Once again the sole responsibility of flying the flag for the famous British motorcycle manufacturer was left to the emerging talent of Oliver Sandiford-Smith, with his younger team mate Richie Worrall still sidelined by a pre-season injury.

Winter like conditions gripped the venue with a light covering of snow defining the track despite the meeting’s Easter date. Whilst the undulating circuit stood up well in spite of the best efforts of the British weather, conditions out on track were very difficult, with the top surface offering little grip and few chances to overtake. Sandiford-Smith used the morning qualifying session to acquaint himself with both the circuit and the conditions, posting his best time on lap four of the nine he completed. Although slightly off the pace of the leading group, Oliver qualified in a respectable twentieth position to book his place in the two main MX1 races.

The first thirty-minute plus two lap encounter proved to be an ongoing battle for the lone CCM rider as he rose and fell in the running order as a series of minor crashes throughout the moto limited his progress. Oliver’s pace should have easily netted him a top twenty finish, but his catalogue of small mistakes left him down in a disappointing twenty seventh place come the flag.

Race two brought better fortunes for the Bolton based team, with the revolutionary aluminium bonded chassis CCM MX450 emerging from the first turn in a mid pack position and the opportunity of making progress. Looking much more at home in the heavy conditions Sandiford-Smith set about his task of climbing up the leader board, with his spirited efforts taking him into the top fifteen with just one lap to go.

Unfortunately Oliver was not able to hold onto this position, and slipped one place to sixteenth as the flag was waved on the second moto. This performance was worthy of five valuable championship points, to put Oliver in twentieth place overall on the day, and to move him up into the top twenty five in the general series standings.

Team Principle Gary Harthern gave his view of the day’s events and news of Worrall’s return to riding. “ The good news is that we are making the progress, even it is a little slower than our enthusiasm would like it to be. The last three meetings have seen Oliver produce far better second race results, so we just need to focus on getting him dialled in earlier in the meeting and then I am sure we can be a lot nearer our overall goal of top ten finishes.

“Richie has got the OK from the doctor and is back riding a bike today, so should be back in racing action very soon, but not before he is fully ready. ”

Results:
MX1 Moto One: 1: MacKenzie 2: Jones 3: Gundersen 4: Anderson 5: Elderfield….27: Sandiford-Smith
MX1 Moto Two: 1: MacKenzie 2: Anderson 3: Church 4: Jones 5: Gundersen….16: Sandiford-Smith
MX1 Overall:  1: MacKenzie 50 2: Anderson 40 3: Jones 40….20: Sandiford-Smith 5
Championship to date: 1: MacKenzie 100 2: Anderson 78 3: Gundersen 78….24: Sandiford-Smith 7