On Sunday the 28th of July, the Woodbridge DMCC hosted their third motocross event of the year, with an open motocross meeting including Round 5 of the popular NGR championship. A strong lineup of expert and fast junior riders were ready to battle it out in the Suffolk sunshine, on one of the countries most fierce and spectacular circuits.
In group A race 1, Luke Parker (MPM Kawasaki) was quick out of the gate alongside fellow Eastern Centre regulars Sam Nunn (John Banks Honda), Tom Grimshaw (Apico Honda) and Shaun Southgate (GH Motorcycles Yamaha). Top national 250cc riders Ben Mustoe (ASA Gas Gas) and Taylor Hammal (Crendon TRU7 Honda) were fighting for places in the top 10, while the super talented youngster Josh Vail (SJP/RFX KTM) was flying on his125cc machine through traffic, after a less-than-ideal start. Parker looked confident in the early stages and even started to pull away from Nunn as the top 5 all bunched up together, meaning some very close action on track. After multiple laps in the lead, Parker had to watch Nunn and then Grimshaw go through as they both reignited their rivalry for 2024. Hammal started to crank the pressure up on Mustoe and found his way past into 4th and onto the rear wheel of Parker. The battle for the lead intensified during the last half of the 18 minute plus one lap race but, Sam Nunn held of Grimshaw for the win, as Hammal made his way into third past Parker. Ben Mustoe crossed the line in fifth while Josh Vail came home in a very respectable nineth.
Group A race 2 saw a fast and frantic start as 40 riders came charging into the first few turns, and Ben Mustoe powered his 250 to the front early on. With Nunn and Grimshaw ready to trade blows behind him, Mustoe was laying it all on the line in the hope for a race win. He would lead for a handful of laps before the inevitable happened and the ever-smooth Nunn came to the front of the pack. Grimshaw would follow him through into second and Hammal also made the move passed Mustoe as he unfortunately started to drop down the order with bike issues. Nunn would then lead for the remainder of the race holding off Grimshaw and Hammal, while Parker and Tom Murphy rounded out the top 5. Top 3 in the overall was Nunn, Grimshaw and Hammal.
In the NGR championship opening race there was a nasty incident during the first half of the race causing the red flag to appear and bring proceedings to a lengthy pause, while the injured rider gained much needed medical assistance. Everybody at the Woodbridge DMCC would like to wish the injured rider a speedy and full recovery. Unfortunately, with the stoppage being a significant period of time the racing was cut short by one full block, meaning 8 races instead of 12.
A full race restart got under way for the NGR group and Arran Powley fired his 2-stroke to the lead and would control from the front for the remainder of the race. John Hinz was consistent as ever and came home second ahead of Lee Kirkpatrick in third.
Race 2 for the NGR group seemed to be going the same way as the first with Powley leading Hinz before the leader Powley, would fall in the shade of the woods and lose the lead. Hinz would take the race win ahead of championship leader Aaron Hopkins in second, while Shane Brown came home in third.
The Group B honours were taken by Scott Claydon with a 1-1 ahead of Joshua Andrews with a 4-2. Third was John Hilton with a 2-6 finish.
In Group C the overall winner was Luke Clifton with a 1-1 ahead of Luke Reeve with a 2-3. In third was Marcus Becque with a 4-2 finish.
The next meeting at Blaxhall will be on the 15th of September for the Eastern Centre Championship.
Race Report by Stefan Hicks
Photos by Dean Warner