The Cornish circuit of Landrake marked the second stop of the Michelin MX Nationals powered by Milwaukee championship this weekend. The hard pack venue featured differing weather across the weekend with sunshine on Saturday and rain on Sunday.
After narrowly missing the podium at Foxhill for the Revo MXGB two weeks ago, Tom Grimshaw and the team were looking for a strong weekend at Landrake. In qualifying Tom took Pole Position in the Pro MX2 class, while Glenn McCormick produced a strong lap time to finish 5th fastest in the Pro MX1 class with Alfie Jones going 13th fastest in the Pro MX2 class.
As the rain continued to fall on Sunday, the track condition became more difficult, but when the gate dropped Glenn made a great start and was inside the top 5, while Tom was around the top 10 and one of the leading MX2 riders. As the race progressed Grimshaw moved forward to take over the MX2 lead and dominated the class to take the MX2 win. After a good start Glenn rode a solid race to claim a well-deserved 9th at the flag after a small crash. Meanwhile after a tough start Alfie rode a determined race to recover to 10th in the MX2 class.
Following the opening race win, Grimshaw was looking for a second strong result to claim the overall. At the start both Glenn and Tom made good starts with Glenn in 6th at the end of the opening lap and Tom in 10th and 3rd in the MX2, Unfortunately Alfie suffered a bad start and had to recover from outside the top 20 to finish in 11th place in MX2. During the race Glenn settled into a good rhythm and rode well to cross the line in 6th place in MX1. After starting in 3rd and maintaining the position Tom began to close the gap on the leading MX2 riders, knowing that he needed to finish 2nd in the class to secure the overall. With a couple laps remaining Tom made a move on Jamie Law for second and narrowly missed the race win, but 2nd was enough to secure the overall victory.
Tom’s 1 -2 scorecard gave him his first Pro Overall victory and moved him to the top of the Pro MX2 championship standings. Glenn’s 9 – 6 scorecard gave him 7th overall on the day and 7th in the Championship, while Alfie’s 10 -11 results gave him 11th overall and 12th in the championship.
Also competing across the weekend was Harvey Cashmore in the MXY2 class and after qualifying in 11th place Harvey went onto take a pair of 12th places in the dry conditions on Saturday after a crash in the opening moto injured his shoulder. On the Sunday in the wet condition Harvey produced a strong 7th in the opening moto before claiming his best result with a 3rd in the final moto to secure 6th overall and 6th in the championship.
Continuing his return from injury at Landrake was Ben Franklin in the Expert MX2 class on the Saturday. In the morning qualifying session Ben finished 7th fastest and followed it up with a pair of 6th place finishes, but injured his shoulder during the day and decided not to ride on the Sunday.
The team now prepare for the third round of the Revo ACU British Motocross Championship fuelled by Gulf Race Fuels this coming weekend at Lyng.
Tom Grimshaw – It has been a mega weekend at Landrake for the second round of the MX Nationals going 1 -2 for my first ever Pro overall win. I am absolutely stoked sat here but both races were challenging as the track was slippery due to the rain and hard to make passes. I managed to put myself into good positions off the start and took my first race win in the opening moto and then in second race it was a 4-way battle and I managed to keep my nerve and bring it home for second and the overall win. I am now leading the championship and my confidence is high as we head to the British next weekend.
Glenn McCormick – I have had a good day at Landrake, I qualified in 5th place, and I was happy with that as I wasn’t far off the front and then in both races, I got good starts and on the opening laps put myself into good positions. In the first race I had a small crash and dropped to 9th, then in the second race I was in no mans land and came home in 6th. Overall, it was steps in the right direction but I am disappointed in the results as I felt I could have done better.
Alfie Jones – Not the best weekend for me this weekend with two bad starts followed by two crashes that impacted my results, so it’s onto the next one for me.
Ben Franklin – This weekend I decided to race in the Expert MX2 class to get extra bike time as I am still recovering from my broken leg from last year. In qualifying, I went 7th fastest and then in the races I got two 6th places. In the first race was pushing for 2nd and went down and banged my shoulder before coming back to 6th. Then on Sunday morning it was sore so we decided to give the Sunday races a miss. I’ve been struggling recently with my leg and will have a couple of weeks off now as I’m due to have some screws removed from my knee this week, before I make a full return to racing.