Finally the sun appeared on a national British championship race, albeit for half the day, but it was good to get some racing in under drier conditions. This time at Cadders Hill, Lyng as half of the team in Hudson Roper and Ollie Bubb took the track in the combined Youth 125cc and 250cc classes to continue their championship after a tough opening round in the deep, wet sand of Oakhanger. Lyng once again delivered a challenging circuit that ran a little faster this year with drier conditions, at least until the expected rain came in the afternoon.
After really struggling with arm pump at the opening round of the Revo and Michelin MX Nationals championship Hudson had a much better weekend on the bike, although his 9-8 results for seventh overall do not show it. Unfortunately first lap collisions with other riders causing him to crash in both motos put he way down the field but solid rides through the pack in both got him back into the top 10 and there was no sign of arm pump. For Ollie it was a frustrating day as he couldn’t really find his flow or ‘feel it’ and was just a bit off following his two recent top five overall results. He battled on from not his best starts out of the gate in both motos for 8th overall with a brace of 8th place finishes.
Hudson Roper – #36 – YZ250F
“It’s been a bit of an up and down day, literally. I’m annoyed that I’ve got knocked down in both motos when it wasn’t my fault but I’m happier with how I rode today because the first two rounds of racing this year I’ve really struggled with severe arm pump. We went out to Mildenhall the day before and did some suspension testing with Moto 33 and Jeff and Shawn worked with me on a few things that they thought might help and all of that definitely helped. I felt much better this weekend and now have some confidence back going into Foxhill for round three in couple of weeks so I’m looking forward to that and will want to be up in the mix and battling up front.”
Results
Moto 1 – 9th
Moto 2 – 8th
Overall – 7th
Championship – 7th
Ollie Bubb – #44 – YZ125
“I’ve struggled all day out there. I just couldn’t find any rhythm and all my timing was out and couldn’t seem to snap out of it. I then got frustrated that I couldn’t and that made it worse. I know I need to find some intensity, especially now I’m in the 125 class. I also need to work more on my technique on fast sand tracks as I was probably sitting down a bit too much through some of the corners, in fact I know I was and Justin (Morris) my trainer mentioned it so I’ve got to get better there. It was just one of those days where I didn’t feel good on the bike and I got annoyed at myself because I know I was capable of better. Jeff said to me afterwards to draw a line under it and to wake up tomorrow in a positive frame of mind to get work on the things we know weren’t right and that’s what I’m going to do. He said it’s good that I’m annoyed and mad at myself because it shows I want to do better, so I’ll take that as a positive comment and move on. Hopefully at Foxhill I’ll be feeling good and can try and get another top five finish.”
Results
Moto 1 – 8th
Moto 2 – 8th
Overall – 8th
Championship – 5th
Jeff Perrett – Team Principal
“It was a mixed bag regards of performances and results today for sure. I’m pleased we made good progress with Hudson and his performance was much more like we know he’s capable of, just a shame he had a couple of racing incidents in both motos that effected his results significantly but he kept charging and grafting to the flag with no arm pump so we have to take that as a big step forward. I felt for Ollie today. I’ve been around this game long enough to see when a rider is struggling inside that helmet and he was, you could almost sense his frustration from the other side of the fence. Just every part of his game was that little bit off today and sometimes it’s hard to know why, especially when you’re young. He has good technique and is very smooth, now we need to start working on adding more intensity to his racing. He’s a switched on kid and that comes across when you speak to him. He knows he didn’t ride to his potential today, but as of yet he can’t quite work out why but he’ll go away and think about it and I’m confident he’ll be back in his groove at the next round. Overall I’m happy because I never loose sight of the fact that our programme is about developing riders and racers and every day is a school day for them. Hudson made progress, Ollie didn’t progress on results but probably learned a bit about himself today which will ultimately make him a better, stronger racer. I’m looking forward to the next round to see what the both do next.”
Vlog Link: https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=906836317098023
Words: Jeff Perrett | Photo: Press Release
