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BRENTON AND YEWERS MAKE IT A HONDA 1-2 AT NATIONALSTrevor Hedge - 12/11/2006Australia’s best Quad riders invaded Wanneroo Park on the weekend of November 11-12 to battle for outright honours in the Honda sponsored 2006 Australian Quad Motocross Championships.Kalgoorlie raised teenager Christopher Brenton won the unofficial Quad Championships at Wonthaggi in 2005 from Queenslander Luke Beechey. In the lead up to the event it was Honda mounted Christopher Brenton and Yamaha gun Luke Beechey down as the firm favourites in most quad racing followers personal form guides. As this was the first ever fully sanctioned national competition the lack of any grading system meant that personal form guides were the only method of determining eligibility for the various classes but it all seemed to work out with no less than nine national championship classes vied for by over 130 competitors. One part of the form guide that was not in question was the track conditions which started out rough on day one and progressing to bloody rough by day two.The local WA line-up of top ranking quad riders resembled a cast of walking wounded in the lead up to the event. Brenton had broken his ankle only two months before and was riding with a plate and screws which restricted his movement and was causing him a fair amount of pain thanks to an angry looking surface infection around the surgical wound. Anthony Yewers also broke his ankle before the event and had simply taken his cast off to race out the season before undergoing surgery on his ankle and Achilles tendon. Youngster Chad McKay was struggling with severe muscle injuries in his back but newly crowned WA State Champion Graham Terry was at full fitness and hopeful of taking it to the favourites to add a national #1 plate on his YFZ450 Yamaha. 25 year old Beechey had raced extensively in America over the last two seasons and was flown back for the nationals by Yamaha Australia. Beechey finished 11th overall in the A  merican
A Class for 2006. Brenton ventured to America for one
race on a borrowed machine and took an impressive round
result of eighth. Despite their rivalry they are on
friendly terms. Beechey arrived in WA a week prior to
the event to practice in the infamous WA sand and was
put up by the Brenton clan throughout his stay. In fact
the friendliness and co-operation between all
competitors was clearly evident throughout the event
with many WA competitors opening up their homes to the
eastern states contingent and offering assistance
wherever they could.Of course when the flag drops and the riders blasted their way out of the gates that spirit of friendly co-operation gives way to the red mist of national level competition. The Wanneroo track proved a true test of man and machine with the championship to be decided over five races consisting of 15 minutes plus two laps. Two races were held on Saturday with the remaining three on Sunday. Warm and overcast conditions greeted competitors on Saturday morning where practice was over with quickly before the competition moved into its busy 20 race programme for the day with Pro competitors first up on the well prepared track. Beechey’s assault on the title suffered an early setback when a rider failed to make a jump on the first lap and Beechey no option but to tangle with him from behind. The Yamaha man lost plenty of time on the front runners but valiantly fought his way up to sixth place by race end. Brenton controlled the race from the front in fine style to win by 15 seconds from fellow WA riders Anthony Yewers (Honda), Graham Terry (Yamaha), Chad McKay (Yamaha) and Queensland's Adam Siemensma (Yamaha). Yewers led the early laps in dry conditions. Brenton got the better of him as the race went on and the rain started falling before pulling away to clear victory. Colin Jefferies started strongly and was not far behind the leading pack before a crash put him out of the race, his Yamaha stranded with a broken ball joint. The second race was again all Brenton as the champ scored the holeshot while Beechey floundered in the pack. WA Veteran Anthony Yewers broke away from the pack with Brenton and ran with his Honda Shop team-mate for a few laps before fading as the laps wore on. Yewers was also carrying an injury after breaking his ankle only weeks before the event but they don't come much tougher than the big man who also rode the 35+ Veteran races. The workload was taking its toll on Yewers however and in the closing laps he was eclipsed by newly crowned WA State Champion Graham Terry. Brenton went on to win from Terry by 10 seconds with Yewers crossing the line in third a further 15 seconds down. Ten seconds further behind was Beechey followed by Glen Ashworth (Yamaha). By the end of the day the Wanneroo track had holes the size of small meteor craters and ruts resembling mini sand dunes. AJS Club members and loader drivers worked late into the evening and from the early hours of Sunday morning to again present competitors with a well prepared track for them to destroy again on Sunday morning. With three races to run Brenton enjoyed a slender six point buffer over Yewers and Terry who had 44 points apiece. Beechey had his work cut out for him if he was to take the #1 plate back to the eastern seaboard as he was 17 points adrift of Brenton. Again Beechey’s day did not start well as again he was swamped at turn one while Brenton and Yewers broke away. Yewers’ campaign then suffered a major setback with his TRX450ER suffering a puncture that saw him drift back through the field as the race wore on. The 39 year old strawberry farmer salvaged a lowly 14th place. Young Chad McKay was the only rider other than Brenton to lap under the two-minute mark as he improved to second place but the ever consistent Beechey wore him down and pushed the 18 year old back to third place two laps before the end. The penultimate race got underway just after lunchtime on a track that even locals described as by far the roughest they had ever seen. Yewers bounced back from the disappointment of his flat tyre to battle hard with Brenton throughout the rugged 21 minute encounter. Brenton led lap one, Yewers laps two, three and four but from thereon it was all Brenton as the 19 year old took victory by 6.5 seconds over Yewers who made it a Honda Shop 1-2. McKay rounded out the podium ahead of Beechey, Terry and Ashworth but the big news was that the victory had given Brenton an unassailable lead in the race for the title. Things were very tight in the battle for the final minor placings however as only two points separated Yewers, Beechey and McKay with one race to run. The final race was all Anthony Yewers. McKay was in second early on before his back injuries slowly started to wear him down and he relinquished that position to Beechey on lap four and was pushed down to fourth by Colin Jefferies on lap six. Beechey was comfortable in second place and due to some miscalculations thought that second place behind Yewers would be enough to clinch him second in the title but in reality it was only good enough for third overall. Beechey was gracious in defeat however and stated that even if he knew the correct state of affairs he didn’t think he could have caught Yewers who had powered home to a 33 second victory. On the championship rostrum Yewers was certainly a stark contrast to the two fit young athletes beside him. The veteran motocrosser had made the switch to four wheels only the year before and had enjoyed the transition. So much so in fact that he had slimmed down from his previous 142kg to a new racing weight of 120kg for his attack on the titles. Brenton was a very popular victor and his Honda Shop team-mate was an equally popular second. Both riders paid credit to another man mountain of WA motorcycling that passed away earlier in the year. Honda Shop accessories manager Chad Peters had been a major supporter of both riders before losing his battle with cancer at the age of 31 and would have been overjoyed with their success. Victoria’s Jeanette Lindsay totally dominated the Pro Women category on her Sale Honda TRX450ER from Patrisha Bartley (NSW) who made it a Honda 1-2. Local fast femme Cathy Bush powered her Yamaha to third outright. Anthony Yewers took out the 35+ Veterans class ahead of fellow local Wayne Dickinson. Grant Gaisford won the 40+ Veterans class from fellow Honda rider Len Pipicello (NSW). At the other end of the age scales it was Darwin’s Lachlan Stone (Cobra) that dominated proceedings from Victorian Jake Emanuelli (Eton) with Kalgoorlie lad Daniel McKay rounding out the podium in the 90-110cc category for nine to under 13 year olds. The 200-300cc 12 to under 16 class saw local Luke Gaisford (Yamaha) take outright honours ahead of Victoria’s Mitchell Van Vliet (Yamaha). All the seniors remarked how much respect they had for the juniors for riding the most demanding track they had ever seen. The Senior Production National Cup was dominated by Victorian Suzuki riders Paul Smith and Cameron Wade who bravely battled the rough Wanneroo track without the aid of a steering damper due to the production based rules of the class. Suzuki also took honours in the Intermediate National Cup with Josh Higson taking four wins from five starts to trump fellow Esperance pilot Coby Holland (Honda). Cameron Wade took out the Clubman category to give Suzuki a clean sweep of the minor classes over local Yamaha rider Corey Stratton. more |
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