Sunday saw the Woodbridge DMCC host the opening round of the Bickers Lifting ACU Eastern Motocross Championship at the Blaxhall Circuit near Woodbridge. After the recent bad weather, everyone was ready to go racing with a full line of 160 riders across the four classes which treated the large crowd to some great racing on a dry and clear day.
Following several changes to the track layout during the winter months everyone was excited to go racing. The Expert class featured several top Maxxis British Championship riders including Ipswich based Jake Nicholls, Lewis Tombs, Jake Shipton, Dan Thornhill and many more, including the Centre Experts all looking to get the new season underway.
The opening Expert race saw Jake Nicholls take the holeshot on the Buildbase Honda ahead of Jake Shipton as the pair battled closely on the opening laps until Nicholls was able to create a gap and pull away at the front for a comfortable race win. Behind him Lewis Tombs had charged hard to close the gap on Shipton and was able to move into second with a couple of laps remaining while Shipton crossed the line in third ahead Dan Thornhill in fourth, Shaun Southgate in fifth and Luke Norris in sixth.
The second Expert race saw Nicholls take another holeshot with Shipton and Thornhill close behind. Nicholls quickly set about breaking away and rode a solid race to take the win by over 30 seconds. The battle for second place saw Tombs charge forward from a top 10 start and move into second when Shipton suffered a big crash with a few corners of the race remaining while under pressure from Tombs. In was Thornhill who took third with Luke Parker in fourth, Tom Grimshaw in fifth and reigning champion Luke Benstead in sixth.
The final Expert race of the day saw young George Fountain take the holeshot and early race lead with Nicholls a couple of places behind. By the end of the opening lap Nicholls was into the lead and pulling away to a comfortable race win of 26 seconds over Thornhill and Tombs. Luke Benstead rode well to take a strong fourth place with Shaun Southgate fifth and George Fountain in sixth.
In the three Intermediate Class (Junior Championship) races it was Ryan Watts who took the overall victory on his Husqvarna with two race wins and a second place. Second overall on the day went to Matthew French who took the other race win and a third and fourth place finish. Third overall was Alexander Hornsby with a second and third place finish but his overall points were affected by a ninth in the second race. Fourth and fifth overall went to Connor Baldry and Benjamin Alexander.
In the Junior Support Class A it was Darren Stone who took the overall with two of the three race wins. Second overall went to the Cameron Coltart who claimed the third race win with Robbie Pearmain in third overall. Fourth and fifth overall went to Joe Marsh and Thomas Fazah.
In the Junior Support Class B it was Jake Ward who took the overall win with two race wins and a second ahead of Billy Middleton who claimed the other race win. Third overall went to Thomas Pearmain with Lee Scott and Stephan Parker in fourth and fifth overall
Report By Richard Blyth and Photos By Dean Warner
Full Results at
https://speedhive.mylaps.com/Events/1503508