Honda’s Jake Nicholls dominated round two of this year’s Maxxis British motocross championship by taking two very convincing MX1 wins and left the sunny Canada Heights venue with the red championship leader’s plate.
Suffolk charger Nicholls lead the first race from the first corner to the chequered flag with Husky’s Elliott Banks-Browne challenging him for the lead till cramp in his hands made him slow down.
Russian GP star Evgeny Bobryshev was pushing hard to catch the leading pair till he had crash on lap seven which dropped him down to sixth, but from there he made his way back to finish the race in fourth.
Italian Ivo Monticelli had upped his pace and started the race in fourth, one place in front of Kawasaki’s Tommy Searle who was having his first race since injuring his collarbone, but inherited third from Bobryshev.
Defending champ Graeme Irwin had a disaster of a race when he got bumped in turn two which stalled his KTM and it just took a long time to get going again. From dead last he fought his way up to 11th place by the end of the 25 minute, plus two lap race.
Banks-Browne quickly got into the lead in race two, but Nicholls was in the lead by the end of the opening lap, and that was the last his fellow riders saw of him. Bobryshev caught and passed Banks-Browne who was still having trouble with his hands. Bobryshev started to reel in Nicholls but he responded and pulled away again to take a double win.
Irwin came from fifth and put Banks-Browne down another place to fourth by the end of the race. Irishman Stuart Edmonds seems to have got his mojo back and had a great scrap with Monticelli for the whole race as the pair finished fifth and sixth.
Searle didn’t have the race he wanted as he crashed on the opening lap and came around in 26th place but managed to get back to seventh at the end. Towards the end of the moto he was setting the fastest lap times.
Overall it was Nicholls from Bobryshev and Banks-Browne but in the championship, Nicholls now leads Bobryshev by seven as Irwin drops down to third.
MX2 GP ace Conrad Mewse wasn’t well and was feeling very drained before the event had started but that didn’t stop him taking convincing two race wins.
Privateer Josh Spinks got the first MX2 holeshot from James Carpenter and Mel Pocock with KTM man Mewse down in ninth place. Pocock took the lead on lap three but by that time Mewse was in second. He reeled in the EMX250 red plate holder Pocock and took the lead end the eventual win with six laps to go.
Pocock hung on to finish second with his Revo Husky team-mate Martin Barr moving from seventh place at the start to third at the finish, with Spinks and Josh Gilbert just missing out on a podium place.
Once again Spinks led the pack round turn one at the start of the second race with this time Michael Eccles, Barr, Gilbert and Pocock on his tail and with Mewse back in the pack in sixth.
On lap four Barr was held the lead but Mewse was coming and with three laps to go, Mewse snatched the lead and the win, with Barr hanging on to second from Pocock and Spinks.
Overall Mewse keep his unbeaten record with four race wins and a 20-point lead over Pocock in the championship standings.
With a second and a race win in the final moto, Briton James Dunn won the two-stroke overall from race one winner Mike Kras with Ashley Wilde third overall. Kras leads the championship by seven over Wilde with Neville Bradshaw, saying the event may be his last race, in third.
MX2 overall
MX1 overall
Two-stroke overall
MX1 championship points
MX2 championship points
Two-stroke championship points
