Race report from the Supermoto at Three Sisters

Supermoto
By Roddy Brooks
January 24 2005

Matt Winstanley dominated the opening Maxxis Motard Masters Winter Series round at chilly Three Sisters, but the local rider did not have it all his own way.

Winstanley, who lives close to the Three Sisters circuit, which is near Wigan, won the Super Final and the SM1 overall, but had to share the class honours in SM2 with Belgian Fred Fiorentino on the DCR Husaberg. Winstanley was also pushed all the way in the Super Final as his Bracken KTM team-mate Ady Smith led for half the race distance.

Things had looked to be going smoothly for Winstanley, as he led the opening SM1 race from start to finish. A small mistake in the second SM1 race saw leader Winstanley drop from first to third, but he was able to get back past the DCR Husaberg of Sam Warren and Jay Smith’s Husky Sport Husqvarna to register another win. As the leading positions changed several times near the end of the race it was Winstanley who took the chequered flag from Jay Smith and Ady Smith. Winstanley admitted his own mistake had almost cost him the win. “I lost my front end coming into the first turn, but luckily I had enough time to get back on and win,” he said.

The SM2 class looked like a repeat for Winstanley as he led race one for six laps, as Fiorentino lay back in sixth spot at one point. But slick riding by the experienced Belgian saw him hunt down the leader and take over on lap six of eight, holding a narrow advantage at the flag with Warren in third and Petr Vorlicek fourth on the Steve Clitheroe-tuned Honda. Winstanley admitted he had to give way after Fiorentino made his late pass. “Fred found some awesome lines in that race so I followed him to get to know them for later on,” said Winstanley.

Fiorentino put his race win down to greater experience than his young opponent. “When I saw some lines in the track started to dry I tried them and it worked,” admitted Fiorentino. “I was able to take more speed on the long curves to the straights and I was able to pass many riders there,” he added. Swiss rider Dani Müller saw his chances hit when he was taken down on lap one, when second, and he survived another spill to finish the race thirteenth. Race two saw Winstanley take the win ahead of Fiorentino, Müller, Vorlicek and Warren. With two corners remaining Warren had looked set for second place but he slid off and dropped to fifth.

The Super final looked set up for Winstanley to record another win as he again took the holeshot, but Ady Smith forced his way by on lap one. Smith had altered the set-up on his KTM for the Super Final after being unhappy with his results earlier in the day, and it paid off as the gathering cold made the conditions more slippery. “I had been a bit frustrated all day and wasn’t coming out of the corners that well,” said Smith. “We changed the suspension a bit and put a new tyre on it and it was a bit better. I managed to hold Matt off for a bit longer.”

Winstanley stalked his team-mate for half the race before going wide exiting the off-road section to get by. Müller took Wire Yamaha’s two-wheel drive machine to third after a tough battle which saw Fiorentino come in fourth, Warren fifth and Danny Tollett sixth on the KTM. Winstanley knew he had his work cut out after being passed early in the race. “Ady had a brilliant start and from there he had the race under control,” said Winstanley. “But I just pushed a bit more each lap and got past him.”

Czech rider Vorlicek took two wins in the SM3 class, with Wire Yamaha’s David Hartley runner-up twice and Richard Blakeman third overall thanks to a pair of third-place finishes on his Suzuki. The overall honours in the SM4 class went to Gennaro Dichello, who took two easy wins on his KTM, with Lewis Toombs (Wire Yamaha) second overall and Oliver Pope (KTM) third overall.

For more information on the series contact info 'at' broxx.co.uk. Check out the series website at goldspeed.org.