With the cancelation of round one of the Apico BSMA national and round two in jeopardy the committee had to take extreme action to ensure the meeting at Brookthorpe took place! Heavy rain threatened proceedings right up to the morning of the event when the sun finally came out on what could only be described as a swamp! With the vans getting towed in and the parking fields looking like the battle of the Somme riders walked round with long faces fearing what they were going to be put through!
The machines worked hard on the track untill the delayed start of midday. So with a revised race order that was still subject to change the adults where let loose. It soon became apparent that it was going to be a completely different beast to what was expected within 3 lots of adults ripping up the track and the sun shinning down it was decieded to run the race order straight through with even the auto making light work of the drying conditions!
From the gate drop of the first MX1 it was clear there was going to be some phenomenal racing!
Josh Canton was the first to lead with a flying start but soon hunted down by Luke Sturgeon with early front runners Andy Fitzgerald and Steve Bixby finding the pace hard to handle dropping down the table while Henry Williams and Josh Greedy started to get to grips with the track and clawed back into contention. By mid race Williams was challenging Canton to go through on lap 6. George Clarke had a raging mid race battle with Bixby before securing the spot only to then lose it to Greedy and dog him till the flag trying to regain the spot. Henry Partridge started the race losing positions to the two charging through but then started to come good picking back up spots from the fast starters eventually crossing the line for 6th. Bixby re-grouped for 7th while Fitzgerald lost out to Matt Tolley on the final lap and Tallon Aspden rounded out the top 10.
With the big boys the only group to get a second race in on the Saturday the others looked on in envy at the superb conditions. Williams headed Sturgeon into the Apico Holeshot by half a bike length and this pair had the whole field watching as they streaked away locked in battle! Time and again they traded places and it was a constant cat and mouse with one rider favouring one part of the circuit more then getting passed back on another. The racing was intense but with no malice as not once did they rub paint. With 2 laps to go Williams just managed a back marker better and got that few yards, enough to manage the parts of the race track Sturgeon was quicker on to cross the line with victory. While all this was going on Bixby had gated well only to again lose places early on! Clarke Canton and Greedy all came past in quick succession. Clarke lost out to both as Canton went on to a distance 3rd ahead of Greedy. Bixby had almost fallen outside the top 10 before making a recovery coming back past Partridge, Jack Strange and Clarke on the final lap for 5th. Strange was having a much better second moto before a mistake on the final lap dropped him 3 places to 10th. Aspden was the last to get lucky on the latter’s misfortune claiming 9th with Partridge in front and Tolley picking off a few places for 8th.
Sundays race saw the two favourites not get the gate but it was Sturgeon who got to the front quickest and built up an unassailable lead that Williams couldn’t reel in enough to challenge.Canton remained loyal to previous race positions while Tyrone Cleaver got between him and Greedy. Bixby pulled another good ride for 6th Aspden continued his climb up the table taking 8th and Tobias Summut got his first top 10 of the campaign.
MX2 was stacked. The ASA GasGas of Ben Mustoe was out of the gate like an exocet missile, the lightweight had the power to weight ratio over the rest of the field and didnt look back as he went on to a convincing win while Josh Taylor may of had 2 strokes less he fought hard to regain early ground lost but to no avail. Behind this pair Leon Williams, Charlie Griffiths and Mark Young where in a three-way. Griffiths the first to error as he dropped down and Young took his Fantic 2 stroke into 3rd. Jayden Murphey was having a quiet ride in 6th until his encounter with Griffiths for a few laps but Griffiths came out on top. Tommi Davies was set to make Murphy’s race more interesting but he snapped a gear lever off while chasing and dropped out after realising the KTM didnt really like being held wide open in second bouncing off the limiter! Ben White was first to benefit from that misfortune coming home for 7th while Sam Bishop inherited 8th. Slow starting Ricky Carter and Connor Jago rounded out the top 10.
Moto 2 was the first out on track Sunday to very fast flat conditions which played right into the hands of Mustoe as he again launched another strike on the more established stars of the field. Even with the additions of Corey Hockey and Harry Linton, Mustoe was gone! Gat to flag again and certainly one to watch this season. Coleman had to settle for runner up as not even his core strength could wear the youngster down. Young worked his way into the podium position again with Murphy going strong ahead of Williams and Linton fighting his way through the field to 6th. Davies redeemed himself with an intact bike in 7th followed by White, Bishop and Carter.
Mustoe really stole the show in MX2 going for the third straight win, again with no answer by any of the big hitters. Coleman took his third runner up medal while Matt Bayliss came home in 3rd. Linton had a better gate and took 4th ahead of Griffiths whose second race was one to forget. Davies was getting warmed up and had his M&S ride of the weekend followed across the line by Bishop, Williams, Carter and White.
With the vets split into age categories on track its not clear who is winning but mixing them up is good to see the older guys giving it to the others. New to the group Dain Traylor shot out of the blocks on his Kawasaki to take the early lead only to pump up and fade before getting things back in control and come home for 4th. Sam Callow looked strong as he carved through from a top 6 start into the lead leaving Luke Spence to deal with Mark Morris whom he passed to move into 2nd. Morris then battled with Traylor before getting one up on him in the dying stages. A quiet race for Chris Childs in 5th as Ian James and Steve Martin went at it with Martin finally wearing the 6th place rosette. Matt Smith fought his way up to 8th passing Eddie Charman and Kristian Gibbons on the way.Gibbons recovered from his early race mishap to round out the top 10.
A better showing for Traylor in moto 2 but not as good as eventual winner Spence after battling with Callow Spence went on to win and Callow circulated with obvious signs of a spill in one of the wetter parts as he was covered down one side. Traylor took advantage and secured 2nd but was pushed by Morris as he again went unchallenged in the overs class. Another 4th went Childs way with Martin in 5th both repeating the accolade in the third moto. Richard Green hounded James all race slowly wearing him down to make the pass with only minutes to go. White, Gibbons and Smith rounded out the ten.
Final moto had Spence oozing confidence as he again took the win from Callow setting up what could be a season long title chase.. Childs and Martin both took advantage of Traylor’s poor race both beating him across the line and Green again came home in front of James. Brett White was keeping James honest as he continued his assault on the top 10 and Lee Baggs havered around that borderline tenth place all weekend getting up to 9th in the final race,
The Senior youth group was standing room only and but from a couple of solitary 4 strokes it would of been a 2 stroke whitewash! Scored separately but for the basis of the report its all for one and one for all! It was one of those valve bouncers that hit the front first piloted by Jacob Randal but he was soon replaced by a fast charging Jake Ogorman but before he got settled the 2 stoke of Harry Ridgway took the helm. The slow starting 125’s of Kai Thorpe and Charlie Hucklebridge where also on the move as they both came past Randal and a fallen Ogorman. Thorpe went all the way to the front with apparent ease leaving Hucklebridge to follow Ridgway home for 3rd. Shane Jones had gone down in turn two and was on a mission coming back to 4th making his last pass on Ogorman. Owen Richards made slow steady progress to come home behind in 6th passing a fading Jamie Kuehn at the end. Charlie Guttridge had clawed his way up to 6th but for a fall in the dying stages dropping him back to 8th.Guy Mustoe tailed Jack Evans progress through the field as the pair recovered from poor starts to round out the ten.
Race 2 was lining up to be a corker if the two 125’s of Thorpe and Jones along with the 250f of Ogorman all gated together it would be a barnstormer! The blue streak of Ogorman clearly led the way those extra ponies pulling a good ten foot gap up the start straight! It was JOnes that took it to the 4 stroke as Thorpe ended up on the ground on the face of a jump then lost control while remounting to throw away what could of been. Jones caught and passed for the lead to pull a gap for the win over Ogorman. Ridgway was hanging in there for 3rd while Kuehn had a much better race in 4th with Evans in 5th. Thorpe could only manage a 6th obviously frustrated from his antics. Randall came in just behind edging out Richards.Mustoe had beaten a goggle less Hucklebridge who just managed to keep Tom Goodfellow in 10th.
The final race saw Ogorman and Jones both take their respective classes, Ridgway played bridesmaid all weekend in the 125 class.Thorpe struggled again but secured 3rd overall, Hucklebridge managed to round the day off with a 3rd.
Big wheel 85 had a strong line up but no one stronger than Charlie Richmond who annihilated the field with over half a minute on second placed Stanley Siebert who in turn fended off the early attack from Riley Small. Those three had a huge gap over the remaining runners. Archie Stapley had a narrow margin over a hard charging Chris Brindley coming from down the field setting his fastest lap on the last one and looked to be going further up the leaderboard had time not expired Fabian-Junior Morrison looked to be suffering a bit from lack of bike time as he lost out to Brindley in the last laps. Ethan Anderson held onto 7th while Cameron Chapman had burnt himself out fighting through from a bad start to be caught on the last lap by a flying Alicia Conduct, the pair having demoted Troy Weaver to 10th a few laps earlier. Special mention to Jack Couzens on his mammoth climb through the field from the tail end right up to 13th!
Race 2 and it was another whitewash by Richmond, in a class of his own. Small had made a mistake leaving Siebert a comfortable 2nd and allowing Stapley to grab his only podium of the weekend. Small crossed in 5th behind Silas Mandeville with Harley Quinn and Troy Weaver being the last boys to cross the line before Alicia Conduct. Dan White and Charlie James rounded out the top 10.
Final BW race was no surprise to see Richmond go gate to flag as he continued his onslaught. Small this time got the better of Siebert but with his second race mishap Siebert got the second step. Stapley maintained his momentum keeping Mandeville in check. Weaver saved his best till last edging out Quinn. Finley Stead and Jacob Luker both put in their best respective performances both getting inside the top 10.
Small wheel 85’s saw a bit too much inconsistency in the results leaving what could of been some titanic battles to dry up. Jack Brown had no such issues after an intense battle in moto1 Brown came past Aiden Burke and Lewis Jenks to take a hard fought win. Jenks was forced to play second fiddle while Charlie Ward crossed the line after Burke. Seb Brown was next over the line after a mid race battle saw the #100 of Harley Ince go down. Theo Stead lost out to William Dennis in the last couple of laps. Toby Bond came from outside the top 20 to secure a well earned 8th in front of 9th place finisher Charlie Hobden.
With a missing Jenks due to bike issues Brown had a much easier run to the flag in moto 2. Hobden made up for a bad first moto bringing home 43 pts as did Ince with the 41 for 3rd.. Burke was now sitting in a strong seat having got himself a 3-4 scorecard and Ward was lurking in the background with a 4-5. Theo Brown had a much stronger second ride with a 6th just ahead of Brown who was sitting with a chance of a podium. Riley Butterworth cracked the top ten in style this time out earning an 8th ahead of Dennis and Max Greenwell.
Jenks was back for the final race on a borrowed machine but with a different set-up he couldnt match Brown or indeed Hobden. Ince managed a 4th and with all the inconsistency that got him the final piece of podium pie. Ward’s lack lustre final moto saw him miss out by 2 points to that third step.Burke lost out to Seb Brown after Brown put in his best ride of the weekend and Burke faulted outside the top 10.Bond saved his best till last leap frogging him over Dennis while the Theo’s of Brown and Stead rounded out more top 10’s
Junior’s went to the line on earlier than expected on a much drier track and John Slade showed them all the way round in meticulous fashion. But it was Oscar Bird who posted the fastest lap but the fluent style of Slade kept him ahead, Bird some 4 seconds down as they crossed the line. Oaklan Winnal would of been in the hunt also had he not made an error dropping him back a further half a minute almost into the clutches of Marcus Mountain. Lucas Sansom just had the better of Tyler Peaty then a small gap back to Ronnie Morgan. Following on Mason Staddon, Francis Nellist, Taylor Udy and Heeley Goyne in 11th all crossed the line seconds apart!
Race 2 again saw Slade hit the front running, this time Winnal gave chase with Mountain in pursuit with Bird playing catch up. Finishing in that order with Peaty improving to 5th. Morgan also improving well on his first race coming home 6th.Sansom now locked in a points battle with Peaty and Udy, Staddon and Nellist in familiar company once again.
Last one of the day and Slade only need to be in touch with his closest rivals to secure the overall but he went out in style taking 3 from 3 and a 10 point advantage. Winnal went down giving 2nd to Bird who was closely followed by Mountain and Peaty just kept getting better moving up to 3rd last time out. Sansom regrouped to come in 3 points adrift of Peaty while behind them the chase was real with only 3 points separating 3 riders, Udy Staddon and Nellist. Finley Pope just crept inside the top 10 in the last race helping him get 10th overall.
The only Auto championship in the country got underway as the last race of the block each day to give them a fighting chance with what originally looked impossible! Mason Foreman was the first to spill blood as he stormed off to an easy victory after Austin Edwards had a problem allowing Blake Bracey through into 2nd which he gladley held to the flag.Huey Sansom also got past the stricken Edwards but lost the place back to him before the flag fell. Samuel McEvoy had a solid followed in by Archie Parry, Roy Townley and Junior Close. Brody Chapman and Freddie Dennis rounded out the top 10.
After what looked like the Foreman show in moto 1 Edwards had other ideas, the pair literally cleared off from the pack in an epic battle to the wire. Edwards took the win in this and the final encounter giving him the overall on equal points to Foreman. Behind them Sansom was on for two more 3rd place finishes again going joint on points for equal 3rd with Bracey his higher place finish giving him the nod.The top 4 having a good gap in point over the remaining field already! From there back it tightened up a lot. McEvoy and Townley were only seperated by a couple of points and in turn they had a handful over a gaggle of riders all the way down to 13th
MX1
1/ LUKE STURGEON
2/ HENRY WILLIAMS
3/ JOSH CANTON
4/ JOSH GREEDY
5/ STEVE BIXBY
6/ HENRY PARTRIDGE
7/ TALLON ASPDEN
8/ ANDY FITZGERALD
9/ MATT TOLLEY
10/KEELAN SOUTHWOOD
MX2
1/ BEN MUSTOE
2/ JOSH COLEMAN
3/ MARK YOUNG
4/ LEON WILLIAMS
5/ SAM BISHOP
6/ BEN WHITE
7/ RICKY CARTER
8/ JAYDEN MURPHY
9/ TOMMI DAVIES
10/ CHARLIE GRIFFITHS
VETS 035
1/ LUKE SPENCE
2/ SAM CALLOW
3/ DAIN TRAYLOR
4/ CHRIS CHILDS
5/ STEVE MARTIN
6/ IAN JAMES
7/ BRETT WHITE
8/ KRISTIAN GIBBONS
9/ MATT SMITH
10/ LEE BAGGS
VETS 045
1/ MARK MORRIS
2/ EDDIE CHAPMAN
3/ MARK BRITTON
SENIOR 125
1/ SHANE JONES
2/ HARRY RIDGWAY
3/ KAI THORPE
4/ CHARLIE HUCKLEBRIDGE
5/ JAMIE KUEHN
6/ JACK EVANS
7/ OWEN RICHARDS
8/ JACOB RANDALL
9/ GUY MUSTOE
10/ TOM GOODFELLOW
SENIOR 250
1/ JAKE OGORMAN
2/ CHARLIE GUTTRIDGE
3/ ALFIE SMITH
4/ MATT FERNLEY
5/ JONAS BROWN
6/ THOMAS JAGO
7/ JOE BEAUMONT
8/ COREY GAY
9/ OSCAR KNIGHTS
10/ PIRAN GWENNAP
BW 85
1/ CHARLIE RICHMOND
2/ STANLEY SIEBERT
3/ RILEY SMALL
4/ ARCHIE STAPLEY
5/ TROY WEAVER
6/ HARLEY QUINN
7/ FABIAN-JUNIOR MORRISON
8/ ETHAN ANDERSON
9/ CHARLIE JAMES
10/ JACK COUZENS
SW 85
1/ JACK BROWN
2/ CHARLIE HOBDEN
3/ HARLEY INCE
4/ CHARLIE WARD
5/ SEBASTIAN BROWN
6/ AIDEN BURKE
7/ TOBY BOND
8/ WILLIAM DENNIS
9/ THEO BROWN
10/ THEO STEAD
JUNIORS
1/ JOHN SLADE
2/ OSCAR BIRD
3/ MARCUS MOUNTAIN
4/ TYLER PEATY
5/ LUCAS SANSOM
6/ TAYLOR UDY
7/ MASON STADDON
8/ FRANCIS NELLIST
9/ RONNIE MORGAN
10/ FINLEE POPE
AUTOS
1/ AUSTIN EDWARDS
2/ MASON FOREMAN
3/ BLAKE BRACEY
4/ HUEY SANSOM
5/ SAMUAL MCEVOY
6/ ROY TOWNLEY
7/ DANIEL MORRIS
8/ JESSE JAMES
9/ JUNIOR CLOSE
10/ FREDDIE DENNIS
Words by: Ady Cowshall | Photo: Ady Cowshall
