Sunday 17th April saw the Woodbridge and DMCC host their first motocross meeting of the season at the Blaxhall circuit in Suffolk with the event being supported by local Commercial Vehicle dealer Orwell Truck and Van. The demanding sand circuit was in great condition considering the heavy rain on Friday which saw most venues across the country closed.
With nearly 160 riders competing including a number of top National riders, the day started with bright blue skies and remained dry apart from a brief hailstorm after lunch. The day started with practice and qualifying sessions to determine the groups for later in the day.
In the A Group races over 20 Expert riders battled it out with the fastest of the Junior riders in three 18 minute plus 1 lap races. The opening race of the day saw Northern Irish star Graeme Irwin on the Buildbase Honda take the early race lead but a mistake in the opening laps saw Geartec Yamaha's Ellliott Banks-Browne take over the lead as the pair would battle for the race win with Irwin taking the victory. Third place went to leading British MX2 rider James Dunn on the Hitachi Revo Husqvarna with fellow British Championship rider Dan Thornhill in fourth, Lewis Tombs in fifth and Luke Parker sixth. The leading Junior in the race was Harry Clark ahead of Kane Fisher and Daniel Patterson.
The second of the A Group races would see Banks-Browne make the start and lead the race from start to finish with super-fast James Dunn in second place, while race one winner Irwin suffered a heavy crash on the opening lap and had to charge from dead last to finish in third place ahead of Lewis Tombs in fourth, Dan Thornhill in fifth and Luke Parker in sixth. This time the leading Junior rider was Kane Fisher ahead of Josh Keeble and Daniel Patterson.
The final race of the day for the A Group was shaping up to be a great race with Irwin, Banks-Browne, Dunn and Tombs all battling at the front. Unfortunately Banks-Browne made a mistake and slipped down to fifth place. The race would end with Irwin taking his second race win of the day ahead of Dunn and Tombs with Thornhill in fourth. Banks-Browne would finish in fifth with Parker in sixth. Josh Keeble would finish as the top Junior ahead of Daniel Patterson and Kane Fisher.
The B Group races were dominated by Ben Alexander taking the opening two race wins and a third place in the final race to claim the overall. Second overall went to Tye Green who after suffering a problem in the opening race recovered to take the runner up spot in the second race and victory in the final race. Third overall went to Adam Durkin ahead of Lewis Bond and Lewis Holmes in fourth and fifth.
Marc Nickerson narrowly claimed the overall victory in the C Group after close battles with Harry Peake all day. Third overall went to Shaun Grimwood with Thomas Clarkson in fourth and Aaron Holden in fifth.
The meeting also included a round of the NGR Championship for the Over 30’s and with a strong line up they produced some close racing all day long. With two wins and a second place it was William Raffle who took the overall victory ahead of Liam Walker and Aaron Hopkins. The battle for fourth and fifth was between the two Paul Hubbard’s with Paul ‘Wally’ Hubbard claiming fourth ahead Paul ‘Tall’ Hubbard in his return from injury.
The next meeting at Blaxhall will be the Eastern ACU Motocross Championship on May 15
th.
Results
A Group
Race 1
1 – Graeme Irwin, 2 – Elliott Banks-Browne, 3 – James Dunn, 4 – Lewis Tombs, 5 – Dan Thornhill, 6 – Luke Parker
Junior top 3, Harry Clark, Kane Fisher, Daniel Patterson
Race 2
1 – Elliott Banks-Browne, 2 – James Dunn, 3 – Graeme Irwin, 4 Lewis Tombs, 5 – Dan Thornhil, 6 – Luke Parker
Junior top 3, Kane Fisher, Josh Keeble, Daniel Patterson
Race 3
1 – Graeme Irwin, 2 – James Dunn, 3 – Lewis Tombs, 4 – Dan Thornhill, 5 – Elliott Banks-Browne, 6 – Luke Parker
Junior top 3, Josh Keeble, Daniel Patterson, Kane Fisher
B Group
Race 1
1 – Ben Alexander, 2 – Steve Atkins, 3 – Marcus Smith, 4 – Lewis Holmes, 5 – Ricky Bowden, 6 – Joe Salmons
Race 2
1 – Ben Alexander, 2 – Tye Green, 3 – Perry Galloway, 4 – David Farrant, 5 – Ricky Bowden, 6 – Lewis Bond
Race 3
1 – Tye Green, 2 – Perry Galloway, 3 – Ben Alexander, 4 – Adam Durkin, 5 – Lewis Bond, 6 – Lewis Holmes
C Group
Race 1
1 – Marc Nickerson, 2 – Harry Peake, 3 – Shaun Grimwood, 4 – Thomas Clarkson, 5 – Simon Jarvis, 6 – Jordan Rowe
Race 2
1 – Marc Nickerson, 2 – Harry Peake, 3 – Shaun Grimwood, 4 – Thomas Clarkson, 5 – Simon Jarvis, 6 – Aaron Holden
Race 3
1 – Harry Peake, 2 – Shaun Grimwood, 3 – Marc Nickerson, 4 – Aaron Holden, 5 – Thomas Clarkson, 6 – James Bridges
NGR Championship
Race 1
1 – William Raffle, 2 – Tim Clark, 3 – Liam Walker, 4 – Paul Hubbard, 5 – Aaron Hopkins, 6 – Jamie Darnell
Race 2
1 – Liam Walker, 2 – William Raffle, 3 – Aaron Hopkins, 4 – Paul Hubbard, 5 – Paul Hubbard, 6 – Jamie Darnell
Race 3
1 – William Raffle, 2 – Liam Walker, 3 – Paul Hubbard, 4 – Aaron Hopkins, 5 – Paul Hubbard, 6 – Aaron Smith