Glory at Foxhill for Chester! BSMA Apico Nationals Round 4 – Race Report & Results

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Echo’s of the glory days of British motocross were on the lips of many as the BSMA APICO nationals moved onto the iconic venue in Swindon of Foxhills moto park. Many riders had never visited the steep valley sides before and there was an air of grandeur following in the tyre tracks of the likes of Stefan Everts and Seb Tortelli. Many track changes have taken place since including a Monster energy supercross style speedway section around the back of the start and round the outside of the start straight, not to mention the huge downhill step down!

Report and Images by Ady Cowshall – Images of Speed

The short start straight into a hairpin saw barely a rider on the ground all weekend and it was the fastest A group adult lads that tested that first as wildcard Tyrone Cleaver and just back from injury, Glen Phillips went at it with Cleaver managing to stay out front while Phillips got caught by Drew Anderson who then tried to get to the front but Cleaver held him at bay. Championship red plate holder Carl Jones fought hard to come up through the pack to take third ahead of Nathan Frayne, then came Kris Ayres who got around a tiring Phillips on the last lap. The Apico holeshot went to Phillips in race two but he pulled out halfway round due to injury leaving Frayne to take the reins and for two laps he held Anderson at bay until the pressure became too intense. Cleaver found passing tricky and it took him till the last lap to move up to third at the flag putting Ayres back to fourth with a quiet ride for Daniel Sultana in fifth. Anderson claimed another victory in the third after getting round Jones and hounding Cleaver till he found a gap. The two banged bars trading places several times before the place was finalized. Ayres followed Jones over the line and Frayne battled hard to get up to fifth before relinquishing it to Frazer Gardner as time ran down.

Sunday saw a new face on the line in Rob Yates but it was Cleaver who got the drop on Anderson and Jones had all Yeates lines covered for the first half of the race. Anderson got around Cleaver only to be re-passed later and had to settle for second while Yeates finally moved up to third before setting the fastest lap but was too far back from the lead duo. Aiden Williams came across the line for fifth ahead of Gardner. Final moto saw Yeates go down, in turn, one leaving it all down to Cleaver and Anderson, the latter getting another victory, Jones took the measure of rival Frayne and Ayres rounded out the top five.

Senior action was up and down with class’s mixed but it was the 250f class out on top with mistakes determining the overall. Three wins going the way of Leon Williams wasn’t enough to take the overall as Harvey James picked up the other two wins and despite having a few bikes between them was second in class behind Williams each time giving him a chunk of points over Williams for the weekend. With Bailey Utting and Ben Zeale booth getting in front of Williams, the battle for third was tight and only four points separated the third and fourth place finishers with Utting edging out Zeale and not far adrift in fifth Connor Jago. In the 125 class again more calamities as Kayde Rayns took four wins and a DNF handing the overall to a tightly contested battle between Henry Life and Jack Peacey with the nod by just four points going to Life by virtue of better consistency. Louis Vincent only rode Saturdays races gaining two second place finishes which could have put a different light on things. Colin Stewart was out on a new Fantic 125 and seemed to be enjoying his new stead bringing it home for fourth overall ahead of Levi Davies who put in a blinding third place in the third moto.

The Junior 65 riders put on a fabulous display of close racing as the overall could have gone in a number of directions Three different race winners but it was consistency that was key as William Evans bagged three wins backed up with two second places to in the end take a comfortable points win over his closest rival. Sean Smout was banging on the door taking the second victory and following Evans home on both occasions Saturday but the slightly damper conditions on Sunday didn’t seem to sit as well with Smout as a third and a heavy fall in the final moto remounting near the tail end of the field to come back through to fifth just being enough to edge out Sunday first moto winner Ifan Wyn Rees who really put the hammer down to deny Evans of a fourth win tying on point with Smout on the overall. Behind this trio of winners, William Dennis was watching and waiting for the chance to pick up the pieces, two third-placed finishes and a trio of fourths put him comfortably in fourth just waiting for a piece of podium pie. Behind and seemingly locked together in each race were Mason Brown and Danny Jamal, every time they took to the track they seemed to be locked in battle with Brown getting the better on four out of the five outings and consequently taking the fifth overall, but Jamal is improving week on week, cutting out the silly mistakes and improving his results.

Auto riders must see Foxhills as a nightmare with the vast size of the hills and jumps but like the junior riders missed out on the biggest set of hills and got on with the task in hand. Once more there was a pattern with Cohan Jagielski blitzing the field. Although in the first race Jacob Hackett managed to stay within striking distance had he made an unforced error. But with the remaining races, Jagielski really had no competition apart from himself as he strived to improve his own riding. Hackett had pulled away from third-placed Jamie Currie in the first moto while clinging onto the pace of Jagielski but it was a much tighter race in the second moto, still crossing the line in the same 1-2-3 but with the leader out of sight, Hackett had Currie in close attendance as they took the flag. Unfortunately, Hackett went down awkwardly on one of the slower jumps and ended up out of the event injured whilst having some great rides. Leaving the door open for Currie to step up to take the last three second place finishes. The points got very tight for third as Jimmy Whiston was holding off Oaklan Winnall going into Sunday but that all changed as Winnall bagged three straight thirds to come out in front. The same was happening behind as Seth Nichlinson and Freddie Gurney traded places before Nichlinson got his act together to put in two fine rides Sunday pulling out a points gap.

Vets provided some class entertainment at a pace that was a little slower than the A group but nonetheless exciting! Again a split class and with nothing at stake except pride and bragging right the two fastest group riders Jamie Dobson in the over 35’s and Darren King in the over 45’s locked bars, literally on occasion and forgot their years as they did the huge downhill step down and battled all weekend long. King on his new KX450 had found that little bit of extra pace to put him on the rear mudguard of Dobson that was just out of reach on previous encounters. So much so that it looked like King was playing a waiting game, able to pick his moment to make the pass. It was in fact the fear of being re-passed that kept him behind until the last moment in moto 1. Moto two saw a last corner pass for the win much to Phil Gee’s disbelief on the mike as King’s shadow spooked Dobson into missing the inside rut. King tried the same move in the third but Dobson held his nerve for the win. The long and short of it was both riders took maximum points in their respective classes.

Behind the entertainment, it was pretty strung out for points with Sam Callow taking his very familiar runner up spot and Ian James doing enough for fourth after some heated competition from Christian Seldon in the final two motos when he finally grew a set and jumped the step up. A DNF put Seldon out of the running leaving the door open for Phil Jones and Chris Peaty to take the remaining top five spots in the over 35’s. The over 45’s runner up spot went to Bryan Tucker after Wildman Willis ended his weekend with a big pile-up on lap one of the third race taking Paul Dunford to A&E with him. Sean Reynolds looked to be heading for a good result until collapsing a rear wheel and not having enough replacement spokes to ride the final race allowing Neil Stephens the chance to get on the podium.

Small Wheel and Big Wheel 85’s numbers were down and ran together this week and there was a mixed bag of results, the one constant being Chester Hyde taking four out of five wins in the small wheel and putting pressure on the big wheel front runners. Harry Woodland managed to bag the win that was going begging and that helped him net second overall a few points in front of Gethin Morgan and Reegan Rogers who were even closer in points. Bobby Ray Smith consistency pulled a fifth overall a few points in front of the unfortunate Mason Jones. Big wheel action was kicked off by a win from William Murphy but his second race result is under appeal as his points were stopped for an alleged infringement. Alfie Crealock-Lovell also suffered a similar fate giving Ben Sullivan the official second race win. Sullivan went on for the overall two points clear of Wyatt McGregor with Tallis Price and Fenton Rayns filling out the top five.

The final group out was the B group adults and yet again it was another mixed bag of results. Two riders throwing away overall victory and the overall winner doing it with consistent second and third-placed results keeping his head while others around him tested the quality of the soil. Thomas Casbeard was the guy that held it all together to take a decent point haul over the rest of the field. James Thompson was another that could have been on the top step after a great first run out following Brandon Eva home a poor start in another and a crash in the fourth put him out of the running after Eva well and truly stacked it in the second taking ages to get back going. Eva won three out of the five but his all-out attacking style didn’t suit the hard pack nature of the chalky surface and he also went down in the final moto. Whereas Martin Luckwell seemed to find his happy place in the hard going showing by his results netting a second at his best and collecting fourth overall in front of race two winner Thor Tucker whose up and down weekend bettered Dan Crocker’s who also bagged a win in the final moto.

Thoughts go out two the friends and family of Jude Morris tragically taken too soon at Duns and also to the injured riders from the weekend.

The final round will be at Wroxton on 25/26 September and the presentation will be at Worcester Rugby club on 23rd October.

Results

Autos

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	COHEN JAGIELSKI	225	45	45	45	45	45
2	JAMIE CURRIE	211	41	41	43	43	43
3	OAKLAN WINNALL	194	34	37	41	41	41
4	JIMMY WHISTON	191	35	39	39	39	39
5	SETH NICHLINSON	180	39	34	35	37	35
6	FREDDIE GURNEY	172	37	35	37	32	31
7	RAFE SYMONS	166	32	32	34	34	34
8	CAMERON BERRY	158	31	31	28	35	33
9	WILL KREMER	157	27	33	32	33	32
10	PRESTON CHORLEY	149	26	30	33	30	30
11	MASON STADDON	143	28	27	30	29	29
12	RONNIE MORGAN	138	29	28	31	25	25
13	TYLER PEATY	131	23	26	29	26	27
14	TRAVIS # MEESE	130	33	29	–	31	37
15	OSCAR PATTON	129	25	23	25	28	28
16	JUDE HENNEY	128	24	24	27	27	26
17	JACOB HACKETT	86	43	43	–	–	–
18	HARRI LUCKWELL	73	22	25	26	–	–
19	FINLEY RUNDLE	30	30	–	–	–	–

Junior 65’s

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	WILLIAM # EVANS	221	45	43	45	43	45
2	SEAN SMOUT	209	43	45	43	41	37
3	IFAN WYN REES	209	39	41	41	45	43
4	WILLIAM DENNIS	199	41	39	39	39	41
5	MASON BROWN	185	37	37	35	37	39
6	DANNY JAMAL	177	35	35	37	35	35
7	TERRY CHALLINOR	169	34	34	34	34	33
8	JENSEN HENNEY	163	33	33	33	32	32
9	HARRISON DOHERTY	155	31	31	31	31	31
10	RUBEN JENKINS	151	30	30	32	30	29
11	SEERSHA # JONES	149	32	32	30	27	28
12	BRODIE # NOCK	142	28	29	29	29	27
13	OLIVER # BARDOE	140	27	27	28	28	30
14	SETH POTTER	136	29	28	27	26	26
15	NIXON # COPPINS	67	–	–	–	33	34

Small Wheel 85’s

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	CHESTER # HYDE	223	45	45	43	45	45
2	HARRY WOODLAND	205	41	39	45	37	43
3	GETHIN MORGAN	197	43	41	37	41	35
4	REEGAN ROGERS	195	37	43	39	35	41
5	BOBBY RAY-SMITH	168	34	35	33	33	33
6	MASON # JONES	162	39	–	41	43	39
7	HARRY CUTTLER	158	32	33	31	31	31
8	BILLY # LIFE	155	31	32	28	32	32
9	FREDDIE RICHARDS	149	29	31	30	30	29
10	DONTE RODEN	148	30	30	29	29	30
11	CAMERON MEADES	146	35	37	35	39	–
12	LEWYS MORGAN	133	33	34	32	–	34
13	OLLY # WATERS	105	–	–	34	34	37

Big Wheel 85’s

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	BENJAMIN SULLIVAN	207	43	45	39	41	39
2	WYATT # MCGREGOR	205	37	43	43	39	43
3	TALLIS PRICE	189	39	41	35	37	37
4	FENTON # RAYNS	175	34	39	34	34	34
5	ALFIE CREALOCK- LOVELL	170	41	–	41	43	45
6	TROY WEAVER	167	32	37	30	33	35
7	MILLIE # SWEENEY	162	31	35	31	32	33
8	PIRAN GWENNAP	162	33	33	33	31	32
9	WILLIAM MURPHY	158	45	–	37	35	41
10	HENRY FENNER	157	30	34	32	30	31
11	SHAUN # MAHONEY	90	–	–	45	45	–
12	BRODY BIGGS	35	35	–	–	–	–

Seniors

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	HARVEY JAMES	219	43	45	43	43	45
2	HENRY LIFE	209	41	39	43	43	43
3	LEON WILLIAMS	208	45	39	45	45	34
4	JACK PEACEY	205	39	41	45	39	41
5	BAILEY # UTTING	205	41	43	41	37	43
6	BEN ZEALE	199	39	41	37	41	41
7	CONNOR JAGO	191	37	37	39	39	39
8	KAYDE RAYNS	180	45	45	–	45	45
9	COLIN STEWART	177	33	34	39	34	37
10	LEVI # DAVIES	176	31	33	41	32	39
11	TRISTAN DANIELS	176	35	35	34	35	37
12	LEWIS WILTSHIRE	171	34	33	35	34	35
13	ALFIE SMITH	170	35	32	33	41	29
14	FRANKIE FEETHAM	166	33	34	33	33	33
15	HARRISON JEPSON	165	30	31	35	35	34
16	MITCHELL CONWAY	165	32	30	37	33	33
17	LUKE WOOLGROVE	157	27	29	29	37	35
18	LEON # WILLIAMS	149	29	28	34	30	28
19	CORY GAY	137	20	26	32	28	31
20	SOL OSBORNE	134	25	21	31	27	30
21	JOEL KREMER	130	26	23	28	29	24
22	ASHTON POTTER	121	21	22	27	24	27
23	LEYTON # DUFFY	121	23	20	26	26	26
24	TEDDY # HYDE	115	28	24	–	31	32
25	THOMAS JAGO	110	19	18	23	25	25
26	TAYLOR WILLS	107	18	19	24	23	23
27	LOUIE # VINCENT	86	43	43	–	–	–
28	FINLEY JAMES	77	22	25	30	–	–
29	FINLEY # ABBOUT	76	24	27	25	–	–
30	JACK # DANDO	74	37	37	–	–	–
31	HARRISON # ROBERTS	69	34	35	–	–	–
32	EWAN DUNSFORD	55	16	17	22	–	–
33	KODY STONE	55	17	16	–	22	–

Vets Over 45

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	DARREN KING	225	45	45	45	45	45
2	BRYAN TUCKER	211	41	41	43	43	43
3	NEIL STEPHENS	201	39	39	41	41	41
4	STEVE HALL	184	35	37	39	34	39
5	BRIAN GRIME	173	34	33	37	32	37
6	KEV MCCARTHY	135	33	34	–	33	35
7	ROB GITTOES	107	37	35	–	35	–
8	PAUL WILDMAN WILLIS	86	43	43	–	–	–
9	DANIEL # CAVENIER	39	–	–	–	39	–
10	ANDREW # LOWE	37	–	–	–	37	–
11	CARL # ROBINSON	31	–	–	–	31	–

Vets Over 35

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	JAMIE DOBSON	225	45	45	45	45	45
2	SAM CALLOW	215	43	43	43	43	43
3	IAN JAMES	195	37	39	41	39	39
4	PHIL JONES	180	34	37	37	37	35
5	CHRIS PEATY	177	35	35	35	35	37
6	JAMIE EPPLESTONE	168	33	34	34	33	34
7	CHRISTIAN SELDON	162	41	–	39	41	41
8	BEN CANNINGS	160	32	33	31	31	33
9	JASON FISHER	156	31	32	32	30	31
10	DAVID WARNER	155	30	31	33	29	32
11	PAUL DUNFORD	80	39	41	–	–	–
12	SCOTTY # WILLIAMSON	34	–	–	–	34	–
13	LIAM # WEIGHTE	32	–	–	–	32	–

Adult A

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	DREW # ANDERSON	221	43	45	45	43	45
2	TYRONE CLEAVER	217	45	41	43	45	43
3	CARL JONES	195	41	33	41	39	41
4	NATHAN FRAYNE	187	39	43	35	31	39
5	KRIS # AYERS	186	37	39	39	34	37
6	FRAZER # GARDNER	169	32	35	37	35	30
7	JASON DOWN	158	34	31	29	30	34
8	ARCHIS # HICKS	156	31	34	34	33	24
9	DAN MAULE	153	33	30	30	27	33
10	CALLUM WATSON	146	30	32	31	26	27
11	SAM # BISHOP	143	28	25	27	32	31
12	TOM HUGHES	140	24	28	28	28	32
13	SAM MORCON	139	21	29	32	29	28
14	DANIEL BARTLETT	128	25	26	26	25	26
15	RHYS GRIMES	119	22	24	24	24	25
16	DANIEL # SULTANA	99	29	37	33	–	–
17	JAKE # MARSH	78	26	27	25	–	–
18	AIDEN # WILLIAMS	72	–	–	–	37	35
19	ROB # YATES	70	–	–	–	41	29
20	GLEN PHILLIPS	35	35	–	–	–	–
21	JAMIE MCCARTHY	27	27	–	–	–	–
22	TOM O’CONNOR	23	23	–	–	–	–

Adult B

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	THOMAS # CASBEARD	211	43	41	43	43	41
2	JAMES # THOMPSON	199	41	39	41	35	43
3	BRANDON EVA	197	45	23	45	45	39
4	MARTIN LUCKWELL	195	37	43	39	39	37
5	THOR TUCKER	187	34	45	37	41	30
6	JOSH # YOUNG	169	35	37	31	34	32
7	JAMIE HIBBARD	162	28	35	35	29	35
8	MATTHEW # FULLER	157	39	27	32	25	34
9	JOEL WORTHINGTON	154	27	34	33	32	28
10	DAN CROCKER	144	–	33	29	37	45
11	BRAD # POUNDER	142	32	32	22	33	23
12	ALEX # HARVEY	141	29	26	34	26	26
13	FRANK # BURTON	138	30	24	23	30	31
14	GRANT TUCKER	136	21	31	27	28	29
15	ALISTAIR GWENNAP	123	31	25	25	21	21
16	CHRIS # CHILDS	121	–	29	28	31	33
17	LUKE PRICE	120	33	30	30	27	–
18	GEORGE ELSDEN	119	24	28	20	23	24
19	HARLEY JONES	110	25	20	21	22	22
20	JOE # HUMBERSTONE	98	–	21	26	24	27
21	RIKKI BURTON	94	23	18	13	20	20
22	JOSH # KNIGHT	93	22	22	24	–	25
23	RICHARD # CURTIS	93	20	16	19	19	19
24	GRANT # JONES	85	15	17	18	17	18
25	KELLY PHILLIP	80	18	14	15	16	17
26	JACK # ADAMSON	76	17	15	14	14	16
27	LUKE # DAVIES	59	16	13	17	13	–
28	CHRIS # JOHNSON	38	19	19	–	–	–
29	RYAN # ALLEN	31	–	–	16	15	–
30	TOM # EVANS	26	26	–	–	–	–
31	JACK # ROEBOCK	18	–	–	–	18	–