Shaun Simpson beat his arch rival Tommy Searle in both MX1 races to clinch the overall honours in Sunday’s third round of the British championship at Canada Heights, extending his lead in the series to eight points. But it was disaster in the MX2 race as current champ Conrad Mewse went out with a suspected broken hand or wrist.
At the last round in the MX1 class, Sealre and Simpson shared a win and second each, but this time Simpson was in no mood for any defeats. He had good starts in both races, behind holeshot man Jake Millward both times.
Each time he quickly got into the lead and controlled the race to take the wins. In the opening moto Searle pushed hard to catch the KTM man but made a few too many mistakes and had to give up.
Second time out Searle once again was on the tail of the Scotsman and caught him up in the final part of the moto. He pushed really hard and was super-aggressive, outpacing his rival. But he couldn’t get close enough to make a pass and Simpson won again.
Simpson said: “I’m really enjoying my racing again, thanks to the team and bike.”
Searle said: “Decent day’s racing today at the British Championship. Came up short on the win by 0.2 Seconds, but I enjoyed the battle though. It was really nice to have a lot of people hanging over the fences cheering for me at my home race.”
Those blazing fast starts helped Husky man Jake Millward take a stunning third overall. He was third in the opener, heading two-stroke man Brad Anderson over the line from Mel Pocock. Second time out Millward took fifth which was good enough for the final place on the podium.
Harri Kullas, nursing a badly bruised face from a mid-week crash, was fourth overall, level on points with Gert Krestinov whose best ride was fourth in the second moto. Brad Anderson took sixth overall from John Adamson.
Kullas actually had two third place finishes, but failed the noise test after race one and was docked five positions. So Harri had 8-3 finishes for fourth overall.
It wasn’t such a good day for Buildbase Honda’s Lewis Tombs, who took eighth overall. He was brought down in the first corner of the opener, which damaged his rear brake and he finished 12th. Second time out he once again didn’t have the best start but took sixth, which means he’s still third overall in the championship.
In the MX2 class, it looked like once again there would be no stopping KTM’s defending champ Conrad Mewse. In the opener he caught and passed holeshot man Alvin Ostland then pulled away to take the win.
But in the second moto he lost control in the second corner and went down. He was taken to the medical centre then onto hospital with an injury – a suspected break – to his hand or wrist.
The exit of Mewse left the day wide open for the Revo Husky pair of Alvin Ostlund and Dylan Walsh to battle for the overall. Ostlund was second in the opener behind Mewse, and in the second moto tailed his team-mate, race leader Walsh, until the last lap.
Walsh then made a mistake, allowing Ostland through to take the win, the overall and the lead in the championship. Walsh, fourth in the opener, was second overall.
Honda’s Josh Gilbert took third overall for the second Maxxis round in a row. He was third in the opener but could make no impression on the leaders. In the second race, Mewse’s spill budged Gilbert over the berm and he had to make lots of passes as he pulled through to fourth.
The melee also wiped out the bike of Mewse’s team-mate Jos Vaessen, who DNFed the moto. He had a tough first race and only took 17th overall – a shocking day for the man who won the opening round of the series.
Martin Barr took fourth overall from Alexander Brown and Taylor Hammal and Michael Ellis.
American amateur Ezra Hastings, having a guest ride for the Kawasaki team, took 18th overall.
In the MXY2 it was a clash once again between two-stroke man Joel Rizzi and 250F rider Ike Carter. Carter beat Rizzi in the opener. But in moto two Rizzi – riding a 125 instead of the 150 he usually campaigns – beat Carter to take the overall. Bobby Bruce was third overall.