Noble back to form at Whitby

Sunday, 27 June 2010 00:00

The team made the trip over to James Noble’s home town of Whitby for the 4th round of the Silkolene 2-stroke championship and the 5th round of the Red Bull Pro Nationals. The weather was glorious all weekend and so too was the racing, although young Liam Garland, riding out of the team awning for the first time suffered some appalling luck.

Silkolene 2 stroke – Saturday

With Noble and Parker posting 1st and 2nd quickest times in qualification on their 500’s it looked like it might be a Proppa.com Honda show but Parker just couldn’t get out of the gate all day even when he switched to his 250 in the last race. Although he set some of the fastest laps in each of the races giving the likes of Eastwood, Noble and Elderfield a head start was always likely to prove costly and so it was as he could only manage 4-5-4 finishes to take 5th overall. On the other hand Noble was looking like his old self as he dominated race one to take the win before settling for two second places in races two and three to take the overall win from Elderfield and Eastwood, moving back into 2nd place in the championship in the process ahead of his teammate in 3rd.

Red Bull Pro Nationals – Sunday

Race 1

Parker posted his best qualifying position of the season in 3rd with Noble in 5th and their growing confidence showed as Parker took the holeshot with Noble in 2nd. Parker looked comfortable as continually set the fastest lap times to move into a five second lead but the experienced Noble refused to let the gap increase any further which seemed to unsettle Parker who tightened up and began making a few mistakes, costing him valuable seconds. Noble gradually wound in his teammate and try as he might Parker could not hold off the local hero, eventually giving up the lead. Anderson and Crockard pushed Parker down to 4th before closing in on Noble but he responded to the challenge and held on to the end to take a deserved win.

Race 2

Neither rider could repeat their first race starts with Noble in 7th and Parker away dead last. Noble was soon up to 4th behind Jamie Law but as he struggled to pass the tough Cumbrian Anderson stuck as pass on both of them as they entered the whoop section and after taking two laps to pass Law, Noble was suddenly faced with an eight second gap between himself and Anderson. In the latter stages Anderson moved past Krestinov to take second behind holeshot man Lamay and try as he might Noble just couldn’t catch Krestinov, eventually settling for 4th leaving him in 2nd overall just one point behind Anderson with Lamay in 3rd. While all this was going on Parker was fighting his way through the field but try as he might the best he could manage was 8th at the flag for 6th overall which wasn’t what he was looking for but was still good enough to close the gap in the championship standings to just 5 points behind Carl Nunn who currently sits in 4th. Noble is now looking secure in 3rd but looks unlikely to catch Anderson and Lamay who sit 1st and 2nd.

Elite Youth Cup

Garland looked really comfortable as the timed qualification board went out but he over-jumped the down hill triple by some distance and in doing so wrecked his front wheel. After a quick wheel change and with time running out he managed to squeeze in just one fast lap, amazingly posting the 4th quickest time.

Race 1

Gating around 15th place, he soon worked his way through the pack. Just before the end of the first lap he made a pass on Jack Eldridge into 5th position and thought he’d made it stick. Jack however had other ideas and was determined to gain the place back, but in doing so completely wiped Liam out resulting in a snapped gear lever and selector shaft and a DNF.

Race 2

Another mid pack start was followed by 4 laps of progression and with lap times as quick as race winner Ben Howell he got on the back wheel of Connor Clarke in 3rd place. Attempting to make a pass through the whoops Liam went down heavy before remounting down in 15th place. He took a lap to get his rhythm back and worked his way back up to 9th at the flag.

Race 3

A better start inside the top 10 was wasted as Liam went down halfway round the first lap relegating him back to around 20th position. With some aggressive riding he soon pushed his way back into the top 10 and by the time the last lap board came out he had managed to get to 6th place. With the flag just 200 yards away and a clear gap on those behind Liam’s run of bad luck continued as a heavy landing from the last jump pulled the carburettor away from the manifold causing the bike to stop. Liam had to push the bike home and in doing so lost 4 places ending up in 10th position.

Race 4

After another start within the top 10, Liam moved through into the top five before passing Ben Watson for 4th place. After setting lap times as fast as the leaders he began to tire and had to fight Watson all the way to the line, eventually winning by just half a second.

Race 5

Gating just outside the top 10 and with Harrison, Howell, Watson, Gardner and Clarke all out of sight Liam put in 4 big laps to claw his way back onto the back of the front pack but again disaster was just around the corner as his rear wheel completely collapsed after another heavy landing causing another DNF. A distraught Liam was left to walk back to the truck.

So after an eventful weekend, finishing 11th overall was not the way he wanted to start life under the Proppa.com awning but now its time to brush himself off and get ready for the next round at Pontrillas where he plans to claw his way back into the championship hunt.