The Rob Hooper Racing Yamaha Motocross team were once again ruing their starts as the team showed good speed throughout but had to do it the hard way at a sun drenched Blaxhall circuit in round 3 of the Maxxis British Motocross Championships on Sunday.

With both MX1 riders Ryan Houghton and Kristian Whatley having had a successful week testing suspension, hopes were high for a good result at the Suffolk circuit.  With times tight in qualifying, 9^th for Houghton and 16^th for Whatley didn’t show their full potential or speed.

Both riders struggled to get off the concrete start in Moto 1 with Houghton down in 16^th and Whatley in 18^th as they surfaced on the opening lap.  Ryan made quick work through the field and by the mid-way point was up to ninth, but not long later his machine started to steam as a stone had flicked up and punctured the radiator, which meant he had to nurse his machine home which he did with good effect finishing 7^th.  The Blaxhall stones had more to say in this race too as on lap three a stone got in and jammed the clutch arm on Kristian’s bike which meant a DNF for him.

Lining up alongside each other in Moto 2 it was an even worse start for the RHR pair with Kristian in stone last round the first bend and Ryan also buried deep in the pack, but a blistering set of first laps saw them both make up ground to good effect, with Houghton up to 11^th and Whatley 13^th.  Ryan forced on and worked his way onto reigning British Champion Graeme Irwin’s tail, who was in 6^th before he tired on the last two laps and settled in for 8^th only 5 seconds off of 5^th place. Kristian also worked well through the traffic and finished 10^th.  The first race DNF put Whatley down in 13^th overall with Houghton in 7^th.  Ryan now sits in joint 5^th in the standings after 3 rounds with Kristian in 9^th.

Team boss Rob Hooper was frustrated but heartened by the speed of his MX1 pilots saying “It was a disappointing day for what could have been. Ryan rode extremely well, if he hadn’t had the Radiator problem in race one I honestly think the way he was catching those in front he would have made the top 5. Ryan has all of the makings of a top 3 position if he could just make a good start.  He has to do so much work all of the time to get himself in a good position. Kristian is lacking in racetime at the moment, the more he races the better he will get. It’s a tough year this year with a full line up of top quality rider’s in the Maxxis so it was never going to be easy but we know in time and if he keeps progressing the results will come.”

In MX2 young RHR racer Robbie Dowson continued to improve his qualifying position from previous rounds with 22^nd. When it came to the race he had one of his best starts of the season to circulate in 12^th on the first lap.  A fall on lap four proved costly and he dropped from 11^th to 18^th.  His speed was once again not in doubt as he scythed his way back up to 13^th.  

In the second race Dowson caught the bad start bug and was way down in 33^rd on the first lap, but he had a couple of stunning laps, and by the end of lap 5^th he was up to 12^th.  He moved up a couple more places for a fantastic 10^th position which gave him 13^th overall and just off the podium in 4^th in the Expert Cup.  In the Championship standings Dowson moves up to 16^th and 6^th in the Expert cup.

On Robbie’s performance Hooper was more happy “Robbie was riding superb, until the fall in race one he was leading Steven Clarke who won a European championship race in the week, and pulling a lead on him. He is starting to grow into a top 10 performer and if he can eradicate the falls and make some starts we will see some big results from him.”

May is a busy time for the team as they travel to Wroxton in Oxfordshire this coming weekend for the 2^nd round of the British Masters before they race at back to back Michelin MX Nationals rounds in the following two weeks.  Hooper was hopeful that these meetings could be when the team deliver the big result he feels they deserve saying “For me the way Ryan is riding he has possibility of winning a race over the next few weeks, and once that happens it will lift him to another level. The same applies to Kristian, he just needs a confidence boosting result as he builds himself back up to the level we know he is capable of.  Robbie is starting to show some real promise and a big result is not far away for him either.”

Race report provided by Rob Hooper Racing.

Images by Elliot Spencer