The ACU Express Insurance British Youth Motocross Championship season kicked off in style at the Moto land Circuit at Mildenhall Suffolk on Saturday and Sunday.
Organised and run by the excellent CJSC club, who had put a lot of hours into getting everything ready for this the season opener, along with Cliff and his team at Moto land for the track preparations. All must be congratulated for their tied less efforts over the weekend. Conditions on the track were perfect for the 2009 season opener and produced some spectacular racing, and a few season woes, for some of the fancied riders.
Riders awoke on the Saturday to a damp and misty morning, to get the qualifying and timed practice over before the racing in earnest started, The changeable weather all day of hailstones, rain, and a glimpse of sunshine made the track a bit sticky in places, but some good racing by all the classes made sure that all got their two races in on the day.
The Big Wheel 85 riders were first to the line, and it was Par Homes youngster Nathan Watson who hit the front, with Ben Howell, Jamie McCanney, James Dunn, Luke Norris, Matthew Fleming and Ryan Houghton all nose to tail behind him, scrapping for the other places. Ryan Houghton took the second place, and McCanney took third, after some tussles with Howell and Matthew Fleming. Watson again hit the front in race two and held it until lap six when Houghton took him, and Dunn also got him on the next lap, pushing him down to third, where he stayed but not without a fight by Sunny Thompson who was ninth at the start and ended up in fourth.
Next up was the Small Wheel 85 class, and yet another Watson hit the front in Race one, this time young Par man Ben Watson, he took the lead ahead of Isle of Mans Callan Cooper, Tom Neal, and Brad Freeman. Watson dominated the lead and left the rest to scrap for the minor placings, Tom Neal took Cooper on lap three and stayed there until the end to take second, while Cooper was looking to take third, but a last lap error cost him dearly as Connor Clark took the third place, with Matthew Callaghan claiming fourth, and Cooper remounted to take an eventual fifth.
Race two and Watson took off in the lead again and stayed there to the end leaving Cooper and Freeman to battle it out for second and third, They stayed in that order but Freeman was under a lot of pressure for his place by Robert Davidson who took him and got the third place, and Tom Neal and Clarke also took him to take fourth and fifth. Freeman eventually finishing in eighth.
This year’s Junior 65cc class sponsored by Cobra Motorcycles was up next and it was going to be a battle by a few of ex GP star trainer Justin Morris’s prodigies, and it was a battle. Race one saw young Sid Evans take the lead ahead of Keenan Armstrong and Conrad Mewse, with the pack all closely behind them. Mewse took over in the lead on lap two and held it for two laps until Henry Williams took him and went on to win, with Mewse having to settle for second. Daniel Knight took the third place, just ahead of Will Keogh in fourth.
Race two and Mewse took the lead and Daniel Knight was behind him until he was taken by Williams, Connor Hughes, Evans and Jamie Carpenter. Mewse took the win with Williams second and Hughes claimed the third place. Next up was the Par Youth open class, and predictions went out of the window after race one. Josh Waterman was back and on form as he took the holeshot in race one, but it was Redline KTM’s Josh Spinks who came round in front on lap one, with G-Force rider Steven Smyth in second and Connor Walkley in third, and Waterman down in fourth. Lap two and Walkley took Smyth to move into second, and by lap three Waterman had also got past Smyth to get third place. Spinks went on to take race one, while Walkley and Waterman fought for second. Waterman took the second place with Walkley settling for third, but only just has Jack Rowland had sneaked up on him and had to settle in the end for fourth.
Race two and this time it was Moto1 youngster James Hutchinson who took the lead, ahead of Spinks and Waterman. Kevin Townsend and Walkley were just behind the three out front, and having their own battle. Waterman took Spinks to move into second and it stayed this way to the end. Hutchinson taking the win from start to finish, but coming under pressure at times by Waterman who claimed second with Spinks in third.
A new class for 2009 saw the Adult Clubman Experts and the Adult Clubman Junior championship races added to the meetings. Race one saw David Fearne take the race win in the experts with Ryan Pottenger taking the second place. In the Clubman Junior class Peter Eccles took the race one win ahead of George Baldwin and Zac Stealey in second and third.
Race two finished the same in the experts with Fearne taking the win and Pottenger second. In the Junior Clubman Race two Baldwin took the win ahead of Eccles and Christopher Pallett in second and third. Day Two of racing got underway in glorious sunshine, and with the new format of racing, of two races on Saturday and three races on Sunday, everyone was up for another set of close racing. Out first were the Big Wheel boys and it was Nathan Watson again out in the lead in race three, with Sunny Thompson in second and Luke Norris in third. Watson went on to win with Thompson second, but Norris faltered and Ryan Houghton took the third place.
Race Four and Norris took the lead ahead of Dunn and Fleming, but Norris was took by Dunn on lap three, and he went on to win race four with Norris second and Fleming in third. The final race of the day saw Watson and Thompson out front with Dunn close behind, but Houghton was on the move and took Dunn and went on to claim the third place. The overall results should have seen Watson take the overall, but after an infringement of the rules he was demoted to second behind Houghton who took the overall, with James Dunn taking third.
Ben Watson showed he will be hard to beat this year as he took the race win in the third race for the Small Wheel 85’s, taking his wins to three out of three. Tom Neal showed early on in the race but was having a battle with Connor Clark, Clark getting the better of him on lap five to take second, Neal settling for third. Race Four and Five saw Watson take his tally of wins to five out of five, and take the overall win on the day, with Neal taking second overall after some good rides, Clark claimed the third position, with Davidson coming in fourth.
In the Cobra 65 junior class Race three was won by Aaron Piper with Henry Williams second and Conrad Mewes third. Race Four and Mewse took the win ahead of in second Connor Hughes and Sid Evans in third. The final race of the weekend for the little pocket rockets saw Mewse take another win, with Williams in second and Jamie Carpenter in third. Mewse took the overall ahead of Williams in second and Carpenter in third after some steady rides all weekend, Daniel Knight claimed the fourth place.
The third race for the Youth open boys saw Spinks out at the start, but two riders who gave the spectators some great racing on Saturday started day two where they left off. Waterman and Hutchinson were on the pace and in race three it was Hutchinson who got the better of Waterman to take the win, Jack Rowland was in watching mode in third after some battle with Spinks.
Race Four of five and Hutchinson was in cruise mode out in front, with Waterman chasing him down in second this was another race to watch, Spinks and Rowland were in battle again in third and fourth. Then the tragedy happened near the end of the third lap for Hutchinson as he whipped the bike over the table top, and lost his footing to straighten it up and landed horizontal on the downside of the jump, this ended the battle as Hutchinson with a suspected broken wrist crawled to the side of the track as Waterman came over behind him, and go on to win the race. Spinks took the second place and Rowlands the third. Race five and with no Hutchinson, Waterman took the race win from start to finish, with Spinks and Rowlands battling to the end, Spinks eventually getting the second and Rowlands third, Smyth claimed the fourth.
Waterman took the overall, with Spinks second and Rowlands third. In the Adult Clubman Experts Ryan Pottenger took the overall after three wins on day two, David Fearne taking second. The Adult Clubman Juniors was won overall by George Baldwin, with Peter Eccles second and Zac Stealey third.
Results Big Wheel 85cc
1. Ryan Houghton (205 Points)
2. Nathan Watson (204)
3. James Dunn (195)
4. Sunny Thompson (189)
5. Matthew Fleming (175)
6. Aaron Piper (169)
7. Jake Millward (157)
8. Josh Brine (156)
9. Luke Norris (148)
10. Luke Newman (148).
Small Wheel 85cc
1. Ben Watson (225 points)
2. Tom Neal (198)
3. Connor Clark (193)
4. Robert Davidson (190)
5. Callan Cooper (190)
6. Liam Knight (177)
7. Brad Freeman (163)
8. Brad Todd (157)
9. Matthew Callaghan (156)
10. Stuart Fee (145).
Cobra 65cc Junior
1. Conrad Mewse ( 217 Points)
2. Henry Williams (206)
3. Jamie Carpenter (181)
4. Daniel Knight (181)
5. Aaron Piper (176)
6. Connor Hughes (172)
7. Jack Camwell (166)
8. David Keet (159)
9. Ryan Vickers (155)
10. Will Keogh (151).
PAR Youth Open
1. Josh Waterman (216 points)
2. Josh Spinks (207)
3. Jack Rowland (194)
4. Daniel McCanney (175)
5. Christy Harnett (165)
6. Ewan McLaren (165)
7. Aaron Jenner (160)
8. Steven Smyth (158)
9. Connor Walkley (151)
10. Ryan King (132).
Adult Clubman Expert.
1. Ryan Pottenger (219 points)
2. David Fearne (216).
Adult Clubman Junior
1. George Baldwin (222 points)
2. Peter Eccles (207)
3. Zac Stealey (196)
4. John Richardson (184)
5. Justin Edgar (169)
6. Darren Richardson (169).