Buildbase Honda Teamster, Nicolas Aubin dominated the MX1 class qualifying – nearly three seconds ahead of Team STR KTM’s Jonathan Barragan with Route 77 Honda’s Tanel Leok in third.
And whilst the Frenchman repeated the performance in the Q2 session, Leok outshone Barragan for second. Jamie Law (Dyer and Butler KTM) took advantage of the drying track to jump from Q1 eighth to a Q2 fourth.
After moto one was dominated with Nico Aubin and Tanel Leok battling it out for the win with Leok eventually running out the winner – moto two was a very different for Aubin as a bad start had the Frenchman trailing at the back.
Leok carried his good form over from the opening moto with another win followed by Jonathan Barragan and MBO Sport Yamaha’s Kristian Whatley going one better from moto one with third. Shane Carless (Kawasaki Oakleaf Kawasaki) and Brad Anderson (Maxxis Kawasaki By LPE) completed the top five.
By moto three it had gotten wet and the track deteriorated with deep long ruts dictating the track lines. Aubin didn’t make the same mistakes from moto two and bagged the holey and behind him Leok appeared to be heading for an overall win until technical failure on his Route 77 Energy Honda meant he would miss out on the podium by just one point. This let Barragan take second and his first MX1 overall win at Milton Park.
Kristian Whatley followed Barragan to take third, which was enough to secure second overall and Shane Carless came fourth – grabbing the last spot on the podium. Ifly Lanes Kawasaki’s Scott Elderfield was fifth.
Tanel Leok sits on top of the Maxxis MX1 Championship from Kristian Whatley who is 18 points back and Jonathan Barragan jumps ahead of Nico Aubin who drops to fifth behind Tommy Searle.
MX2
After finishing a disappointing seventh in the initial MX2 Q1 session, Putoline Honda’s Neville Bradshaw put in a sizzling Q2 lap to take the pole position ahead of the season sensation, Nathan Watson (HM Plant KTM UK) who demoted his team leader and red plate holder, Elliott Banks-Browne into third.
Steven Clarke, taking a wildcard option to ride the third HM Plant Team machine finished third in Q1, but was unable to up the pace as the track dried for Q2 and dropped to tenth.
HM Plant KTM’s Elliott Banks-Browne continued his fine form from his moto one win by dominating the second MX2 moto, finishing five seconds clear of Evotech Stevens KTM’ Steven Lenoir as slight drizzle started to fall.
Bryan MacKenzie (Pendrich Kawasaki) made a better start this time to just finish ahead of Bradshaw who cannot seem to find his impressive early morning qualifying pace – although he did improve in each moto. Adam Sterry (STR KTM) took fifth ahead of Steven Clarke.
With two wins and a second, EBB leads the MX2 class by 40 points. Evotech Stevens KTM’s Steven Lenoir got stronger as the day progressed with 4-2-1 finishes and now holds second in the championship.
Local rider, Bradshaw was relegated from the podium on the very last lap of the day as Steven Clarke, having a wildcard entry on the HM Plant KTM machine posted 2-7-4 results to snatch third overall on the day.
The next round of the championship will be at the famous Foxhill circuit, near Swindon on Sunday June 2.
