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Maessen And Beda Finish Top Ten Despite Premature End To Series

Sunday 19th of August saw the Mercuria GYTR Team Yamaha Team make the trip to Howton Court, near Pontrilas in Herefordshire, for what turned out to be a premature last round of the 2007 CCM British MMX Quad Championships, the promoters of the series announcing on Saturday evening that the venue for the planned last round on September the 2nd was no longer available, and a replacement venue could unfortunately not be secured at such short notice.

Despite this unfortunate turn off events, team riders Joe Maessen and Leon Beda put in fantastic performances during the days racing to finish in the top ten in the standings, Joe comfortably securing 3rd overall in the championship while Leon finished a fantastic 8th.

Race One

Posting fastest and 5th fastest times in practice respectively, Joe and Leon headed out on the opening lap of the first race in 4th and 12th places respectively. Quickly settling in to a blistering pace around the demanding circuit, both riders made full use of the excellent handling of the Lonestar / Ohlins suspension and proceeded to work their way through the pack, Joe moving to 3rd on lap three after passing Carl Bunce on the Fourtech Racing Honda, while Leon had moved up to 11th after passing Paul Holmes on the ATV World Yamaha. With the Goldspeed tyres giving optimum grip in the sticky conditions, both riders were continuing their relentless pace as the race approached half distance, Joe closing the gap to the Lamos's Yamaha of Simon Hammersley, while Leon had moved up an amazing six places in three laps, passing
KIK Honda duo William Waggott and Chris North on lap four, before passing ATV World's John Mitchell, Anderson ATV Suzuki's Ricky Tordoff and Michael McAneney on the JB Homes Yamaha on the next lap! The Mercuria GYTR Team Yamaha duo continued to push their SCT tuned Yamaha YFZ450 machines to the limit, Joe crossing the finish line in 2nd after passing Hammersley on the penultimate lap, and Leon taking the chequered flag for a well-deserved 7th.

Race Two

An excellent start to the second moto saw Joe and Leon round the first corner in 6th and th respectively. Track conditions were proving demanding to pass on, the circuit havingroughed up over the course of the day, but within two laps both riders had moved up aplace after passing Paul Winrow on the Interlock Racing Honda. Again settingincreasingly faster lap times as the circuit came to them, Joe and Leon closed the gap toth place Simon Hammersley as the race approached half distance before trouble struck.Drifting wide in one of the corners while navigating a back marker, both riders got caughtin the loose dirt on the outside of the circuit, loosing valuable places while they struggledto free their machines. Having dropped to 8th, Leon set off to make up as many places aspossible over the remaining five laps, and with true guts and determination, the Balgoniebullet moved past David Hammersley and David Cowan on the penultimate lap for a hardearned 6th. Joe, however, was having worse luck. Another rider had run in to the back of his bike and had damaged the Leo Vince exhaust so severely that his machine was badlydown on power. Now circulating in 15th with five laps to go, Joe nevertheless pushed ashard as he could over the remaining five laps, moving past Cathal McGilligan on the F&FRacing Yamaha for 14th on lap nine, before taking the chequered flag after twelve gruelling laps.

Joe Maessen

Today was a bittersweet result for me. I'm really happy with the result in the first moto, another couple of laps and I think I would have caught Paul. The second race was just one of those things that can happen and I struggled for power with the exhaust damaged so badly. I would have liked to have finished higher in the championship as the team and all our sponsors have given us a fantastic package this year, but I've made it in to the top three while recovering from injury so I'm happy with that.

Leon Beda

I'm happy enough with today's result, although the second race didn't go according to plan. This year my goal was to achieve a top ten finish in the championship, so finishing 8th has been a fantastic result, and 7th I only missed by three points! Richard and all the team have done a fantastic job all year, and without their help and the help and support of all our sponsors, none of this would have been possible, so a big thank you to everyone involved.

Results

Race One
Winner - Paul Winrow; 2nd - Joe Maessen; 3rd - John Mitchell; 4th - Simon Hammersley; 5th - Ricky Tordoff; 6th - Lindsey Duke; 7th - Leon Beda

Race Two
Winner - John Mitchell; 2nd - Ricky Tordoff; 3rd - Simon Hammersley; 4th - Chris North;th - Paul Winrow; 6th - Leon Beda…14th - Joe Maessen

Championship Standings (after 7 of 7 rounds)st - John Mitchell 287; 2nd - Paul Winrow 270; 3rd - Joe Maessen 254; 4th - RickyTordoff 191; 5th - William Waggott 187; 6th - Lindsey Duke 174; 7th - Simon Hammersley 147; 8th - Leon Beda 144

I'm very proud to be associated with the Mercuria GYT-R Team Yamaha. We have fantastic backing from Yamaha Motors UK Ltd and a great roster of young and very promising riders.

Our objective for 2006, our first season of competition, is to consolidate our position as a leading UK Quad Racing team.

And if everything goes to plan we'll be genuine Championship contenders in the years to follow.