British MMX Championship Report

OPEN

In the Open class, CCM’s Jason Dougan put himself at the pointy end in race one until a crash further back in the pack resulted in the race being red flagged after about four laps. In the resulting restart, it was MVR-D Suzuki’s Carl Nunn who rounded turn one in first, with pole-sitter Brad Anderson getting tangled up, going down and joining the race in dead last. Nunn started to check out while Bryan Mackenzie and Stephen Sword had a dice up for a couple of laps before Red Bull KTM UK’s Sword put in a pass for second and started trying to reel in the fast-departing Nunn. By the end of the third lap, Mackenzie dropped back to fifth, while CCM’s Tom Church moved into third, one spot ahead of ex-CCM rider Refurb Hanson Kawasaki’s Kristian Whatley. Sword did his best to catch up with Nunn, but it was all in vain as the MVR-D man crossed the line six seconds ahead of the Scot, with Church finishing in an excellent third.

Race 1

1.         Carl Nunn
2.         Stephen Sword
3.         Tom Church
4.         Kristian Whatley
5.         Lewis Gregory

In the second race, there was drama as soon as the gate dropped, as Nunn and Sword touched on the uphill drag to the first corner, dropping them both back in the pack, and Par Honda’s Brad Anderson grabs the holeshot with MotoXtreme Kawasaki’s Lewis Gregory sitting in second. At the end of the first lap, Sword was way back in 12th,, but with the bit between his teeth starts putting in some awesome laps on his 250F, passing plenty of 450s as he made his way up the leaderboard. At the front, Anderson put a few seconds on the rest of the field and kept it mistake-free as he brought the Honda home in first place, with Tom Church having another good ride to second and Sword passing Lewis Gregory on the last lap to take third.

Race 2

1.         Brad Anderson
2.         Tom Church
3.         Stephen Sword
4.         Lewis Gregory
5.         Alex Snow

Overall

1.         Tom Church    42 pts
2.         Stephen Sword           42pts
3.         Carl Nunn       41pts

Under 21

At the end of the first lap, it was Moto One KTM’s Shane Carless heading the pack, but it’s not long before GP runner Jake Nicholls puts his Red Bull KTM to the front and starts to pull out a small gap on the rest of the field. Rather than have it all his own way, Nicholls soon has PAR Homes Honda’s Scott Elderfield breathing down his neck and the two of them pull out a gap on the rest of the pack. Nicholls seems to have the measure of the PAR rider and, try as he might, Elderfield cannot get close enough to attempt a pass. As the race winds down, Nicholls pulls out a one-second buffer, which he maintains to the flag to take the win ahead of Elderfield in second and Graeme Irwin in third.

Race 1

1.         Jake Nicholls
2.         Scott Elderfield
3.         Graeme Irwin
4.         Shane Carless
5.         Richard Sandberg

In the second race, lady luck smiles on Nicholls, as by the end of the first lap he is sitting pretty in first with Elderfield way back in ninth. Nicholls puts in a run of super smooth laps and pulls out a huge gap on the rest of the field, with MVR-D Suzuki’s Mattis Karro being the only person keeping him honest. Further back in the pack, both Elderfield and KTM UK’s Graeme Irwin put in excellent rides to climb back through the field to put themselves in third and fourth place, respectively, while Nicholls cruises for the last couple of laps to take the win by 3.5 seconds from Karro.

Race 2

1.         Jake Nicholls
2.         Mattis Karro
3.         Scott Elderfield
4.         Graeme Irwin
5.         Richard Sandberg

Overall

1.         Jake Nicholls   50pts
2.         Scott Elderfield          42pts
3.         Graeme Irwin  38pts