The fourth round of the Thor ACU British Youth Nationals saw the championship head across the border into Scotland and to the former British Championship track of Duns. The spectacular circuit on the hillside was in great condition as the team arrived and with good weather all weekend they were set for a good racing on the challenging circuit.
Unfortunately the SJP Husqvarna team were still missing James Barker due to his injury, while Charlie Heyman returned to BYN action alongside Wal Beaney, Lewis Wood and Lucy Barker who all had a busy weekend. In the 65cc class Wal Beaney started the weekend in great style by topping the qualifying session by nearly two and a half seconds over second place. Wal continued the fine form on the Saturday taking all three race wins after taking holeshots in each race. Then on Sunday he was leading the opening race before getting a puncture with two laps remaining and slipping back to second. Then in the last race of the weekend he went down on the first corner behind another rider and then charged from the back to finish second and claim the overall victory for the weekend. Also in the 65cc class was Lucy Barker and across the weekend she continued to progress and improve before a crash on the Sunday left her with a badly bruised leg, but is ready to fight on at the next event.
In the Small Wheel 85cc class it was great to see Charlie Heyman back in action and running at the front of the field. In the opening race Charlie suffered a fouled plug on the line and although the team quickly changed the plug and got him on the line to finish second he was penalised after the race as the work was done in the wrong area, resulting in him dropping to 8th. The second race saw Charlie claim third before taking the race win in the third race on the Saturday. On the Sunday Charlie rounded off the weekend with a third and second place finishes for third overall.
In the 85cc Big Wheel Class Lewis Wood had a challenging weekend after struggling with bad starts in all five of the races. Although his pace was good all weekend, the strength in the Big Wheel class means that a good start is key. On the Saturday Lewis went 13 – 13 – 12 before improving to take 6th and 9thplaces on the Sunday for 12th overall on the weekend.
The Youth team will join forces with the Pro riders on 8th / 9th July at the next round of the MX Nationals at Sherwood.
Steve Parkin – SJP MOTO Husqvarna Team Owner – It’s been a good weekend at Duns, in the 65cc class Wal Beaney has been on fire again with 3 holeshots and 3 wins on the Saturday. Then on the Sunday he was leading the first race and got a puncture with two laps left and finished second, then in the last race he crashed on the start and got back to second. Also in the 65cc class young Lucy continues to improve and was riding well even after and crash on Sunday left her with a bruised leg. Unfortunately we were missing James Barker this weekend but he should be back on a bike this weekend, while it was good to have Charlie back on track. Charlie was back running with the leaders and took a race win and top 3 finishes in the rest of the race apart from the opening race after a getting a penalty for us changing a plug on the start line. In the Big Wheels Lewis struggled all weekend with his starts and its hard work in that class if you don’t get the start. But overall we have had a good weekend with some great results by the kids once again.