More valuable British Championship points for CCM Racing
at Canada Heights
 CCM
Racing made their second outing at the 2008 Maxxis ACU British
Motocross championship, with the latest round taking place
at the fantastic Canada Heights circuit in Kent. 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
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