The 2022 season finally kicked off for the Apico BSMA nationals in glorious sunshine at the demanding sandy venue of Sherwood on the outskirts of Mansfield. Stacked line ups provided some great action in all of the groups with no less than 6 maximums! Autos were under complete domination from Tommy Wood from the off winning all 4 of his races with ease. The action was 30 seconds behind him in each moto!
Charlie Wilcock and Forest Roberts seemed to find each other in most races that they stayed upright. They both fell in different races allowing the very consistent but slower starting Freddie Gurney to come away with a well earnt 2nd overall. Finlee Pope was another poor starter having to come through the field and his efforts were rewarded with a 4th overall behind Wilcock and in front of Roberts. Sonny Saunders had some great starts but struggled with the rough conditions eventually ending up outside the top 10, maybe one to watch on firmer going. Mason Staddon had some good rides going but dropped out of a solid 5th with a fall in moto 3 putting him down in 8th overall. Preston Chorley another suffering from poor starts had a dnf in moto 3 dropping him outside the top 15 overall. The junior action was again a maximum but the victor was challenged and headed on a number of occasions by last years auto champion Cohen Jagielski. Jagielski lead a number of motos before being overhauled by Casey Lister and although by looking at the results you would of though it was a procession as the top 4 were the same in all 4 motos when in fact the racing could of been covered at times with a blanket! Both William Dennis and Arthur King kept things tight at the top with this quartet gapping the rest of the field. John Slade and Theo Stead both ended the weekend out on equal points and had Spencer Newman not faultered in the 2nd encounter he may well of been inside the top 5 overall. Jensen Henney was distraught when he went out of the first moto with a clutch problem and with a full line up never had a chance of featuring in the overalls after that. Small wheel 85 kicked off with overall winner, Jensen Severn going down on lap one handing what looked like the win to the only other rider able to match his lap time, Junior Caroll Stone but Stone went out half way through. Charlie James and Spncer Robinson made it easier on Severn by both falling and by mid way Severn was back at the sharp end. Finley Stead and Marty Spires battled hard to cross the line with in seconds of each other and Travis Bixby kept them honest crossing in 4th. The remaining motos were all taken by Severn but not without incident as mistakes crept into Severn’s game play allowing Stone to get back to the front on occasion. Stead pushed Stone in the dying stages of the 2nd moto and Bixby again close enough to pounce on any mistakes. Spires had lost the lead group tow and was under pressure for 5th by Lewys Morgan in the 2nd race. Morgans consistency rewarding him wit 5th overall. Sunday saw Spires come out a determined rider taking two 2nd place finishes behind Severn. Special mention to the Apico holeshot winner in moto 2 goes to Jessie-Lee Jessopp as she stormed the line to claim the prize! The older big wheel 85 class didnt have a maximum but was dominated by Ben Casey apart from moto 2 when he went down on the final lap and Riley Vose son of ex GP rider Ryan had worked his way through from 5th to be close enough to take advantage of his slip up to take the win.With second place in each moto occupied by a different rider it was a close call as to who would get on the podium. Any one of three riders could of been there and with only 2 points between all three it was Kai Thorpe who just missed out on the final step, taken by Vose who lost out after a nasty tumble in the latter stages of the final moto handing Rocco Hands the 2nd place step. Riley Small dumped himself out of a top 5 overall by dnf’ing the final moto and despite a valiant effort in the final moto from Jack Evans he couldnt quite get on terms with Sebbie Moore for 5th overall. The seniors run together but scored separately saw a desolation by 125 rider Lewis Vincent, no one in either class could stay in his roost as he put on a clinic on sand riding fast enough to be inside the top 10 in MX1. Jake Smith on the 250f was his closest rival but could only hold pace for a few laps before Vincent had shaken him off. Smith was to take a maximum in that class. The deep sand caught a lot of the senior riders out on one tight slower corner in particular throwing the results in the air as some laps 3 or 4 riders went down! Another son of an ex GP rider Charlie Hucklebridge suffered a bike malfunction which dropped him from a potential podium finish and the same fate fell to Jake Ogorman after a stone smashed his engine casing. With this pair out of contention the 125 class was thrown wide open. Main benefactor being Jamie Kuehn who just managed to clinch 2nd by 2 points over Alfie Crealock-Lovell with Jay Bond not far behind and equally hot on his tailpipe the pair of Joe Beaumont and Alfie Smith. The 250f class was closer than any other of the weekend with 2nd through 4th all on 160 points but on count back it was Kawasaki mounted Kai Reason that took runner up spot with another KX of Levi Davies in third. It was Morgan Walters who missed out on podium pie. Jay Platt rounded out the top 5 and new to the four stroke, Luke Woolgrove netted 6th. MX1 saw vet rider Ryan Vose grab the lead in the first moto before arm pump slowed him down and Josh Taylor came through to pass Josh Caton and take the lead. Caton took advantage of Vose soon after and kept Taylor in sight. Taylor went on to take 4 out of 4. Caton was quick out of the gate in all the heats but after Vose had shaken the arm pump from the first moto he was not to be out done and went on to take the next the races as runner up to Taylor. Behind the lead trio a small gap appeared each time to the battle for 4th between Dan Maule Daniel Sultana and Josh Greedy ending up after the weekend in that order. Thomas Oconnor looked a different rider on the big red after many years on the RMZ and after a blistering 5th in qualification rounded out the weekend 5 points behind Tobias Summut in 8th overall. MX2’s first outting saw fastest qualifier Jordan Eccles getting harassed by Casey Hird as the pair traded places and Hird got the better of Eccles as they crossed the line feet apart! Hird went down in turn one of moto 2 while Eccles holeshot and cleared off. Hird charged through the field to pass Adam Harris for 2nd in the late laps of the race. Harris aboard the 250 2 stroke Fantic was struggling a bit for fitness being his first outing of the year under race conditions. Eccles went on to win the remaining races from Hird pushing hard crossing the line on both occasions eating Eccles roost. Harris was under threat from youngsters Ben Zeale and Harvey James as the frest out of schoolboy racers mixed it up at the sharp end. Jake Marsh was lucky to fend off Ryan Mundell for 6th overall after his last race result ending up on equal points. Vets ran as two classes under one race with over 35 and over 45. Last years championship winners were both present and both out front in moto one as Jamie Dobson took off Darren King settled in feeling good after a solid winters riding but it all came undone when King took what could only be described as a WWF piledriver move into the sand over the only double jump on the track burying his helmet in the deep sand and giving himself a scare. Simon Bonser inherited the o45 lead at this point as King slipped down the order. New to the series Justin Robinson was coming through the pack and settled into 2nd behind Dobson by half distance. Adam Wilkinson another new face to the series had his 2 stroke singing and was another to benefit from King’s demise. Paul Willis coming back from horrific injuries from last season made his presence felt although still being far from fit. Regular Sam Callow, runner up last season had to work hard to stay in contention with the fresh blood but came away with 4th overall followed by Roy Townley in 5th.
AUTO
1.TOMMY WOOD 2.FREDDIE GURNEY 3.CHARLIE WILCOCK 4.FINLEY POPE 5.FORREST ROBERTS 6.AUSTIN EDWARDS
JUNIORS
1.CASEY LISTER 2.COHEN JAGIELSKI 3.WILLIAM DENNIS 4.ARTHUR KING 5.JOHN SLADE 6.THEO STEAD
SW
1.JENSEN SEVERN 2.MARTY SPIRES 3.FINLEY STEAD 4.TRAVIS BIXBY 5.LEWYS MORGAN 6.SPENCER ROBINSON
BW
1.BEN CASEY 2.ROCCO HANDS 3.RILEY VOASE 4.KAI THORPE 5.SEBBIE MOORE 6.JACK EVANS SENIOR
125
1. LEWIS VINCENT 2.JAMIE CUEHN 3.ALFIE CREALOCK-LOVELL 4.JAY BOND 5.JOE BEAUMONT 6.ALFIE SMITH SENIOR
250
1.JAKE SMITH 2.KAI REASON 3.LEVI DAVIES 4.MORGAN WALTERS 5.JAY PLATT 6.LUKE WOOLGROVE
MX1
1.JOSH TAYLOR 2.RYAN VOASE 3.JOSH CATON 4.DAN MAULE 5.DANIEL SULTANA 6.JOSH GREEDY
MX2
1.JORAN ECCLES 2.CASEY HIRD 3.ADAM HARRIS 4.HARVEY JAMES 5.BEN ZEALE 6.JAKE MARSH
VETS 35+
1.JUSTIN ROBINSON 2.JAMIE DOBSON 3.ADAM WILKINSON 4.SAM CALLOW 5.ROY TOWNLEY 6.GRAHAM CLARK
VETS 45+
1.DARREN KING 2.SIMON BONSER 3.PAUL WILDMAN WILLIS 4.BRYAN TUCKER 5.RICHARD GREEN 6JAMES TRETHEWEY
Report and Images by Ady Cowshall – Images of Speed
