The colourful team event that is the ACU Compass Cup took place at Preston Docks over the weekend of the 19th & 20th of October, as many riders finished their season before moving to new bikes and even classes for 2025. Battling the elements which conspired to drench the circuit both before and during the weekend, the Preston Docks track crew and the organising Kensworth SMXC did brilliantly to ensure that all four blocks of racing took place and served up some highly entertaining Motocross throughout!
As usual, no adult MX1 or MX2 British Championship riders were permitted for any of the teams in the over-35 Vet class or Adult Open, although several top-class Youth racers once more competed in the Youth Open, Youth 125, Big-Wheel 85, Small-Wheel 85, Junior 65 and Auto classes. Each team could field five riders in each class, although there were many changes even in the week leading up to the event, with the Weston Beach Race putting paid to a few competitors’ chances due to injury or mechanical issues.
The seven teams competing were reigning Champions Kensworth SMXC, Cheshire North West MX, East Kent SSC, GEST Hastings MX, Mid Sussex MCC, Norfolk & Suffolk JMCC, and Peterborough JMC. All of the riders and teams made incredible efforts with matching outfits throughout, and even changing their regular numbers to match those run by the teams in all classes.
Holeshot Awards were given out for all classes by Destination MX, given for the second block of the weekend.
This year’s event was incredibly close between Kensworth, who came in as Champions for the last three years, and the determined Peterborough JMC crew, who had earned their first podium with third in 2023. The battle for the podium between Cheshire North West and East Kent was also a close one. With such a massive number of scorers, the timekeeping crew had a tough job to make sure all the scores got counted correctly, and the winning team was announced on the Podium after the lead swung several ways throughout the weekend!
The Auto class saw the riders have difficulty with the deep sandy circuit, although Peterborough rider Cohen Llewellyn was getting around with a great turn of speed, dominating the weekend with four race wins, although he was docked three positions for riding through the pits after race three, granting that race win to his teammate, Kobe Roberts! East Kent riders Harley Sims and Albie Wood took second & third overall, although their teammate Charlie Campbell, Kensworth rider Jesse Eyles, and Roberts all broke into the top three during the weekend. Amazingly, Kensworth took the most points from the class as Eyles, Trevor Hill and Kolbe Sole took fourth to sixth positions overall, joined by Ronnie Hunt and Willow Birkby in 11th and 14th to outscore Peterborough by just two points over the weekend! Peterborough’s Roberts, Max Hudson, and Lenny Coppack filled seventh to ninth overall, with another East Kent rider, Carlton Baker, rounding out the top ten.
Peterborough made its biggest truckload of points in the Junior 65cc class, as a four-moto maximum for Finlee Pope, fresh from finishing third in the 65cc British Championship, was backed up with three seconds and a third for Frankie Noll, plus fourth and fifth overall for their teammates Harry Newton and Zach White! Even their fifth rider Seb Chartell added a fourth in race four after suffering a no-score in race one!
Third overall went to Kensworth’s Harley-James Barrow, as White and Cheshire NW rider Jacob Wright also broke into the top three in one race each. Last year’s Auto winner Max Miller took sixth overall for Norfolk & Suffolk, backed up by his teammate Bentley Russell in seventh. Oliver Trafford from Cheshire NW took eighth ahead of Mid Sussex rider Harrison Giles and East Kent’s Harry Hackett.
It was mighty close in the team points standings for the Small-Wheel 85s, with Kensworth scoring just 13 points more than Peterborough through the whole weekend! They were helped massively by the consistent Franky Donoghue, who won the class overall for the second straight year, finishing with three second places and the last race win, as the speed of Cheshire North West’s Finley Cookson took races one and three, but crashes limited him to fifth and fourth in the other two, and second overall!
The second race win was taken by Franky’s teammate Teddy Merriman, who claimed the third overall spot on the podium with a fine second in race four, as Peterborough’s top rider Riley Butterworth took fourth overall with a best of two third places. Mid Sussex flyer Henry Lewis took fifth overall, and Kensworth’s Rylee Byrne sixth, each of them grabbing a single third place finish. Jimmy Boxall and Talen Hodgson took seventh and ninth overall for Peterborough, either side of Cheshire NW kid Bobby Shallcross. Louis Thomas took tenth overall for East Kent, while Charley Gerrard and Nathan Weaver also contributed to Kensworth being the top team in the class!
The BW85 class saw a repeat of the previous season, with a maximum for Norfolk & Suffolk’s top rider Alfie Geddes-Green, who barely saw anyone ahead of him all weekend. Behind him, the Kensworth team only had four riders, but still took the top points haul from this class, with the previous weekend’s Weston Beach Race winner Blake Ward-Clarke taking second each time, and Chase Panter persevering through the weekend to grab third overall in the final race!
Kensworth’s other scorers were Rylee Mortimer in ninth, and Riley-Ray Barrow, who was third in each of Saturday’s races but suffered a mechanical failure in race three, restricting him to 11th overall. Luke Thomas took three fourth places and a fifth for fourth overall as Peterborough’s best rider, joined in the top ten by Kolbie Smith in seventh. Oakley Skinner rounded out the top five for Mid Sussex ahead of Archie Humphrey for Cheshire NW. Ned Jones was the best for GEST Hastings in eighth overall and Tommy Pope helped Norfolk & Suffolk to bookend the top ten!
The Youth 125 class served up some of the best racing for the whole weekend, even though the results don’t really give much of a clue to that! Kayden Smith, in his last ride on a 125 as he goes up to a 250F next year, signed off in style with four on-track wins that helped Peterborough to their second-best class total of the event. Harry Jarvis in sixth, Reggie Gomm in seventh, Junior Weaver in ninth, and Zachary Howells in 14th also pitched in for Peterborough.
Kensworth’s Travis Bixby plugged away for second overall, being granted the win in race four as Smith was penalised for riding in the pits, as was GEST Hastings rider Harry Lee. Lee had moved up from the BW85 class and showed real speed on the 125, but poor starts and crashes kept him to third overall. Harry and Kayden put on a real scrap in the final race, as Lee finally got the start he needed to catch Smith. Smith would not be denied however and retaliated to take the lead back at halfway! Lee charged after his rival, and the last lap saw a drag race up the final straight as Smith crossed the line just a quarter of a second ahead!
Cheshire NW riders Toby Adamson and Kayden Boyd packed out the top five in fourth and fifth, although Boyd was second in each of Saturday’s races before a first corner crash in race three robbed him of continuing that run. Travis Laughton took two fourths and a third but suffered a DNF in race three which dropped him to eighth overall for Mid Sussex, and Luke Hodgson rounded out the top ten for GEST Hastings.
George Corke had the best day of any GEST Hastings rider with a four-moto maximum in the Youth Open class, but the battle raged behind him for the podium places, Kensworth’s Kai Thorpe bringing home second overall, just ahead of East Kent rider Jon Waghorn, who took the podium spot with a brilliant second in race four to deny Peterborough’s Dayton Thompson on a tie-break! East Kent were the top scorers in the class, as Waghorn was joined by the trio of Harry Farlam in fifth, Jayden Williams in sixth, and Jack Hollamby in seventh, with Kieran Wightman taking 14th. Albie Hall and Hadley Coppard claimed eighth and ninth, while Sam Beebe in tenth helped Peterborough to outscore Kensworth in the class, which proved to be vital in the final standings!
The Kensworth club enjoyed its biggest points haul in the Adult Open class, as Todd Ritchie, class winner in 2022, and Rob Wood powered to 1-2 finishes in every single race. Backed up by Lewis Huckerby and Kyle Creevy, who took ninth and tenth overall, plus Richard Carter who was around them on Saturday before crashing out of Sunday, the reigning Champions clawed back a lot of points here. Cheshire North West had Dan Parry take to the podium for the second straight year with third overall, joined in the top ten by his teammate Will Orritt in seventh. Sam Ongley and Kieran Clarke each got top three race finishes on their way to fourth and fifth overall for GEST Hastings, and Josh Bassett battled to sixth overall for Mid Sussex on his two-stroke KTM. Bradley Skinner, on the podium last year, was Peterborough’s best rider in eighth overall.
The Vet class rounded out the action for each block, and Cheshire North West had their only overall winner in this class thanks to a maximum performance from Andrew Wilson. He held off the challenge from last year’s winner Matthew White, who “made life hard for myself” with crashes throughout the event, taking second overall for Kensworth. Ben Lambert-Williams claimed the third step on the podium for East Kent with a great ride in the final outing. Falling in the second corner, he helped Stuart Morrison remove his leg from his own rear wheel before remounting and charging back to third behind Steve Worts! Worts took fourth overall for Kensworth ahead of Morrison and East Kent’s Paul Barrand.
Craig Heslop and Kevin Gomm took seventh and eighth for Peterborough, Morrison’s GEST Hastings teammate Jason Buffery claimed ninth, and Mid Sussex rider Rupert Kimber tenth. Tom Harwood, Wildman Willis, and Paul Edge helped Kensworth to top scorer status in the Vets class.
So the scores were finally announced at the podium presentation – by just 99 points, aaaaand NEW Compass Cup Champions – Peterborough Junior Motocross Club! Massive celebrations were seen at the podium as Kensworth’s three-year streak had come to an end, and Cheshire North West MX also celebrated their best result yet in third, just 62 points ahead of East Kent SSC, with GEST Hastings in fifth, Norfolk & Suffolk sixth, and Mid Sussex coming home in seventh.
The Compass Cup is the sort of grass roots family Motocross event that represents everything great about the sport. Even with often miserable weather and a muddy paddock, the spirit between the teams was fantastic, and the job done by the track crews to create a brilliant racetrack in such conditions cannot be overstated. On to next year!
Race Report by Ben Rumbold – Images by Anthony Hylton
Sourced from www.DirtHub.co.uk