The final round of the 2009 Proppa.com! British Supermoto Championship was hosted by one of Northern Ireland’s premier bike sport clubs, the Killinchy & Dist MCC. For 21 years the Killinchy club have organised the P & O Supermoto Winter series, making it probably the Worlds longest running Supermoto series. Last year the final round of the British Championship was held at the opening round of the P & O at Bishopscourt and for 2009 the final round of the P & O hosted the final round of British, a nice synergy for the most prestigious Championship on either side of the water. The venue used was the superfast Kirkistown circuit on the Ards peninsular some 40 minutes drive south east of Belfast. With the current economic plight affecting everyone’s pocket it was refreshing to see a large entry of both solo’s and quads turn up on a dark and wet morning to do battle for the final time in 2009.

With all the British Championships settled other than the Lites, the main focus of attention was on the scrap for third place in the Elite class between team mates, South African Craig Venske and Staffordshire veteran, Ady Smith. At the start of the meeting Venske held a slender 6 point advantage over his team leader Smith. Not only was there the prize money and sponsors bonus at stake for getting the third place cup which is considered best of the rest by most riders after Iddon and Winstanley have tied up the first two places, but more importantly team bragging rights were at stake and both competitors desperately wanted the upper hand. It wasn’t going to be a two horse race though as many of the top competitors in the championship had made it across the Irish sea and with a large prize money pot at stake there was a lot to race for.

Kirkistown is a fast flowing circuit and the organisers had created a great Supermoto track by the clever use of chicanes, the off road is a flat fast shale track but with the torrential rain that had battered Britain for the past few days it was still usable where a more technical dirt section would have been abandoned. The British Supermoto Championship is the only championship to currently visit Northern Ireland and the local’s are very thankful for the recognition this brings to their meeting, they were especially pleased to see newly crowned British Champion, Christian Iddon brave the storms to make the trip across, especially when he had nothing to ride for. The Derbyshire world star certainly increased his fan base considerably by turning up and sleeping in his van in order to race just purely for the fun of it.

With championship rival Lee Rudd not making the trip Oliver Harrison automatically became the 2009 British SM Lites champion without turning a wheel, he therefore elected to join the Elite class on his Skyzone Racing 250 KTM as did sole SXV Cup rider Lee Abbott, trying out a new engine for the first time. The British SM Cup riders joined the Irish KTM solo support class and the Elite riders had a stand alone race with invited riders from Ireland as well as being invited to compete in the P & O Prestige class. After qualifying it was Christian Iddon who led the field from Ady Smith, Richard Blakeman, Craig Venske and Lee Williams.

Race one got away under leaden skies and a fine drizzle but just after half distance a torrential downpour and gale force winds forced the Clerk of the Course Sam McMinn to call for a red flag, Christian Iddon had a sizeable lead but all interest was on the Venske/Smith dice for second and it looked as if Venske was going to extend his lead as Smith crashed and remounted but the red flag was for climatic conditions and the result was taken back a lap so Smith claimed second over Venske third, an impressive Richard Blakeman 4th and back to form Lee Williams in fifth. Venske’s advantage over Smith was now only 4 points but the big South African was still the bookies favourite. However with the track flooded and a hurricane whipping across the Northern Ireland countryside the chances of any racing looked pretty slim as the organisers took an early lunch break to see if the weather situation would improve.

After 40 minutes of torrential rain the sky started to clear a little and even though there was still a strong wind the track started to drain and with a little course altering and a inspection by riders and officials the meeting got underway. The second Elite race mirrored the first with Iddon getting the holeshot followed by Smith and Venske a little way behind. However Venske was determined to beat his team mate and with four laps to go made a move at the end of the straight which went badly wrong as he hit the dirt section and went down. Picking himself up he fought back to third just pipping Richard Blakeman across the line, Ryan Dixon made the long trip from Dover worthwhile with a great ride to fifth place. For all the competitors the final two laps were extremely hard going as the heavens opened again.

The final Elite race was winner take all in the battle for that Third place as Ady Smith had now got to within two points of Venske and if he repeated the previous two races he would end up taking the spoils, as the points total would be equal but he would win the tie breaker rule on the best final race. The skies had finally cleared and it was in weak sunshine that the final race of the year took place. The pressure was really on but it was the veteran Smith who kept his cool as exiting the Clubhouse Chicane Venske lost the rear and crashed out. Picking his bike up he remounted but the game was over as Smith made no mistakes to come home 2 seconds behind Christian Iddon, Lee Williams was an excellent 3rd with Blakeman 4th and Ryan Dixon 5th. 

In the support races it was Kendal bike dealer Neil Crayston who turned out to be the surprise package of the day, getting to the grid late in Race 1 meant he had to start from the back of the grid but he pulled through to 8th, in the second race his 4th place qualifying spot was taken with plenty of time to spare and a good start saw him battling for the lead throughout the race in a great dice with local rider Scott Marsden, the final race saw Neil register what is probably his first win in Supermoto, certainly at this level of competition, to end a great day for the likeable Cumbrian.

In the P & O Prestige series the British Elite riders had good showings with a win for Richard Blakeman in Race 1, a fine second place in Race 2 for Lee Williams, just behind David Farmer. and a great final race of the day which saw most Competitors enter. Ulster Aerials had given a cash prize for the first 3 riders in the final P & O race and the time keeper & commentator came up with some money for 4th & 5th, such is the enthusiasm for racing over there. With no pressure now and the season over for most riders it was a big grid for the final race. The British Elite class made a clean sweep of the Irish prize money though with Ady Smith holding of a determined Christian Iddon with Richard Blakeman, Lee Williams and Craig Venske following close behind. 

The presentation took place in the fabulous clubhouse bar which gives a panoramic view of the circuit, the Mayor of Ards District Council came along to hand out the awards, again an indication of how much the British Championship means in this area and some very happy riders made their way back to the Ferry (via a few pints) as once again the joys of racing in Ireland were recognised by those who made the effort.

Final round Special Awards

NRGee Elite Class Cash Prize    £125 – Christian Iddon    £75 – Ady Smith    £50 – Richard Blakeman

Ulster Aerials Final  Race for Cash    £100 – Ady Smith    £75 – Christian Iddon    £50 – Richard Blakeman     £20 – Lee Williams    £10 – Craig Venske

Nameplate Services Ltd Special Award    SM Cup – £100 – Neil Crayston   SM Lites – £100 – Oliver Harrison

Michelin Award – (New rear tyre to the Winner of the KTM Solo Support races) – Scott Marsden

BSMC Directors Award – (New Rear Tyre – Shortlist James McClelland Ryan Dixon Neil Crayston Richard Blakeman Lee Williams) Winner – Neil Crayston   

Acerbis Award – Richard Blakeman (£75 of Acerbis or Scott products to the highest points scorer in the 6 races combined P & O Prestige & Proppa.Com Elite)