MANX CENTER CHAMPIONSHIP MOTO-CROSS
Kimmeragh - Bride Isle of Man - 22nd October 2000

Moto Cross is a strange sport. Men (and a couple of women in this case) taking thousands of pounds worth of Motor Cycle to a place where they can get every single bearing, bolt, gasket and screw incased in mud and sand. This obviously not good for the longetivity of the machines, but that, so I'm told,  is what they are designed for.

And then there's the riders themselves. From this example, they love nothing more than getting themselves covered in that same muck, pushing their bodies to their physical limits, and taking quite a lot of risks at the same time. Risks incurred from riding these machines at high speed through the rough, twisting terrain known normally as 'The Track'.

West Kimmeragh, a disused Sand Quarry situated in Bride on the most northern tip of the Isle of Man, was the venue for today's action. Organized by the highly efficient Ramsey Motor Cycle Club, the meeting formed part of the Islands Center Championship. The normal protagonists at this kind of event are British Enduro Champion, David Knight, his brother and former champion Juan, the Mcanney brothers Kieran and John, both former champions with Kieran the current holder and British Championship Qualifier Chris Stokes.

Both the Knight brothers however, were competing in the Weston Supermare Beach Race, so that just left the Mcanneys and Stokes to fight it out for the main honors.

The day also included races for a B Class, Senior Schoolboys and Junior Schoolboys, who provide great entertainment aboard there tiny automatics.

I made the trip out to Bride along with my very hung over brother, to see what goes on at this type of event, and to see if we could catch pneumonia.

Adult A Class

As expected each race was a battle between the hard riding Mcanney's and the ultra smooth Chris Stokes. All three riders won a race during the course of the day, with Keiron taking the overall victory.

Now these guys don't hang around, and I'm sure some of could be competitive racing in the UK. Whilst the top three riders fought things out amongst themselves, there were a whole heap of others battling it out behind including Colin Dentith, Graham Saunders, Matthew Quayle, Mark Lund, Richard Gaylor and British Female Championship Winner, Louise Kennedy all going well, not too far behind the leading trio.

The Start	Blast Off!!	Chris Stokes	John Mcanney	Graham Saunders

Keiron Mcanney	The Chris Stokes Fan Club	Louise Kennedy	Good Afternoon!	Keiron Mcanney

Stylish Chris Stokes	Big H and his hat!	Graham Saunders	Matthew Quayle	Tony Marshall

Adult B Class

The B Class is Moto-Cross's equivalent of 'The Combie' in Football. It provides a race for the up and coming young riders, who are not ready to mix it amongst the quickest men, the older riders who may have past their best but still enjoy a ride and the other group, who are relatively new to the sport, and are learning.

Again, good racing was provided throughout, with some immaculately turned out machines, mostly Yamahas, giving so much enjoyment to the riders in this class.

Come on, up you get	Another 400 4 Stroke	The track was around here somewhere	A rare Suzuki amongst all the Yam's	This rider shows style

Schoolboys and Automatics

From my own estimation, the Schoolboy Class caters for an age group from about 13 to 16 and is highly competitive. School friends racing against each other, with the added pressure applied in some cases by over-enthusiastic parents, means that it's win or bust for these young men.

William Keenan seems to be the current star, riding a Honda, he was quick and smooth at all times and had lots of natural strength. Connor Cummins is his normal sparring partner, but he is on holiday with his parents at the moment. Connor is to give up the sport completely at the end of this season and take up Road Racing. 

The Automatics races provided me with my favorite memory from the day. The riders look like helmets with legs, because they are so small. Riding a mixture of machinery including Malaguti's, KTM's and Kawasaki's, the class was very well supported with about twenty tough little souls taking to the line for each race.

The track laid out for them was very tough, with lying water around the place, making it very hard work for the riders, on their bikes with such tiny wheels. However they were all making it round, some better than others, but the enthusiasm shown by the 'little chaps' was endearing and ultimately good for this sports future

The two front runners in the Schoolboy class	Niall Cummins	The concentration shows	This lad was very impressive	Watch that flag Mister

If anyone would like a picture of a particular rider from today's racing please e-mail us and we will see if we have it for you.

We will be covering more Off Road Bike Sport in the future with interviews with double British Enduro Champion David Knight and British Championship Qualifier Chris Stokes plus coverage of the Boxing Day Two Man Enduro, also held at Kimmeragh.

Paul Phillips

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