This past weekend the FIM World Motocross Championship took place at the fantastic Matterley Basin circuit near Winchester.
With six classes on display across the two days of racing, there was plenty to keep the large crowd entertained. A number of British riders were competing in both the European and World Championship classes with the seventh round of the European Championship EMX250 being won by British wild card, Steven Clarke on Apico Husqvarna’s, while the fourth round of the European Championship EMX300 Presented by FMF Racing was won by GL12 Yamaha Racing’s Brad Anderson.
EMX250
In the EMX250 class it was the 2014 Champion Steven Clarke who was making a wildcard appearance at his home round and gave the British crowd plenty to cheer about. In the opening race Clarke got a good start and was quickly challenging the leading pair at the front of the pack before moving into second place in the closing stages of the race and would withstand the late challenge from championship leader Thomas Kjer Olsen to cross the line in second.
In Race 2 Steven Clarke started strongly and was in no mood for games and wasn’t taking any prisoners on his way to the front and was showing some impressive corner speed. Clarke took the lead early on before going on to claim the race win and the overall victory at his home round of the European Championship.
EMX300
The EMX300 class would see their two races take place across the two days and in their opening race of the weekend it was GL12 Yamaha’s Brad Anderson who made a great start but was passed on the inside by fellow Brit Phil Mercer.
Anderson quickly reclaimed the lead and started to build a comfortable lead at the front of the pack, while teammate Lewis Gregory was moving his way up the leader board. By the mid race stage Gregory was into second place and closing the gap on Anderson at the front and the GL12 pairing would battle it out in front of the home crowd with Anderson claiming the race win.
In Race 2 Phil Mercer made another lighting start while Anderson and Gregory had to charge from outside the top 10 early on. It didn’t take long for the GL12 riders to move inside the top 5 and continue to push forward with Anderson was on a mission to win for the British fans.
Next on Ando’s hit list was his GL12 Yamaha teammate, Gregory as he made a move on his teammate with Gregory trying to fight back but didn’t quite have the goods. Both riders blitzed past Martens like he was standing still but couldn’t catch the leader, Kras, who had completely checked out.
Mike Kras took his fourth race win of the season, which was enough for second overall and the championship lead. But it was GL12 Yamaha’s Brad Anderson who came home in second to take the overall win in the EMX300 Presented by FMF Racing championship with GL12 Yamaha teammate Lewis Gregory coming home in third, which was enough for third overall.
EMX125
In the EMX125 class both Taylor Hammal and Christopher Mills qualified for the two main Championship races and it was Taylor Hammal who produced a great result in the second race of the weekend to finish in ninth place and claim fifteenth overall, while Mills narrowly missed out on the points in the first race and finished 22
nd.
EMX150
The popular European Honda 150 Championship saw a few British riders competing in the class which sees them racing on full GP circuits alongside their heroes. Following the two races it was Calum Mitchell who finished as the top Brit in 11
th place overall ahead of Josh Peters in 12
th and Todd Leadbitter in 20
th.
MX2
Hometown hero Max Anstie gave the British Crowd plenty to shout about during the Saturday in the MX2 Qualifying race by taking the victory and pole position for Sunday’s main races.
In the opening MX2 race of the weekend it was youngster Conrad Mewse who got the crowd on their feet as he rounded the opening turns inside the top 5 and quickly made his way into 3
rd place. The former European 85cc Champion continued to push forward all race long and would finish in a well-deserved fifth place, with team mate Anstie in eighth and fellow Brit James Dunn in eighteenth.
The second race saw Anstie bounced back from his first race shocker to finish fourth in race two, an eighth in race one, meant the poleman would only finish fifth overall while his teammate Mewse would back up his stunning first race result with a ninth place finish and seventh overall. Fellow Brit’s Adam Sterry and James Dunn would finish 17
th and 18
th overall respectively.
MXGP
The big story in the MXGP class was the absence of reigning Champion Romain Febvre following a heavy crash in the qualification race on Saturday. This allowed current series leader to extend his points advantage by claiming a double race win. Max Nagl finished the weekend second overall ahead of Gautier Paulin in third place. As for the Brits, Wilvo Virus Performance KTM’s Shaun Simpson is still battling a broken hand and while he tried to put on a brave face and even managed to score a couple of points in the first race but was in far too much pain for the second race and didn’t line up, whereas Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki’s Tommy Searle laid low most of the day and for one reason or another only came home in eleventh.
Following a successful event the ACU would like to thank the event promoter SD Events and all the Marshals, Officials and Volunteers for their invaluable efforts during the event and all helped to make Matterley Basin great success.