From the vast expanses of Hawkstone Park to the tight constraints of Boraston, that’s the AMCA British Motocross Championship which returns to action this weekend. After a tough, demanding round 5 of this series powered by Datatag and supported by Dunlop, it’s now into the second half of the campaign with Luke Burton (MX1), Ray Rowson (MX2), Brad Turner (2T) and James Russell (Vets) currently leading the respective classes.
In MX1, Burton arrived at Hawkstone with knee and back injuries but still managed to earn a brave 7th overall and with it 107 Championship points. The big winner though was Gary Gibson who not only took the overall win on the day but also clawed back a hefty 67 points on Burton and moved up into 2nd in the standings. Another rider who made noticeable progress in the table was Richard Cannings. Jumping from 12th right up to 6th, the Yorkshireman also took 3rd overall on the day. At present, James Dodd sits in the Championship bronze medal position with Shane Carless 4th, both riders having recently battled against sore shoulder injuries. With John May a non-starter at Hawkstone, the current MX1 top ten is completed by Ryan Crowder in 5th, Paul Neale 7th, Ben Saunders 8th, Ashley Thomas 9th and Luke Meredith 10th.
Bagging a superb maximum at Hawkstone, Ray Rowson has moved up to the top of the MX2 standings, 15 points clear of Luke Dean with reigning Champion Josh Waterman a further 20 points in arrears. During round 5, Dean was to be another one of those injured heroes and despite being in immense pain still managed to grab 8th overall. Taking 3rd overall in the sand was James Wainwright with his best performance of the season so far. That result moved James up to 6th in the standings just behind Jack Cox and Clinton Barrs. Also producing strong performances at Hawkstone, Luke Mellows is currently 7th with Cory McShane 8th and Lewis King in 9th.
Back to his very best, Brad Turner stormed to three unbeaten 2T moto wins at Hawkstone and thus extend his series lead to 80 points. Taking 2nd overall on the day, Sam Smith also leapfrogged Bradley Doyle to slot into the current silver medal position. So good is the racing in this class that the battle for those final medal positions could and probably will go right down to the wire. At present Jason Kenderick, Jordan Saunders, James Lane, Tony Griffiths, Sean Eckersley, Ashley Beniston and Shaun Buchan complete the top ten. There is though still plenty of other riders more than capable of gate crashing that party!
In the Vets, Terry House took the Hawkstone overall win, joined on the podium by his regular companions James Russell and Simon Lane. That win for House saw him leapfrog Lane and move up into 2nd in the standings, 58 points behind Russell. At present it looks very much like the title will go to one of these three super competitive pilots. Still chasing the leading trio hard though despite being a further 118 points in arrears is Richard Chinn. Also looking good and regularly involved at the front end of the Vets action are the likes of Gary Jones, Sean Smith, Brian Staples, Darren Bennett, Ste Marlow and John Heath.
The Boraston circuit can be found signposted off the A456 Newnham Bridge to Tenbury Wells road, the closest available postcode for satnav users being SY8 3AY. Racing will be underway by 10.30am so get yourself there for more great AMCA British Motocross Championship action. Words and pic by Mike Wood.