09/06/09 - Mixed day for Mark at Whitby Red Bull Pro National

Samsung Yamaha's Mark Jones had a mixed day at the second Red Bull Pro Nationals held last weekend held a the Whitby circuit in Yorkshire. With an overcast sky overhead, but perfect ground conditions, the racing was set to be close on the fast but single lined circuit.

Qualifying saw the Yamaha man post 5th place, struggling to get a clear lap in and being delayed at some point on each of his runs.

Jones got race one underway, getting a good drive off the gate and rounding the first turn 4th, closely behind local man James Noble, Carl Nunn and Elliott Banks-Brown. The pack of 4 broke away from the pack to a race of their own early on. By mid way, the pair of Noble and Nunn had broken away leaving Mark to fight to find a way past Banks-Brown. With a few laps to go, a few small mistakes allowed Banks-Brown to break away, forcing Mark to push hard for the last two laps, closing in on 3rd again, but was Mark unable to find a way past, and having to settle for one place off the podium.

Moto two saw the Samsung machine again get a great drive off the gate, but a clash between Mark, Jordan Rose and another rider saw them hit the ground hard half way up the start straight, with Jones taking a heavy shot in the backside from one of the bikes fork legs. Struggling to his feet, the Welshman remounted and pushed on, but his speed was limited by the inability to sit down due to the crash. Lady luck hadn't finished dealing Mark his cards for the day though, as half a dozen laps in, the machine threw its chain and ended the race early.

A sum what sore 30year old spoke to markjones-mx.com on Tuesday (With his wife Emma trying to get him to show me the bruising...No thanks!). "I'm just getting back to sitting down properly after the crash. I was really not happy after qualifying, but moto 1 was OK. A few mistakes cost me a shot at 3rd late on. Moto 2 ended as fast as it started really. Just hoping for better luck next week."

"There have been some big gaps between races this year that I suppose haven't helped, but we are nearly there with the bike now. My early season injury has cost me with that, but now I have to make up the ground in the second half of the season."

Markjones-mx.com

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