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Benstead claims Blaxhall overall! ACU Eastern Centre Motocross Championship Round 3 – Race Report & Results

Benstead claims Blaxhall overall! ACU Eastern Centre Motocross Championship Round 3 – Race Report & Results

Woodbridge MCC hosted round three of the Eastern Centre Motocross Championships, sponsored by Instanda and Stebbings Car Superstore on Sunday. Held in fine sunny conditions, the Blaxhall circuit was prepped to perfection and a large crowd enjoyed watching the action packed fifteen race programme.

Report by Charlie Raphh – Images courtesy of Richard Blyth – Image Rich Media

Following the timed practise sessions, the 200 riders were put into the five race groups, with the fastest 40 making up the points scoring premier class.

Luke Benstead

Race one of the Premier group saw Kawasaki rider, Luke Parker, storming to the front, but Luke Benstead (GH Husqvarna), took over at the front on lap two, and was never headed throughout the twenty minute long race. 2019 champion, Lewis Tombs, (Banks Honda), managed to pass Parker, but could not get within striking distance to challenge the on-form Benstead. Declan Whittle took his Lings Husqvarna to fourth at the finish, followed by Braintree’s Josh Peters, with Ben Cole rounding out the top six. The first Junior grade rider to cross the finish line was fifteen-year-old Bayliss Utting, riding the little 125cc Husqvarna, into a fine 10th place.

The second Premier class race saw lots of drama. Luke Parker once again led the forty strong pack, chased hard by Tombs, with Benstead right at the back of the field. Parker led for ten minutes until Tombs took over at the front. Parker held on to second place, chased by his two fellow Norfolk based riders, Ben Cole and Whittle, but all eyes were on the progress of Benstead, who was scything his way through the pack at a furious pace. At the end of lap one, he was already in 16th place, then, two laps later, he was into 7th position. On lap six, Benstead passed both Whittle and Cole to move to 3rd place, and at the end of twenty minutes, he had almost caught Parker, but had to settle for 20 points in 3rd place. At the finish it was Tombs, Parker, Benstead and Whittle, with Peters and Reece Martin making up the top six. Another brilliant ride from young Utting saw him the first Junior home again, this time in 13th place. Second best Junior was Kent rider, Ryan Matthews in 16th, closely followed by sixteen year old Callum Murfitt.

Luke Parker

Benstead stormed to the front of the third and final race and demonstrated his liking for the Blaxhall circuit by building up a huge lead. At the halfway point, he was already lapping riders, and had lapped up to 12th place at the end of an action-packed day. Ben Cole held second place for a couple of laps until passed by Tombs. Luke Parker had stalled his Pope Kawasaki at the start, but fought through to 3rd at the finish, followed by another good ride by Whittle for 4th place. Cole ended his day with a 5th place, ahead of the consistent Josh Peters, (Gabriel KTM). Young Callum Murfitt led the junior grade riders for most of the race but was passed by Bayliss Utting on the penultimate lap. Utting finished in a creditable14th place and scored the maximum 75 points in the Junior championship points tally.

Top Junior Bayliss Utting

In the A Group support races, enduro star, Jamie Roper took the overall win. Roper won the first two moto’s from veteran John Hinz, but after a sluggish start in race three, had to settle for second place. Hinz dominated the race, finishing over twenty seconds ahead of the rest. Consistent riding from Robert Baldry, Gareth Lane and Ben Gilbert saw them 3rd, 4th and 5th in the overall standings.

Local Woodbridge club member, Mark Hunt, easily won all three Group B races, and Tyrone Tugwell took his Kawasaki to second overall with a 5th and two 2nd place finishes.

Group B Start

Yamaha rider Philip Waldron had two wins and a second place to clinch the overall in Group C, with Vince Snell, who was racing for the first time after an absence of fourteen years, taking the 2nd spot with three good rides. Zac Roberts had a race win and a 2nd place, but a lowly 16th place in the third leg, ruined his overall chances.

The Group D support races saw Christian White narrowly taking the overall win from Jody Cutler and Shaun Tacey.

Lewis Tombs

Championship positions after round 3

Experts. Tombs 216, Parker 181, Whittle 168, Cole 135, Benstead 132, Martin 124

Juniors.  Gardiner 174, Murfitt 159, French 146, Fisher 116, Clark 96, Bunkle 93

Results

Premier Class Expert

Pos Competitor Points R1 R2 R3
1 Luke Benstead 70 25 20 25
2 Lewis Tombs 69 22 25 22
3 Luke Parker 62 20 22 20
4 Declan Whittle 54 18 18 18
5 Josh Peters 47 16 16 15
6 Benjamin Cole 45 15 14 16
7 Reece Martin 42 13 15 14
8 Max Broadbelt 37 14 10 13
9 Wiliam Farrow 35 12 13 10
10 Kieran Clarke 31 11 8 12
11 Stephen Wade 31 10 12 9
12 Jason Morland 26 9 9 8
13 Brad Woodroffe 22 11 11
14 Robert Nicoll 22 8 7 7
15 Glen Bixby 16 5 5 6
16 Jack Youngs 12 6 6
17 Harry Clark 7 7

Premier Class Junior

Pos Competitor Points R1 R2 R3
1 Bayliss Utting 75 25 25 25
2 Callum Murfitt 64 22 20 22
3 Ryan Gardiner 56 18 18 20
4 Ryan Matthews 53 13 22 18
5 Archie Fisher 46 15 15 16
6 Matthew French 43 16 13 14
7 Tommy Clark 39 12 16 11
8 Connor Bunkle 37 11 11 15
9 Jake Rackham 35 14 14 7
10 Benjamin Parry 30 7 10 13
11 Ryan McDonnell 28 20 8
12 Shane Brown 21 9 12
13 Finley Jarvis 21 9 12
14 Freddie Wyard 18 8 10
15 Harry Smith 17 6 3 8
16 Craig Heslop 16 10 6
17 Thomas Batts 14 1 4 9
18 Jedd Wheatley 11 4 7
19 Christopher Thorpe 10 5 5
20 Joe Phillips 9 2 1 6
21 Amie Goodlad 8 3 5
22 Lewis Holmes 6 2 4

Support A

Pos Competitor Points R1 R2 R3
1 Jamie Roper 133 45 45 43
2 John Hinz 131 43 43 45
3 Robert Baldry 119 41 37 41
4 Gareth Lane 110 37 34 39
5 Ben Gilbert 107 39 33 35
6 Mark Goodson 107 34 39 34
7 Jack Whitlam 105 33 35 37
8 Charlie Dormer 95 35 32 28
9 Joshua Deadman 92 25 41 26
10 Alby Smith 87 32 25 30
11 Archie Cockerill 85 23 30 32
12 Oliver Gaut 79 21 31 27
13 Karl Sturman 78 29 18 31
14 Paul Hubbard 77 24 29 24
15 James Rowsell 74 27 24 23
16 Benjamin Watling 71 19 27 25
17 Thomas Mustard 67 6 28 33
18 Henry Rogers 66 16 21 29
19 Scott Claydon 62 17 26 19
20 Callum Lake 54 20 12 22
21 Lloyd Goldstraw 54 12 22 20
22 Jay Peperell 51 7 23 21
23 Marc Nickerson 44 30 14
24 Daniel Wright 43 8 19 16
25 Ethan Plummer 42 11 17 14
26 Alex Truslow 39 13 16 10
27 Oliver Hill 33 15 18
28 Max Whittley 33 2 20 11
29 Jacob Carter 32 10 9 13
30 Luke Nolan 31 3 11 17
31 Ross Young 31 22 9
32 Marcus Smith 31 31
33 James Gadd 30 5 13 12
34 David Farrant 30 14 8 8
35 Jack Watling 29 4 10 15
36 John Hall 28 28
37 Lee Butson 26 26
38 Lee Kirkpatrick 24 9 15
39 Charlie Baker 18 18

Support B

Pos Competitor Points R1 R2 R3
1 Mark Hunt 135 45 45 45
2 Tyrone Tugwell 123 37 43 43
3 Dan Lee 121 43 41 37
4 Kyle Wilby 102 30 33 39
5 Joshua Warren 101 33 37 31
6 Josh Sturman 91 23 35 33
7 Gareth Cushion 88 32 27 29
8 Fynn Ellis 82 34 21 27
9 Stephen Atkins 79 21 32 26
10 Lee Scott 78 22 34 22
11 Joshua Fullalove 78 39 39
12 Scott Blazey 75 24 23 28
13 Shaun Palfrey 74 17 22 35
14 Ethan Cone 73 19 24 30
15 William Jurgens 68 27 41
16 Mitchell Beagrie 63 15 29 19
17 Josh Smith 62 31 31
18 Henry Cox 59 35 24
19 Luke Clifton 57 25 32
20 Georgia Potter 57 13 26 18
21 Michael Kester 57 14 28 15
22 Sam Menzies 55 30 25
23 Sam Edwards 53 19 34
24 Ty Atkins 52 6 25 21
25 Aidan Weston 50 9 18 23
26 Andrew Cattermole 41 41
27 Tom Sutton 40 10 14 16
28 Steven Bennett 40 28 12
29 Ben Roper 37 17 20
30 Bradley Allen 33 18 15
31 Kevin Rossiter 33 20 13
32 Ben Roberts 32 12 20
33 Ben Secker 32 16 16
34 Jack Janes 29 29
35 Craig Page-Baker 26 26
36 Dexter Lambe 24 7 17
37 Jake Lane 11 11
38 Charlie Starsmoore 8 8

Support C

Pos Competitor Points R1 R2 R3
1 Philip Waldron 133 45 43 45
2 Vincent Snell 119 37 39 43
3 Reece Horne 119 41 41 37
4 Sam Cushion 117 39 37 41
5 Zak Roberts 113 43 45 25
6 Reece Gill 103 34 35 34
7 George Stark 98 26 33 39
8 Lewis Dorling 98 33 34 31
9 Aaron Saunders 93 35 32 26
10 Max Monk 90 31 24 35
11 Dean Suckling 81 28 25 28
12 Robert Hayden 80 29 29 22
13 Lewis Saunders 78 20 28 30
14 Steven East 77 18 26 33
15 Chris Gaut 72 27 16 29
16 Aaron Holden 72 21 27 24
17 Sebastian Millbank 67 4 31 32
18 Conor Bardwell 62 32 30
19 George Reeves Furness 60 24 9 27
20 Jason Turner 54 14 17 23
21 Samuel Cook 51 11 19 21
22 Alfie Self 51 30 21
23 Andrew Rooke 49 17 15 17
24 Katie Stock 45 19 11 15
25 Luke Jordan Pharoah 45 22 23
26 Robert Green 45 23 22
27 Thomas Olley 44 7 18 19
28 Jack Noon 42 10 14 18
29 Troy Brumpton 38 6 12 20
30 Lewis Abel 38 25 13
31 Robbie Blaxell 36 16 20
32 Tony Rooke 33 9 8 16
33 Andrew Smith 32 8 10 14
34 James Day 19 13 6
35 Jesse Eaves 15 15
36 Tom Garnham 12 12
37 Russell Snowling 10 3 7
38 Ryan Whitehead 5 5

Support D

Pos Competitor Points R1 R2 R3
1 Christian White 123 45 33 45
2 Jody Cutler 123 43 41 39
3 Shaun Tacey 121 35 43 43
4 Adam Groom 119 39 45 35
5 Mark Hegarty 117 41 35 41
6 William Mcrae 100 29 34 37
7 Darren Stone 93 34 39 20
8 Anna Groves 91 32 28 31
9 Shaun Mutch 91 33 31 27
10 Carl Hood 87 24 29 34
11 Jason Eaves 87 25 30 32
12 Gene Barfield 83 28 22 33
13 Thomas Davies 77 26 21 30
14 Jack Matthews 74 37 37
15 Adam Baker 71 23 24 24
16 Michael Foster 70 16 25 29
17 Matthew Herring 70 22 20 28
18 Christopher Bickley 69 21 23 25
19 David Homan 62 30 32
20 Michael Blaxell 60 19 19 22
21 Kane Young 54 27 27
22 Geraint Hubbard 53 15 17 21
23 Luke Olen 52 26 26
24 Colin Booker 45 13 14 18
25 Kai Ryder 39 16 23
26 Liam Ryland-Pye 37 18 19
27 Keeley Winyard 31 31
28 Aiden Payne 29 14 15
29 Stephen Hood 20 20
30 Jacques Hesse 18 18
31 Ben Saltmarsh 17 17