DUNS DOWNPOUR RUINS WEEKEND

The sixth round of the Maxxis British Championship took place at Dunns, near Edinburgh on 23rd August. On arrival on Saturday morning we were greeted with bright sunshine, the track looked really well prepped, the paddock was in tip top condition – happy days! But at 1.00am Sunday morning the heavens opened and the rain began to fall and it continued throughout the night and the whole of Sunday. The hardy Scottish supporters weren’t put off and an impressive crowd assembled to watch the day’s action

Qualifying.
Noble put a quick lap in early and was rewarded with 4th fastest. Parker did the same and posted 15th. Rose struggled to put it together and was looking like he would be way down the order until he fired in an impressive lap just before the end to move him up to 6th.


Race 1.
Rose fired out of the gate and was third round the first turn, Parker was buried in the pack down in around 25th but at least he made it to the first corner, which is more than can be said for Noble, who after a good jump was tagged half way down the start straight. He hit the sodden ground hard, landing straight in the path of Bryan MacKenzie who had nowhere to go. He hit Noble’s stricken machine flat out catapulting him and his bike over the top. Luckily both riders were uninjured but as Noble surveyed the damage to his bike he was left with no option but to push it back to the pits with a damaged fuel tank, ending his race before it had begun.

After his great start Rose dropped it in one of the horrendous ruts half way round the first lap and passed the lap scorers for the first time down in 25th just two places behind his teammate. Parker was charging through the field and within two laps had made up ten places and was now in 13th, but after bailing off a couple of times and dropping down to 17th the unlucky Parker was left to join Noble on the DNF list as his radiator pipe split.

Rose was struggling to hold on and was languishing down the field. He took the decision to come into the pits and change his gloves and although the effect wasn’t immediate, after a couple of laps he found his rhythm and dropped his lap times by some eight second a lap. He suddenly started picking off riders with ease and from over half a minute down managed to reel in both Columb and Law in the last couple of laps to finish 10th at the flag.

Race 2.
With the track holding up remarkably well despite the dreadful weather and most of the crowd undeterred, ready to tough it out in order to see more thrilling racing it was a surprise when the organisers decided to call the meeting off. With the chance to improve on their first race results no longer an option there was nothing left to do but pack up and head home and start preparing for the final round at Landrake in September.