Monday June 3, 2019 at 1:07pm
Tommy Searle (BOS Kawasaki) raced to the top of the MX1 standings and Dylan Walsh (REVO Husqvarna UK) wrestled the MX2 lead away from his team-mate Alvin Ostlund at round four of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship supported by Pro Clean at Blaxhall yesterday.
A big pile-up in the first turn of the opening MX1 race that took Ryan Houghton (Rob Hooper Racing Yamaha) out of the equation caused the red flags to come out and from the restart Jake Millward (Chambers Racing Husqvarna) led every lap to claim a debut Maxxis moto win.
Jake Shipton (Crescent Yamaha) followed him home for a career-best second with Searle, who’d got caught up in the earlier first-corner chaos, third ahead of the two-stroke of Brad Anderson (Verde Substance KTM) and Mel Pocock (ASA United KTM).
Series leader Shaun Simpson (RFX KTM powered by PAR Homes) broke the little finger on his right hand in the initial first-turn crash but, despite feeling extremely second-hand, came home seventh behind Gert Krestinov (Phoenix Tools Apico Kawasaki).
Searle led every lap of race two. Simpson took second from his team-mate Nathan Dixon in the early stages but, clearly in discomfort, faded back to fourth as first Harri Kullas (Cab Screens Deos Group Racing) and then Krestinov came through in the closing laps.
Millward was running at the sharp end at the start of race two and was looking good for the overall until he crashed and got a stone stuck in his master cylinder that caused his clutch to burn out. Shipton crashed into the back of Kullas and had to nurse his twisted bike home a lap down in 21st.
“It was a good day but also a strange day with the huge crash in the first race,” said Searle. “I injured my arm and we had to swap bikes before the restart so it was a bit hectic and I was a bit shook-up so the first race was difficult. I managed to get third which was the best that I could do with how I was feeling.”
Searle now leads Simpson by five points with Krestinov a further 55 behind.
It was all change in MX2 as well with Josh Gilbert (Buildbase Honda) claiming a career-first Maxxis overall by one point from Walsh with Ashton Dickinson (Craigs Motorcycles KTM) taking third overall.
The overall should have gone to Ostlund which would have seen him extend his series lead but the Swede had to be content with just 22 points from a race-two second after his suffered a technical DNF while leading the opener.
Gilbert’s 1-4 scorecard saw him finish just ahead of Walsh who ran 2-3 with Dickinson taking the final step on the podium with a 5-5 scorecard.
Gilbert was understandably ecstatic with his race win and overall.
“If I’m honest I didn’t feel comfortable all day but I managed to pull it off,” he said. “In the first moto I took a bit of time to settle down and I dropped to fourth for a little bit but I regrouped, found my rhythm and got back into second and then the leader ended up having a bike issue which was lucky for me.”
At the halfway stage it’s Walsh with a one-point advantage over Gilbert with Ostlund another six points adrift.
Blaxhall also played host to the fourth round of the MX2 Youth series and Ike Carter (GL12 Husqvarna) finally ended the win-streak of Joel Rizzi (RFX KTM powered by PAR Homes) who had come out on top at the first three rounds.
Rizzi struck first with victory in the opening moto ahead of Carter who then took the decision in race two from Dominic Lancett (Verde Substance KTM) and Rizzi to close the gap to 24 points.
In the 85cc support class Sam Atkinson (Phoenix Tools Apico Kawasaki) topped the BW division with a 1-1 scorecard from Bailey Johnston (KTM) who ran 2-2 ahead of Charlie Palmer (Passion Racing Husqvarna) who went 3-3.
The SW win went to Ben Mustoe (Judd Racing KTM) whose 2-1 scores gave him the decision on a tie-break from Tyla Hooly (KTM) who ran 1-2. Ryan Waggott (REVO Husqvarna UK) was third with a 3-3 card.
Picture © Imagerich Media