Tommy Searle edged out his title rival Shaun Simpson for to honours in Sunday’s second round of the British championship at Lyng in Norfolk, although they both drew level on points.
Searle came through from a top ten start in the first moto to catch up to Simpson, after the Scot had worked his way past the two early leaders Mel Pocock and James Dunn.
The Kawasaki man reeled in Simpson but he managed the gap to take the win. The pair pulled out a huge gap over Pocock who help on for a fine third place after a momumental scrap to the finish with Lewis Tombs, Harri Kullas and Jake Millward. Dunn, out on the first time on the Geartec Husky as the team’s top two men Elliott Banks-Browne and Luke Burton are injured.
In the second moto, Simpson was quickly in the lead but he came round at the end of the first lap shaking his head and pointing down at the bike. It was stuck in fourth gear – top gear – and he was forced to sing the clutch in the slower corners.
Searle was soon on his tail and chased him hard, waiting until the Scot made a little mistake before pouncing and taking the win.
That gave him the overall victory, although the pair ended level on points for the day. It means Searle still trails Simpson by two points after two rounds.
Searle said: “I knew Shaun had a problem and I couldn’t lose to a guy stuck in one gear! I really enjoy racing with Shaun nowadays as we have some good battles.”
There was also a tie for third overall between Honda riders Kullas and Tombs, who had a shock third overall at the opener at Fatcats in his debut for the Buildbase Honda squad.
Tombs held off Kullas for fourth in the opening moto, but second time out Kullas stalked him for third place and nipped by towards the end of the moto.
Kullas took the final step on the podium due to that better second race finish, but Tombs retains third in the championship.
Pocock took fifth overall from Gert Krestinov, who won his first ever Maxxis MX1 race at the track a couple of years ago.
Dunn’s second race came to a grinding halt when his chain came off, ruining his stunning debut.
In the MX2 class, there was no stopping KTM’s defending champ Conrad Mewse who worked his way to the front in both motos before pulling away to take the double win.
The championship leader said: “We have worked out some issues over things like confidence this week and I believe I’m much stronger now.”
Second place was a dramatic affair which went down to a four-man scrap to the chequered flag in the final moto.
Eventually a last-lap pass meant Honda’s Josh Gilbert ended up second overall, from KTM’s Bas Vaessen. The Revo Husky pair of Dylan Walsh – still far from fully fit – was fourth overall, although he ended tied on points with his team-mate Alvin Ostlund. Yamaha’s Martin Barr just couldn’t quite tag onto the leaders and ended up seventh following a race two slip-off, from Ashton Dickinson and Liam Knight.
In the MXY2 class, two-stroke superstar Joel Rizzi took both motos, but had a hard battle on his hands from Ike Carter in second overall. Carter, who moved up from a 125 to a 250F Husky this year, gaining speed and confidence all the time. Kyle McNichol was third overall from Josh Peter.
There was women’s class for the first time where Kathryn Booth and Amie Goodlad shared a win and a second each, with Booth taking the overall win thanks to her race two victory. Nieve Holmes was third.
Results are HERE!