Who would have thought with the hot weather we have been having over the last weeks that round five of the Maxxis British Motocross championship would be abandoned with two races still to run. Of those races that did run, Evgeny Bobryshev took a fine win in the only MX1 race to run from Ivo Monticelli and the ever-popular Brad Anderson while in the MX2 race two became a lottery but in the end Mel Pocock, Martin Barr and Josh Spinks all crashed and tied on 38 points when both races were added together. Pocock got the nod from Barr and Spinks following the second moto finishes.
But what a disappointment the weather turned out to be and a great shame for all the hard work Bryan Mackenzie and his team had put into the Duns track in Scotland, but the sun got less and less as the weekend approached and down came the rain which just got worse till it got un-rideable.
MX1
At the start of the first MX1 race and as the rain got heaver, series leader Jake Nicholls led into turn one followed by Monticelli, Luke Norris and Dan Thornhill but as the pack exited the turn Nicholls rab wide in the slippery conditions letting Kristian Whatley and Bobryshev, who had hugged the course makers on the way in, through in to the lead.
Disaster struck Graeme Irwin early in the lap when his Hitachi ASA KTM came to a stop. He said: “It was in the third corner where someone hit me in the left side at the back of my bike and bent the sprocket and chain guide. The chain came off and there was no chance of getting going again.”
Norris slipped off and went to the back of the field while Bobryshev and Monticelli passed Whatley for the lead and second place. Nicholls was in third then was passed by Brad Anderson, despite his hurting knee. But from then on it was all about who was going to make the least mistakes in the very testing conditions.
Bobryshev and Monticelli maintained their positions till the end of the race and were separated by just under two seconds with Anderson third, ten seconds behind the two winners. Nicholls was in a lonely fourth place while Ryan Houghton who didn’t get a good start had to fight his way from ninth to a great fifth place. Gert Krestinov was doing well in sixth till on lap six he crashed down to 17th and ended his race in 15th.
Tommy Searle wasn’t having the best of days as he started the race in 17th, got up to ninth only to crash down to 14th again. He managed to recover to end the race in sixth over a minute behind the winner Bobryshev. Whatley again showed that he was getting back to his old racing self by following Searle over the finish line in seventh with Elliot Banks-Browne, still recovering from injury, a quiet eighth place.
The one race results didn’t change much in the championship standing apart from Bobryshev closing the cap on series leader and red plate holder Nicholls by seven points to just 12, Irwin falling forth back in third while Monticelli closes in on Banks-Browne’s fourth place.
MX2
Josh Gilbert got the holeshot at the start of the first MX2 race from local lad Alexander Brown, Josh Spinks, Glenn McCormick and Barr while fancied rider Pocock messed up his start and was down in 19th place and in the thick of the uncontrolled action. Gilbert was loving the clear vision of being in the lead and was unchallenged till the end of the race as he crossed the finish line over six seconds clear of Spinks but behind them it was anyone’s third place.
Barr passed both Brown and McCormick for third but then fell back to fifth only to work his way back to third at the end. But the most impressive ride came from Pocock as from 19th at the start, he didn’t make a mistake all race long and finished fourth behind his Revo Husqvarna team mate Barr.
GP rider and MX2 championship leader Conrad Mewse was riding hurt, and it showed as he gated 14th, slipped down to 24th, was back to 9th before falling back to 16th and ending his race in 14th for seven championship points.
The track was at its worse at the start of the second MX2 race as Liam Knight got the holeshot from Jay Hague, James Carpenter and Mewse with Gilbert way down in 23rd and McCormick 29th. Hague slid past Knight for the lead and never looked back, which was just as well for those behind him were falling and swapping places every lap. Mewse crashed out of fourth at the end of the opening lap and dropped back to 11th. From there he fought his way to second place just under two seconds behind Hague. Pocock, from fifth at the start, got up to second at one time and swopped places with Spinks two or three times to finish third in the end. Barr had followed Spinks through the pack and passed him to take his turn in second for a while, but he fell and ended his race in fourth with Spinks ending up in fifth.
As for Gilbert, he struggled with the conditions and the other riders and finished his race in tenth place for some valuable points.
Overall it was Pocock from Barr and Spinks with Gilbert just missing the podium by just two points.
It means the championship positions haven’t changed much with Gilbert closing in on Mewse’s lead by seven points- bringing it down to 23 – and Pocock closing in on Gilbert by 13 with two rounds to go.
MXY2
Joel Rizzi took the overall with a win and a second place in the MXY2 class from George Sim-Mutch and Rossi Beard.
Rossi Beard got the holeshot at the start of the first race from Callum Green and Dominic Lancett with the fast Joel Rizzi fourth. Lancett fell and slipped back to eighth while Rizzi passed Green with three laps to go and the slipped passed Beard for the lead and the win as the plus two lap board came out.
George Sim-Mutch got the holeshot at the start of the second race from Beard, Rizzi, Green and Lancett. But by the end of the first lap Rizzi was in the lead as Beard slipped to fourth and Lancett all the way back to 15th. Ike Carter took full advantage of others mistakes and moved in to a solid third place. Sim-Mutch repassed Rizzi for the lead and the win with three laps to go with Rizzi hanging on to second and Carter third.
Overall it was Rizzi from Sim-Much and Beard with Carter missing the podium by a single point.
Overall results
MX1:
1 Evgeny Bobryshev 25
2 Ivo Monticelli 22
3 Brad Anderson 20
4 Jake Nicholls 18
5 Ryan Houghton 16
6 Tommy Searle 15
7 Kristian Whatley 14
8 Elliot Banks-Browne 15
9 Dan Thornhill 14
10 Carlton Husband 13
11 John Adamson 12
12 Jamie Law 11
13 Ross Rutherford 10
14 Matt Burrows 9
15 Gert Krestinov 8
16 Luke Smith 7
17 Luke Parker 6
18 Ryan McLean 5
19 Shaun Southgate 4
20 John Robson 3
21 Aaron McCarroll 2
22 Zac Stealey 1
MX2:
1 Mel Pocock 18 + 20 = 38
2 Martin Barr 20 + 18 = 38
3 Josh Spinks 22 + 26 = 38
4 Josh Gilbert 25 + 11 = 36
5 Liam Knight 16 + 15 = 31
6 Conrad Mewse 7 + 22 = 29
7 Alexander Brown 15 + 12 = 27
8 Jay Hague 0 + 25 = 25
9 Todd Kellett 9 + 14 = 23
10 Brad Todd 10 + 13 = 23
11 Michael Ellis 14 + 8 = 22
12 James Mackrel 4 + 10 = 14
13 Glen McCormick 13 + 0 = 13
14 Lewis Tombs 12 + 0 = 12
15 Jake Millward 8 + 3 = 11
16 Taylor Hammal 11 + 0 = 11
17 Robert Yates 1 + 9 = 10
18 Ashton Lee-Dickinson 5 + 5 = 10
19 Jason Meara 3 + 6 = 9
20 Thomas Neal 0 + 7 = 7
21 James Carpenter 6 + 0 = 6
22 Gavin Stevenson 0 + 4 = 4
23 Ben Clark 0 + 2 = 2
24 Gustavo Passoa 1 + 0 = 1
MXY2:
1 Joel Rizzi 25 + 22 = 47
2 George Sim-Mutch 18 + 25 = 43
3 Rossi Beard 22 + 15 = 37
4 Ike Carter 16 + 20 = 36
5 Callum Green 20 + 13 = 33
6 Aaron Patstone 11 + 16 = 27
7 Bobby Bruce 13 + 12 = 25
8 Kyle McNicol 14 + 10 = 24
9 Dominic Lancett 15 + 9 = 24
10 Adam Kovacs 2 + 18 = 20
11 Ryan Thompson 8 + 11 = 19
12 Thomas Murphy 3 + 14 = 17
13 Kacey Hird 9 + 6 = 15
14 Oliver Cole 10 + 4 = 14
15 Bill Moynes 4 + 8 = 12
16 Casey Lambley 5 + 7 = 12
17 Jake Winnard 7 + 5 = 12
18 Denny Rapson 12 = 0 = 12
19 Louie Kessell 6 + 3 = 9
20 Adam Treen 0 + 2 = 2
21 Ewan Kermack 1 + 1 =