Anglesey ISB championship, Wales
Fourteen year old Josh Elliott returned to the Welsh circuit of Anglesey last weekend where for the first time, a round of the Irish Championships were held for some classes. His second place at the Thundersport GB event the weekend before had left him hungry for the top step, especially as this time he got to ride the full International 2.1 mile layout of the track.
Friday practice went well for the youngster on the 'Blanch Pak' Honda 125 as he set some very fast times, and Saturday qualifying confirmed that with pole position. When he loaned main rival the Irish Champion Nigel Percy a rear shock on Friday afternoon he wondered would it come back to haunt him and indeed that was to be the case!
While Elliott couldn't get his Honda off the line in race one, Percy romped away to victory with the traffic too much to deal with quickly for the teenager. Although he got through to be second placed 125, the concurrently ran 250cc race threw up problems too. He tried in vain to pass and hold off a 250 runner who used his speed to pass Elliott back on the straights but held him up on the corners.
He had to settle for second and even with more work on the carburation overnight, things did not change for the better next day as race two went a similar way. A bad start by Elliott left him fighting through the field as Percy ran off to a five second lead. Elliott pegged him back to under three seconds but the wily campaigner upped the pace to win comfortably again.
Frustrated by the poor starts and some handling issues, last minute changes were made going into the final race of the day to help the young Fermanagh lad be able to give the very skilful Percy a decent race. This time despite another poor start Elliott made swift progress from sixth in turn one and kept in touch with the leader Percy. Going onto lap three Elliott was just over a second behind and a blinding lap closed the gap. A cat and mouse game ensued for the last few laps as Percy was able to fight back after a pass, so the younger rider decided to leave his move to the last lap. An out braking manoeuvre half way through the last lap saw Elliott take the lead and used his corner speed to hold on for a superb victory, breaking the 125cc lap record in the process.
"That was unbelievable," commented Josh after the race. "I look up to Nigel a lot as he is the champion and you have to try and beat the best to learn. My bad starts meant I couldn't give him a race earlier, but my dad changed some settings on the bike for the last race, and I was able to use my corner speed to catch him."
The John O'Neill and Des Moore backed Fermanagh youngster who is gearing up for the last two big Irish short circuit race meetings of the year at the 'Mondello Masters' and the 'Sunflower' at Bishopscourt. Both are in October; however he may get another run out 'across the water' before that.