Monday July 1, 2019 at 4:53pm
Newly elevated to the factory Monster Energy Kawasaki team as a fill-in rider, Tommy Searle raced to a double win at round five of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship supported by Pro Clean at Desertmartin on Sunday.
With his main title rival Shaun Simpson (RFX KTM powered by PAR Homes) suffering two mechanical failures, Searle now leads the MX1 class by 55 points after five of eight rounds.
“It was a good weekend for me going 1-1,” he said, “but it was a bit strange with Simpson’s bike breaking both races. Now I have a big points lead which is obviously great for the championship but I enjoyed it being close for the title so on one hand it’s good, on the other hand it takes away the excitement a little bit.”
In the MX2 class young Dutch rider Bas Vaessen (Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee) came away with the overall win thanks to a 1-2 card at his team’s home track.
“I think we had a solid day,” he said. “Qualifying was amazing. First moto, I pulled the holeshot and rode away, that was easy. The second moto I made it hard for myself. I dumped the clutch too fast and dug the tyre in. I had to come from about fifth but made some quick passes on the first lap.
“I was faster than [Dylan] Walsh and should’ve been more aggressive to force a pass, I need to work on that. We got the overall but it should’ve been with two moto wins.”
Returning to action after breaking his hand last time out at Blaxhall, Simpson was fastest in qualifying by over half-a-second and holeshot both 25-minute plus two lap races before a mystery mechanical issue put him out of each.
With the Scot sidelined Jake Millward (Chambers Racing Husqvarna) ended the day second with 2-5 scores ahead of Jake Shipton (Crescent Yamaha) who ran 4-4 for a career-best third overall.
Although Vaessen came out on top in MX2, Dylan Walsh (REVO Husqvarna UK) kept hold of the red series leader’s plate and actually extended his advantage with 5-1 scores to six points over his team-mate Alvin Ostlund who went 2-3 and moved up to second in the title race with Vaessen in third a further 18 points adrift.
Josh Gilbert (Buildbase Honda) started the day just one point behind Walsh and moved into the series lead with a fourth place in race one before a mechanical problem put him out of the second moto.
In the 85cc support class Ollie Colmer (REVO Husqvarna UK) took a double win in the BW class from Sam Atkinson (Phoenix Tools Apico Kawasaki) who went 2-2 and Jay Sherry (KTM) who ran 3-3. Victory in the SW category was claimed by Ryan Waggott (REVO Husqvarna UK) with a 1-3 card from Jake Farrelly (Husqvarna) who went 2-2 ahead of Fin Wilson (Husqvarna) who carded 5-1.
Picture © Imagerich Media