Last Sunday the St Blazey Mx Premier Motocross Championship moved in to the second half of the series for round 5 at Little Silver Moto Parc, Exeter. As with most of the South West things had been very dry and humid, so a lot of water was put on the track the night before with even more had to go down during the event to try and minimise the dust. Again the Expert entry was a bit low and with many riders away riding elsewhere the top 6 Junior qualifiers from the Junior qualifying races were put in with the Experts.
In the St Blazey Mx Expert Championship the Championship lead was going to change at the end of the day as current leader Dan Thornhill was absent on other commitments. In the opening race, it was a blistering start from wildcard Shane Carless on the Marsh Mx Honda from fellow wildcard Josh Taylor with the JSR Honda of Jack Timms who had set the fastest time in qualifying tucked in 3rd. These three were to set off at a blistering pace with Taylor all over Carless looking to get pass which he eventually did on lap 2. Timms was soon put under huge pressure from the Tony Maunders Racing Suzuki of Jamie Skuse (Pictured No 600) and Luke Sturgeon on the D S C Cornwall Kawasaki who were to have their own little battle for a couple of laps. Taylor tried his all to ease away from Carless, but Carless was to stay with him until lap 5 when Carless got the better traction going up one of the hills and regained the lead. Sturgeon and Skuse both got the better of Timms mid race and Skuse was to get pass Sturgeon and was soon to close in on Taylor who he managed to pass 2 laps from the end, but it was Carless who took the win from Skuse with Taylor 3rd.
In the second moto, again it looked as if Carless was going to have the holeshot, but he ran a bit wide and through on the inside came the J D Racing/Moto 33 Ktm of Taylor to take the early lead with Skuse this time in 3rd. Carless was in a real hurry in this one and within half a lap was to pass Taylor on the downhill section and was looking good at the front. Taylor had Skuse breathing all over him for a couple of laps before Taylor made a slight mistake exiting a righthander and up in to 2nd went Skuse who was soon to set his sights on Carless at the front and was closing in fast. Carless was to really slow up and eventually after Skuse caught and passed him was to pull out with a recurrence of a shoulder injury. From that point Skuse didn’t look back and went on to take a comfortable win with Taylor again 2nd just a head of Kelvin Townsend who took 3rd.
In the last race, there was no mistaking the early leader and that was Skuse from team mate Townsend with Sturgeon in 3rd. Skuse was in a real hurry in this one and was soon to ease away at the front while Townsend had Sturgeon all over him for a couple of laps before Sturgeon sneaked through in to 2nd on a slow right hander on lap 4. Townsend did stay with Sturgeon for a further lap, but soon to be on his heels was Taylor which turned in to a battle royal before Taylor got pass 3 laps from the end to take 3rd behind Sturgeon with Skuse taking the win and the overall and with it takes over the Championship lead.
In the Expert junior class which ran with the experts unfortunately there was no Junior Championship leader in the shape of Jake Curtis-Stevens who broke his collarbone practising prior to the meeting so again the Championship lead was about to change at the end of the day. In the opening race, it was Jordan Barrs who came through to take the win and it looked as if he was going to do the same in the second race after taking the early lead but Ross Kersey was on it in this one and after a mid-race battle with Barrs was to get pass and went on to take his first Junior Championship race win. In the last race, there was great drama as Barrs was to be involved in a collision going up the start straight which was to break his rear calibre so he had no back break. Wildcard Thomas Andrew was to lead this one early on before Scott Meredith took over and from there went on to take the win with Ross Parkinson coming through to take 2nd with Oldfield 3rd with Barrs finishing way down, but still took 4th overall which has now given him the Championship lead.
In the R C Motorhomes MX1 2-Stroke Championship there were many wildcards with one of them being Adam Harris who showed his class winning all three races, but there was a few misfortunes for a couple of registered riders including Championship leader Leighton Holmes who had a power failure problem in the opening race and finished way down in 12th and in the last race after finishing 2nd to Harris in the first 2 races Ben Milward went down on the opening lap bending his handlebars and rear brake lever in the process and was to finish the race well down the field.
In the R C Motorhomes MX2 2-Stroke class there was no Championship leader also in the shape of Gary Roper, so again the Championship lead was to change. Wildcard Alan Pearce was to totally dominate all three races with fellow wildcard Callum Gasson finishing 2nd behind Pearce in all three races, but taking 3rd overall on the day and leading registered rider was young 16-year-old Tom Darlow on the N D Cycles Ktm who took maximum points and with it has taken the Championship lead.
The M D Racing Over age classes nobody had an answer to over 35 Championship leader Wayne Shimell who took another hat trick of wins over Darren Banwell who took 2nd in each race. In the Over 40’s it wasn’t so much plain sailing for Championship leader Stuart Rawlings as he was beaten in the first and last race by Wildcard Simon Lane on the JSR Honda, but never the less Rawlings still took maximum points as leading registered rider. Richard Green was to continue with his winning way in the Over 45’s and still has yet to be beaten in the Championship as yet, but in the Over 50’s it proved a good day for 2nd place rider in the standings David Ford on the Projuice Ktm who took a hat trick of wins, but not so good for Championship leader Steve Elford who had just passed Ford in the second race to take the lead when he landed wrong of one of the jumps and with it went over the handlebars, breaking his arm in the process.
In the Junior A class, there was two wins for Harry Day and a win for James Bailey, but the most consistant rider on the day who took the overall was wildcard Rhys Newman.
Report and Images by Dave Rich
