American-style dirt track motorcycle racing here in the UK really came of age in the very shadow of the US airforce base at Mildenhall on Saturday (22/9/07) as the national Short Track championship series reached a thrilling climax.
The racing on the Speedway circuit at West Row was action-packed as the best of this continent – with the unique cross-over discipline of Short or Flat Track as it’s also sometimes known, being Europe’s fastest growing motorsport – came head to head with the rising star of the American dirt track scene.
And young Brandon Robinson from Pennsylvania was in the mood to teach the old world a lesson in how to powerslide to track success as he cleared up for the second round running. Robertson rarely found himself in a jam such was his lightening pace from the tapes and over the 260 metres Mildenhall shale circuit; but when he was briefly led the prodigious 17 year old proved the master of track craft.
The Honda-riding star who has already claimed national titles on his side of the Atlantic – with the 250cc American Motorcycling Association (AMA) Dirt track title in 2006 on his racing CV – hails from Oxford, PA; and it was certainly a lesson the young professor of speed was intent on delivering when he donned his distinctive dark grey kevlars in the second of two successful meetings in the fenlands and Cambridgeshire over the past fortnight.
Having been a decisive winner of the Helmets4u challenge and Silkolene Short Track UK series Round Six meetings over the BMF weekend at Peterborough’s East of England Showground, Robinson was in equally imperious mood a week later at Mildenhall’s Speedway circuit.
Likely to represent the biggest threat to the youngster’s 100% record was always going to be overall series leader (and 2005 national champ) Marco Belli from Italy and one-time Fen Tiger, Lincolnshire’s Peter Boast.
And so it proved in the ultra-competitive qualifiers, with Boast heading the young Robinson for several laps.
The massively experienced Boast who has spearheaded the incredibly successful Short Track revolution in the UK explained,
“I know the Mildenhall circuit well and with all my years of racing on dirt tracks I can normally sense where a rider behind me is and anticipate the line they will take. When I heard young Brandon on my tail I closed down the gap on the inside, so forcing him to attempt to overtake on the outside. Imagine my astonishment then when he flew past me on the inside anyhow: basically he’d somehow gone through a gap that wasn’t there!”
Consolation though for both Boast and Belli came in clinching the national titles their season-long excellence had guaranteed. Belli was for a second time crowned Silkolene Short Track UK champion with Yorkshire’s Steven Hall (a best of British ninth in the recent European championship) runner up overall and Boast in third.
The tables were reversed in the class for larger bikes, the Harley-Davidson Thunderbikes with Boast clinching a first-ever national title courtesy of second place on the night behind Belli, silver medallist overall; with CCM Works rider Richard May’s third at West Row meaning he snatched that same rostrum position overall for the series: a major boost for the much-improved racer from Cheshire and for the Preston-based motorcycle company.
CCM had produced the winner of the overall STUK title in 2006 in the form of Lee Complin, who this year has returned to Speedway to become perhaps the most sensational performer on that sport’s Premier League stage. So for CCM this term it’s been mainly about promoting youth and their excellent custom-built for the series, 230cc Flattracker in the CCM Junior Cup. This ACU-approved official national youth title has been a resounding success: especially for 14-year old Tom Wooley from Burton who capped a peerless season’s performance with a seventh successive round win on Saturday. Second, on the night and overall was Ben Baker from Skegness with local youngsters Todd Woodhouse from King’s Lynn and Wisbech’s Tom Welbourn making impressive debuts. Alf Hyde from Buckinghamshire was third in the overall season-long rankings.
For the Welbourn family there was more reason to celebrate as Quad rider Charlie Welbourn clinched his first round victory in the Short Track Quads event sponsored by his own Wisbech-based garage company: series front-runner all year, Alan Hooker was pipped for victory on the evening but had done enough to clinch the first ever four-wheeled national Short Track title as Welbourns ST Quad champ 2007.
The Rider of the night award across all classes, sponsored by Helmets4u went to Stamford’s Ryan Pridmore
Silkolene STUK Championship Round 7 Mildenhall
1st 44a Brandon Robinson (USA)450 Silkolene Honda
2nd 6 Marco Belli (Italy 450 Ariete Kawasaki
3rd 54 Pete Boast (Market Rasen, Lincs) 450 Team Suzuki
4th 77 Steve Hall (Harrogate, Yorkshire) 525 KTM
5th 15 Victor Bull (Stamford, Lincs)
Harley Davidson Thunderbike Championship Round 7 Mildenhall
1st 6 Belli 686 Harley-Davidson
2nd 54 Boast 650 Team Suzuki
3rd 9 Richard May (Middlewich, Cheshire) 710 Team CCM
4th 76 Jon Lee (Chorley, Lancs)700 Scooter Farm Honda
5th 4 Paul Harrison (Wainfleet, LIncs) 600 Honda
CCM Junior Championship Round 7 Mildenhall
1st 93 Tom Woolley (Burton-on-Trent, Staffs) 230 CCM
2nd 7 Ben Baker (Skegness, Lincs) 230 CCM
3rd 72 Alf Hyde (Warfield, Berks) 230 CCM
4th 10 Hadley Harthern (Preston, Lancs) 230 CCM
5th 11Tom Walsh (Rawtenstall, Lancs) 230 CCM
Welbourns of Wisbech ST Quad Championship Round 5 Mildenhall
1st 7 Charlie Welbourn 500 Polaris
2nd 4 Alan Hooker 350 Banshee
3rd 8 Mark Hooker 350 Banshee
