ATV World Yamaha rider John Mitchell further extended his lead in the ACU Goldspeed British QX Championship on Sunday as he took a second and first place finish to win overall at the idyllic Dean Moor Motocross Park in Cumbria. Hosted by the NETT Iveston & Satley MCC for round four, blue skies and a dry track awaited riders as the day’s action got under way.
With only 0.6 seconds separating the fastest three riders in qualifying, John set an early fast lap and was happy with Q3. On board his ATV World Yamaha Laeger’s YZF450R he gated fourth and battled for five laps with Paul Winrow for third position. “Paul was riding well and it was difficult to pass, once I did however I could see Watson had pulled a gap. I passed Davey Decuyper and from second place started to close in on Watson.” John commented. However, the gap proved to be too much and John had to settle for second place. It was a superb performance from John as he had injured his wrist after an awkward landing on the main dropdown early on.
Keeping his wrist on ice must have worked as John took a furious holeshot in race two, taking the lead from local man Mark Watson. Going wide in lap three, Watson passed and John tucked in behind. The two began to pull away from the rest of the pack. “I was right behind Watson with about five laps done. As he landed on the main dropdown, his axle broke and I got his wheel hitting my leg” John said as he recalled Watson’s early departure from the race. John continued to extend his lead and went on to take first place with an incredible 17 second gap and another overall win taking his unbeaten record to four out of four.
John commented afterwards: “Overall I’m really happy to have been on the pace and showing good consistency today. Once again my Yamaha Laeger’s YZF450R has been faultless and was really well set up for today’s track conditions. Big thanks to the guys at ATV World.”
Overall Results
1st John Mitchell – Yamaha
2nd Paul Holmes – Yamaha
3rd Stef Murphy – Honda
There were other excellent individual performances from ATV World sponsored riders with both Sean Goss and Josh Barrett returning from injury and illness and getting right back into the action.
Both John and the rest of the team wish to thank all the organisers for hosting such an excellent event. The next round of the championship will be at Langrish MCC in Hampshire on 28th August.
Thanks again for all the support from sponsors who along with their outstanding products have helped develop a potential championship winning team for the 2011 season.