Frome, Somerset race report.

The Bank Holiday weekend saw the Moto One KTM Team down in Frome, in Somerset, on Monday for the second round of the 2010 British Under 23 Championship, with Josh Waterman and new team signing Joe Dark competing for Top Honors over the three races.
Qualification went well for the two riders with Joe setting the third fastest time and Josh slightly further back in sixth place, giving both of them a good gate pick for the start into the notoriously tight first corner of the Frome Circuit.
Race one started well for Joe, and he was right up there in 3rd on the first lap but Josh didn’t get such a good start and was down in 13th with work to do to climb the order. Despite briefly dropping to 4th, Joe soon got into second position and set his sights on catching the leader, he gave it his all but struggled to close the gap and found himself in a battle to hold onto his 2nd place, and he did until a few laps from the end when he was eventually passed. Josh meanwhile was climbing up the order rapidly and was up to 7th by the halfway stage. Joe now had 4th right behind him and after a couple of laps of bar banging between the two, Joe came off worse on the last lap and crossed the line in 4th. Progress slowed for Josh in the second half of the race with the riders now spread out but he was still charging and picked up a few more position’s to cross the finish line in 5th, just one place behind Joe.
In Race two, disaster struck for Joe. After holeshoting the race and leading as the riders went out of sight on the far side of the track, he didn’t come back as the riders returned into view; eventually he did come back into view but had pulled out of the race after twisting his knee awkwardly. Josh had got a better start than in race one though, and was in 8th place, once again showing good speed. He was putting good pressure on the rider’s ahead and a forced mistake out of them, helping him pick up positions and was in 5th by the mid-point of the race. By now the top 4 had pulled away, but Josh didn’t give up and kept pushing. It was to no avail though as Josh ended the race crossing the finish line 4 seconds behind 4th, to claim another 5th place finish.
Due to a serious crash in one of the other races taking part at the track and a long wait whilst the rider received treatment the organisers took the decision to cancel the final race of the day so this meant that Josh’s two 5th’s meant he left him in 4th overall and is now in 12th in the championship, after missing the opening round due to a date clash, and Joe is now 4th in the championship and has an appointment with a specialist on Wednesday to determine how serious his knee injury.

Motone Ktm sign Joe Dark

I am pleased to welcome Joe Dark onto the team for the remainder of the season. A new look Joe will debut for the team next week on Monday 31st at the spectacular hillside track at Frome where he will try to better his current standing in the British u23 Championship where Joe is sitting in 3rd after round one at Little silver. Joe has tested a stock KTM250f and in his own words " I can't beleive how easy the bike is to ride and the power is there when you need it". We will have the young pilot on our full race bike for the u23 round and i'm sure just like Josh Waterman is doing, he will cause a few upsets along the way.

The team will have an all new look for the paddock at the next round of the Maxxis at Lyng where James Hutchinson will return for one event before being sidelined for the rest of the year as he awaits an operation in early July.

I would like to thank all involved with our team for the continued support as we aim for the top!

"Welcome to the Team Joe"

Darren Wilson
(Team Manager)

This weekend saw the Moto One Team make the long trip south down to Canada Heights in Kent for Round 3 of the Red Bull Pro Nationals and Elite Youth Cup, with Gary Sharp competing in the Rookies class and Josh Waterman in the Pro MX2’s.

For Gary the event was a 2-day affair with Qualifying and 3 races on Saturday and 2 races on Sunday, qualifying went well and he ended up in the top ten with a 9th place, taking confidence into the races, but the racing didn’t start so well with a 17th place in race one, he followed this up with a 12th in race two and his improvement continued with an 8th in race 3. Sunday started the same as the day before as Gary took another 17th in race 4, but he was back up in the mix in the final race of the weekend, coming away with a 7th place finish. Overall for the weekend Gary finished 11th and now lies in 22nd place in the championship, despite missing the opening round of the season.

Josh’s race day started well with a 10th in the Pro MX2 qualifying but a bad start in the opening Moto saw Josh near the back of the pack, but he was battling hard and charging through, picking up places regularly he was climbing the standings and at the chequered flag he had made it up into 12th place. A better start in Race 2 put Josh higher up the order and in the top 10 from early on, he rode a solid and steady race on what was now a real rough track, picking up a couple more positions and crossing the finish line for a fine 7th place, and 7th overall for the weekend. Josh now lies in 11th in the championship even though he is playing catch up due to joining the team after the First round.

Team Managers Comments:

Young Gary Sharp is slowly gaining confidence as he takes to these higher profile events on tracks that he has never raced. Gary knows what needs to be done on a weekly basis to enable him to race at the front and we will continue to work on these areas.

Josh Waterman is continuing to impress week after week as he bonds with the team and the excellent KTM 250f.  A few small mishaps and mistakes on race day kept the young pilot from finishing further up the leader board, with lap times matching the top three riders coming from poor starts. It’s only a matter of time before Josh is regularly banging bars at the front of the pack.

All in, we had a productive weekends racing and with everyone involved taking and learning something as we aim to reach the top of our sport.

Darren Wilson
Moto One KTM