It’s going to be a very intriguing round 4 of the AMCA British Motocross Championship this coming Sunday, May 19th as the Bushton venue near Royal Wotton Bassett in Wiltshire hosts its first ever major event. Since the turn of the year, the organising Mid Wilts AMCA club have been working very hard to ensure that their special event will be a big success! Right from its early years, the hillside circuit as been totally natural going but the club have now brought in ace track builder Justin Barclay to redesign the layout. When you also take into account the fact that just about the entire entry have never competed at Bushton, it’s another reason to suggest that this weekend could produce plenty of unpredictable excitement!
Talking of excitement, just have a look at the current standings in the MX1 title chase powered by Datatag and supported by Dunlop. An incredibly tight 12 points separate the top five of leader Shane Carless, James Dodd, Gary Gibson the MX1 winner last time out at Warmingham, Josh Waterman and Neville Bradshaw. In this ultra-competitive class, Luke Mellows, a rider who has previously raced at Bushton, Ashley Thomas, Ashley Greedy, Andrew Smart and Will Hughes round off the top ten.
In MX2, James Wainwright (6) and Kristian Whatley (2) have bagged the moto wins and been very dominant at the front end of proceedings. At present young Wainwright leads the title chase 35 points clear of Whatley with the equally consistent Ryan Crowder on the podium at both Norley and Warmingham and holding 3rd. Other flying MX2 aces to look out for at Bushton include Josh Coleman, Henry Williams, Clinton Barrs, Matt Ridgway and Luke Dean. Providing the 250cc 2T challenge are the likes of Mark Young, Lee Truman, Jaydon Murphy and round 3 star Corrie Southwood. Joining them this weekend will be Lewis King, tempted out of retirement by the SevenSeven2 Yamaha team.
On his 22nd birthday, Lewis Dowdeswell blasted to a great maximum points haul during round 3 and now leads the AMCA 125cc title chase by 16 points from Chris Povey. These two fast lads are already 78 points clear of 3rd placed Ryan Zebedee. At Bushton though, Zebedee will be racing on his home club circuit and after bagging a Warmingham podium should be confident of another big result this weekend. Ryan Jones is currently 4th in the standings after starting with a podium at Norley whilst also watch out for Nathan Bache, Brad Malin and Jasper Uphill amongst others.
Despite finishing as runner-up behind his brother Simon last time out at Warmingham, James Lane has moved to the top of the Vets Championship. In what is proving to be an ultra-competitive series, James advantage though is just a single point with Jamie Powell breathing right down his neck as Simon Lane holds 3rd, a further 27 points in arrears. Whilst the above three riders have rather dominated proceedings so far, Craig Chamberlain in his debut Vets season is also showing great consistency and is the next best from Darren Bennett, Colin Conduit, Stephen Elford and Stephen Marlow.
Although 2018 AMCA Youth Champion Joseph Brookes took maximum points at Warmingham, it’s still Matt Tolley leading the series. In all three rounds Matt has been on the podium and currently showing very solid and impressive form. Holding 2nd at present is Ezra Blackwell with Harry Ridgway, Yarin Evans, Joshua Fletcher-Williams, Max Lewis and Reece Leverton starting the new Championship campaign in style.
In what will be a very busy weekend for the Mid Wilts AMCA club, there’s also a full programme of racing planned for Saturday including round 2 of the BWMA Westermans Women’s Motocross Championship. After the opener at North Nibley its defending Champion Chelsea Gowland and Jaysi Austin leading the way although Gowland’s participation could well be in doubt. During a recent meeting at Warmingham, the Redline Honda pilot crashed fracturing her arm and damaging some teeth but she has already defiantly stated her intent to try and compete so watch this space!.
So if you want a full weekend of top class AMCA racing there’s also camping available at £10 with Saturday night entertainment and a bar planned, it’s going to be a cracker with the local postcode being SN4 7PY. Words and pic by Mike Wood.