Back on Sunday 9th August, 2026, the Chard Motor Club hosted round 4 of the South West Classic Motocross Championships at Halstock just outside Yeovil.
Race Report & Images by Dave Rich
The Club had worked hard to get this meeting to go ahead and as with many other venues the ground has not seen rain for some time and water had to be put down on many occasions to try and keep the dust down, but with it being a blistering hot day it was hard to control, but never the less there was still some good racing to be witnessed by the many spectators who had ventured out to watch. The entry for this round was down a bit on the earlier rounds, and a few riders were not in attendance, which was probably because of the heat.
The Classic classes which was Pre 68 and Pre 74 were ran together as a combined race which saw Luke Hickie on his Hickie Racing 500 BSA increase his Pre 68 Championship lead but he didn’t take a clean sweep of wins as he was beaten in the opening race by the 500 Jawa of Thorne Pett who still remains the only rider to beat Hickie twice in this Championship, whereas in the Pre 74 class there was no stopping the Mx 360 Yamaha of Martin Stephens who took a clean sweep of wins, but there was a good ride from Chris Elderfield on his 360 Bultaco Pursang with a scorecard of 3,2,3 which gave him second overall just ahead of Mark Stephens on his 380 Cz who ended the day third overall.
In the Evo A class, it was fast and furious and at the end of the day it produced three different winners. The opening race was probably the best race of the day as it was the WORX Scaffolding Cr 250 Honda of Dave Anthony who led early doors, being pursued by fellow Cr 250 rider Nick Phillips, with the Cr 125 Honda of Carl Luke also pushing hard. Phillips took over the lead and looked to be pulling away mid-race, but Anthony was soon back on it, and another rider also closing in on the two at the front was Daniel Hartley to make it a trio of Cr 250 Hondas at the front; Phillips just held on to take the win, with Anthony by half a second taking second ahead of Hartley. Overall, the second moto saw the KX 500 Kawasaki of Leighton Holmes take a comfortable win in this one from Hartley and Anthony, but in the last race it was Hartley who was dominant and took the win by some seven seconds ahead of Anthony and Holmes, which gave Hartley the overall with Anthony taking second overall by one point from Holmes who took third overall.
The Evo B class saw a dominant performance from Glenn Whittock, who took the chequered flag by some distance in all three races to give him the overall, from the Cr 125 Honda of Jason Jenner, with the Cr 250 Honda of Paul Ford, who had three consistent rides, taking third overall.
In the Twinshock A class entrants were abit low compared to the previous rounds which also included Championship leader Luke Hill, so we were going to have a new Championship leader at the end of the day and that was Marcus Feltham who took two wins and a second on his 490 Maico to give him the overall with Andy Muller on his 490 Yz Yamaha taking second overall after a trio of third place finishes and third overall went to the 510 Husqvarna of Marcus Clare who did push Feltham in the opening race and did try to get pass Feltham on the last corner, but tried too hard and he spun out.
The Twinshock B class saw a blistering start from the Cr 250 Husqvarna of Nicholas Saunders in the opening race, but a mistake mid race put him well back and it was Ben Dyer on his Tc 570 Husqvarna who took the win, North Devon rider Ian Meredith on his Tc 510 Husqvarna was to take the chequered flag in the second race and the third race saw yet another different winner in the shape of Adrian Saunders on the big Cr 500 Honda which was to give him the overall by two points ahead of Meredith with third overall going to Steve Matthews on the 250 Red Rocket Honda.
In the Twinshock C class it proved a good day for the Rm 400 Suzuki of Jack Pellow who notched up a hattrick of wins and took the overall from Championship leader Jack Courtney who led for most of the opening race only to be denied in the closing stages by Pellow, but with a trio of second place finishes Courtney took second overall with third overall going to William Lester on his Cr 600 Husqvarna who was consistant finishing third in all three races.
The Twinshock D class was all about Chris Brown on his YZ 250 Yamaha, who stormed to victory in all three races and took a comfortable overall, with Rickie Burt on his GS 250 Maico taking second overall, and taking third overall was the little 125 Cagiva of Geoff Wiltshire.
In the Twinshock E class, there were two wins for George Pemble and a win for Andrew Dowsett, but consistency was the name of the game at the end of the day. Pemble took the overall, with Julierme Bruniera taking second overall and third overall went to Colin Ayles.
SEE THE FULL RESULTS >>HERE<<
