again powered down the start straight and headed
out on the opening lap in 2nd and right on the
rear wheels of Paul Winrow on the Winrow Honda
UK Racing Honda. The tight and twisty Whiteway
Barton circuit was giving up few opportunities
to overtake, and over the opening fifteen minutes
of the twenty-five minute plus two lap moto Ricky
used the excellent handling of the GYTR Team Yamaha
YFZ450 to put tremendous pressure on Winrow to
force a way through while fending off the challenges
of Leon Beda. A slight mistake causing the bike
to stall on lap ten was enough to see Ricky drop
to 3rd and fall behind the leading duo, but within
three laps he had closed the gap to Beda with
Winrow just a bike length in front of the battling
pair. Over the remaining eight laps Ricky continued
to apply pressure to get try to get past Beda,
but with the battling trio now having to negotiate
back markers on the tight circuit Ricky was unable
to improve on his position, taking the chequered
flag after seventeen laps for a fantastic 3rd
with just two seconds separating the top three
riders.
Race Two
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Yamaha
Brittish Championship ATV Racing Podium
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The SCT tuned motor pulled strongly off the
line for the start of the closing moto and Ricky
slotted in to 2nd just behind Paul Winrow as
they field headed out on their opening lap.
The circuit was now extremely cut up in places
while in others the surface had become polished
and demanding the most grip from the Goldspeed
tyres, but using the superb handling of the
Lonestar / Ohlins suspension Ricky quickly settled
in to a blistering pace and was embroiled in
a fierce battle with Winrow. Over the sixteen
laps of the twenty five minute plus two lap
moto there was never more than half a second
between the battling duo, Ricky doing everything
he could and almost moving past Winrow on lap
four but unable to make the pass stick. Despite
a constant shower of hailstones for the last
quarter of the race making the polished surface
even more difficult to navigate, Ricky continued
to put tremendous pressure on Winrow in the
dying stages and almost made it past on the
final corner, a back marker blocking Ricky’s
path on the drive up to the line, just four
tenths of a second splitting the pair as Ricky
took the GYTR Team Yamaha YFZ450 across the
finish line for a well deserved 2nd and securing
2nd overall on the day.
As the sole GYTR Team Yamaha rider in the
2008 ACU British MMX Quad Championship, Joe
Maessen concentrating on the European and German
championship series, teen sensation James Hellewell
unable to take part in the series qualifier
due to injury and Leon Beda parting ways with
the team in the week prior to the opening round,
team rookie Ricky Tordoff did not let the added
pressure affect him in any way and gave team
at GYTR Team Yamaha a fantastic start to the
season and have confirmed that they once again
have a competitive package for the year.
Ricky Tordoff
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Championship Standings |
- Paul Winrow 50;
- Ricky Tordoff 42;
- Chris North 34;
- Mark Watson 31;
- Simon Hammersley 29
|
“ Overall I’m really happy with
the way things went today. I’d like to
have won as I feel I was as fast as Paul, but
the track is really tight and difficult to pass
on and Paul did a good job sticking to the racing
lines. Richard Cole and Ian Malpas at Pro Prep,
along with everyone else at GYTR Team Yamaha,
did a fantastic job getting the bikes built
in a really short space of time, and the new
Ohlins TTX shocks combined with the Lonestar
suspension components handled the bumps with
ease when the circuit got really bumpy, while
the Goldspeed tyres gave amazing grip no matter
what the conditions were. I’m looking
forward to going one better at the next round
at Desertmartin on the 26th of April, it’s
an awesome track but very technical with lots
of passing opportunities.
About Yamaha:
Yamaha ATVs and SxS vehicles are designed, engineered
and built tough! Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A.
headquarters are located in Cypress, California.
For more information on Yamaha, visit yamaha-motor.com.
www.yamaha-motor.com
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