Elliott Banks-Browne on his Geartec Husqvarna took the first two pro race wins at this year’s Bridgestone British Masters at the weekend as his main challenger Jake Nicholls hit the dirt three times on his Buildbase Honda and had to settle for second overall, writes Dick Law.

The heavy rain in the build-up to the meeting lessened before the start of racing and with some hard work from the track owners the course was probably in better racing condition then the Maxxis round earlier in the month.

Fastest in qualifying riding a Cab Screens Honda, Dan Thornhill got the holeshot at the start of the first combined pro MX1 and MX2 race but before the end of the opening lap both Nicholls and Banks-Browne managed to find a way past him to start a battle for the win that would last all race long. As Nicholls approached the S bend at the bottom of the course he was going too fast to make the turn and had the first of his crashes. This let Banks-Browne into the lead as Nicholls re-started fourth. Two laps letter Nicholls had the second of his slide offs but came back to chase race winner Banks-Browne over the finish line separated by less than a few seconds. Liam Knight was a lonely third from Ryan Houghton, Thornhill and Jordan Divall.

MX2 rider Josh Gilbert just keeps getting faster and faster and as the he was third into the first turn and holding his own on his 250 Honda amongst all the 450s. He even maintained that pace till the end of the race for first MX2 home. Taylor Hammal was second from Josh Spinks and Lewis Tombs.

It looked like Thornhill was getting his second holeshot at the start of race two, but Nicholls sneaked up the inside of him and snatched the lead away. By the time the riders came around at the end of the opening lap Banks-Browne was all over the back of Nicholls and took the lead on lap three. Nicholls fought back and re-took the lead on the very next lap and started to pull away slightly.

With the race half over Nicholls has his third and final slip off which dropped him back to third place which left Banks-Browne with a massive lead which he kept till the end of the race. Nicholls re-mounted and fought his way back to second place and second overall to double race winner Banks-Browne. Knight was third overall for Houghton and Thornhill.

“It’s been a good week this week,” said winner Banks-Browne. “We went back to basics with our bike settings and I have felt a lot more comfortable on the bike. I had a crash in qualifying which broke the handlebars in half, so I didn’t get many laps in and that gave me a bad gate pick. I have some good battles with Jake in both races and I think it shows our pace is good and we are faster than the others at this time. The two wins were great, and I hope I can carry this over to the Maxxis and Blaxhall next weekend.”

Nicholls said: “It was a good day today. I had a couple of crashes, but I think I was attacking the track to much. There were some tight lines made by the schoolboys and I think I should have been more patient and take my time. In race two when I was having a good dice with Elliot I was taking my time and had seen a couple of places I could have passed him for the win, but I came off line and went down again with my hand in the wet sand. It was all over then.”

In the MX2s Gilbert had a race long battle with Tombs but managed to open up a bit of a gap before the end of the race. Hammal was third, but with his second in race one was second overall with Tombs taking the last step on the podium from Spinks, Brad Todd and Michael Ellis.

“I gated third in the first race but got boxed in a couple of times on the first lap and dropped back a couple of places,” said Gilbert. “But once I settled down I could work out some good lines I started to edge forward again. It’s hard racing with the 450s as they use different lines and you have to keep the 250s buzzing a bit and corner speed is everything.”

It took till the fourth and final race of the amateur MX1s for Josh Bentley to get a win but with that win he had the overall even though he tied on points with Adam Wells. Harry Bradley was third from Ryan Bruce and Scott Bates and three race winning Hanry Siddiqui DNFed the last race which dropped him back to sixth overall.

Like Bentley in the MX1s Corie Southwood waited till his last race of the weekend to score a race win but add that win to the three third places gave him the overall result. Race one winner Charlie Putman was second overall with two race winner Oliver Benton having a disaster of a last race which dropped him to third.

Sam Nunn dominated the 125cc event with four race wins and ended the day with a 20-point lead in the championship over Cullen Scott and Sam Price.

With three race wins out of his four starts Adam Collings won the MXY2s from race two winner Dominic Lancett, with Todd Leadbitter third but on the same points as Lancett.

Ryan Mawhinney won all four of his big wheel 85cc races from Buster Hart and Vinnie Guthrie.

Ollie Colmer with two race win’s and two second places took the overall in the small wheel 85s from race four winner Braydon Ferguson and Reece Ross.

It was tight at the top of the junior 65s Will Haddock took the overall without winning a race. Race one winner Warren Clark was second overall, only two points behind Haddock with Harvey Antrobus was third.

Top 10 overall results

Pro MX1:

1 Elliot Banks-Browne 45 + 45 = 90

2 Jake Nicholls (43 + 43 = 86

3 Liam Knight 41 + 39 = 80

4 Ryan Houghton 37 + 41 = 78

5 Dan Thornhill 39 + 37 = 76

6 Jordon Divall 32 + 35 = 67

7 Etpor Reynisson 33 + 34 = 67

8 Ross Rutherford 34 + 33 = 67

9 Cory Nemeth 30 + 32 = 62

10 Jacob Joyce 31 + 30 = 61

 

Pro MX2:

1 Josh Gilbert 45 + 45 = 90

2 Taylor Hammal 43 + 41 = 84

3 Lewis Tombs 39 + 43 = 82

4 Josh Spinks 41 + 33 = 74

5 Brad Todd 34 + 39 = 73

6 Michael Ellis 35 + 37 = 72

7 Tom Neal 37 + 35 = 72

8 Ryan Hammond 32 + 34 = 66

9 Ben Franklin 33 + 32 = 65

10 Seb Osborne 30 + 31 = 61

 

Amateur MX1:

1 Josh Bentley 168

2 Adam Wells 168

3 Harry Bradley 162

4 Ryan Bruce 146

5 Scott Bates 146

6 Henry Siddiqui 135

7 James Goodall 125

8 Alan Pearce 125

9 Daniel Townsend 124

10 Jamie Metcalf 118

 

Amateur MX2:

1 Corie Southwood 168

2 Charlie Putman 165

3 Oliver Benton 151

4 Jordan Bachelor 149

5 Aaron Ongley 145

6 Benjamin Knight 136

7 Brad Thornhill 126

8 Josh Bunter 125

9 Deejay Walker 123

10 Mitchell Warhurst 117

 

125cc:

1 Sam Nunn 180

2 Cullen Scott 160

3 Sam Price 156

4 Drew Anderson 145

5 Dylan Spencer 140

6 James Hanscomb 130

7 Lewis Wood 126

8 Troy Willerton 119

9 Ike Carter 118

10 Danny Clarke 117

 

MXY2:

1 Adam Collings 174

2 Dominic Lancett 168

3 Todd Leadbitter 168

4 Rory Jones 158

5 Aaron Patstone 144

6 Toby Avis 143

7 Casey Lambley 129

8 Sam Ongley 128

9 Kurt Griffiths 126

10 Oliver Cook 108

 

Big wheel 85cc:

1 Ryan Mewhinney 180

2 Buster Hart 166

3 Vinnie Guthrie 162

4 Sam Davis 150

5 Callum Baldwin 146

6 Jason Bancroft 137

7 Harrison McCann 133

8 Harvey Cashmere 131

9 Leon Ongley 125

10 Sam Atkinson 115

 

Small wheel 85cc:

1 Ollie Colmer 176

2 Braydon Ferguson 162

3 Reece Ross 158

4 Kayde Rayns 150

5 Arai Ellcock 148

6 Tyla Hooley 137

7 Liam Bennett 135

8 Joel Fisher 123

9 Keenlan Hope 115

10 Charlie Reynolds 115

 

Junior 65cc:

1 Will Haddock 155

2 Warren Clarke 153

3 Harvey Antrobus 149

4 Ryan Waggot 145

5 James Parr 143

6 Dylan Meaney 143

7 Billy Askew 139

8 Kyron Carron 129

9 Joey Benfield 127

10 Mckenzie Marshall 119