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Harley keeps his cool at scorching hot Cusses! 2022 BSMA Apico Nationals Round 5 – Race Report & Results

Harley keeps his cool at scorching hot Cusses! 2022 BSMA Apico Nationals Round 5 – Race Report & Results

The BSMA Apico national headed to what would have been the final round at Cusses Gorse in the depths of Wiltshire for the fifth round of the national championship, now the penultimate round. Another heatwave had struck, and this was just the place to be with the JB tracks crew being possibly the best in the country; having done many a GP track, the conditions were kept prime pretty much through the whole weekend!

Report and Images by Ady Cowshall – Images of Speed

The Big Wheel 85’s got the worst conditions having to contend with a heavily watered track on both days, but despite that, it was again one of the most thrilling classes to watch. Local track specialist Fabian Junior Morrison took off out the blocks like a hare being chased by a pack of Lurchers; he streaked away from a quality field of riders for 2 laps until the championship contenders found their feet in the tricky conditions and reeled him in eventually finishing a credible third. It was Riley Voase who was the first to catch him soon followed by Kai Thorpe after he had gotten around the stricken Lewis Evans. Rocco Hands pulled up through the field from a poor start inside the top 5 then went down, and a similar fate happened to Noel Brookes and Riley Small, allowing Ashton Somerville and Travis Laughton inside the top five.

Race two saw Somerville come out swinging with a great holeshot, but Thorpe wasn’t going to let this one slip away and soon made the pass to go on for the win. Hands suffered another not-so-great start but carved his way through quickly into second helped by the exit of Laughton. Voase was another with a poor gate and struggled to make up ground on the trio in front. Austin Beasty got inside the top three briefly before Voase relegated him to fifth.

Hands took the holeshot in moto3 and dominated for his first national win with a controlled ride keeping tabs on Thorpe some ten seconds back with Voase third. Small held in there from a good start for fourth with Beasty taking fifth. Hands took another holeshot Sunday morning and after a short battle with Voase cleared off for his second win while Voase lost a position to Small and then Thorpe; as this trio crossed the finish line astern with Morrison not gating so well, came through to fifth but not able to keep pace with the championship top boys. Final moto again saw Morrison react quickest, but this time he couldn’t make the break and had Voase all over him; by lap three Voase was out front, and Thorpe and Hands followed through. These three battled for the rest of the race, with Voase dropping 2 places to then re-group to come back past Hands, Morrison holding on for a great fourth just in front of Beasty.

Vets championship leader Jamie Dobson had his work cut out in moto one as he tangled with fallen rider Lee Martin while Sam Callow crossed the line for the Apico Holeshot, but it wasn’t long before returning first-round contender Justin Robinson took over the reins and controlled the race to take the win. Callow held strong for second with over 45 rider Simon Bonser had a great ride to finish third. Dobson really had to work for his fourth place, passing James Jackaman on the final lap.

Second time out Dobson got out of any trouble by leading the way, but Robinson dogged him the whole race waiting until the final lap before making his play to take another win. Martin also stayed upright and claimed a distant third with Callow and Jackaman not far behind. Race three was a carbon copy for the race-leading duo. Was Robinson waiting, hanging back or did Dobson make a mistake in allowing the lead change? Callow had a comfortable third, with Jackaman passing Bonser mid-race for fourth. Final moto started out as the previous two, but this time Dobson had it under control, no mistakes, Robinson had nothing to respond to within the intense heat.

MX2’s Adam Harris put down a superb show of riding on his 250 2 stroke winning four out of four doing what was needed to stay in front with three different runner-up riders all battling intensely. The two-stroke was definitely better in the softer morning going, and as the track dried for the second motos of each day the gap between Harris and his pursuers became smaller. Harvey James, Harris’s main championship rival, disposed of Louis Vincent early on in moto one, but Harris had already set sail, and James had to settle for second, but Ben Zeale followed him through, and the pair did battle race long.

Moto two again saw Harris put the Fantic out front and stay out of trouble with James a lot closer in the dryer conditions but he again had Zeale in his personal space, and at half distance, Zeale made his move and the two crossed the line together split by a second. Vincent took his second fourth of the weekend with Leon Williams taking his second fifth. Sunday saw Harris pull another big margin for his third win with James running second and wildcard Dominic Newbury just holding off Vincent for third. Harris took the fourth to complete his monopoly with Williams pulling a much better start to hang with him and get a tow away from the rest of the field. Newbury went out of third halfway through gifting that spot to James and Kieran Gregory and Dan Bartlett both got their first top appearances of the weekend.

In the Autos, Tommy Wood was unchallenged all weekend with an excellent display of riding. The closest rider to him all weekend was Charley Wilcock whose bad start to race two denied him of four-second places. Finley Pope and Sonny Saunders both suffered one poor result but Saunders poor first race left him off the podium. An absolute flyer for Mason Foreman in moto two coming home second put him higher up the overall leaderboard. Forest Roberts exit from the final moto robbed him of what could of been a top five overall that place going to Freddy Graham.

The combined Senior class, despite the slick going was dominated by the 125 machine long time absent from the BSMA Dylan Williams wildcarding. Unstoppable even after being dead last in the first turn of one moto! It was Alfie Smith who took the Apico holeshot prize in moto one, but he was soon passed by Williams, who had just disappeared. Shane Jones followed past a lap later; then Smith race started to rapidly fall apart after Morgan Walters went by, and a spill dropped him out of contention. Jake Ogorman and Kai Reason traded places before Reason dropped down the table, and Ogorman started making inroads into the top three. Mid pack it was all going on as riders changed places like commuters on the underground.

Tristan Daniels gated to head the pack in moto two whilst Williams was picking himself up he built a huge lead as Ogorman battled his way past Joe Beaumont and James Rowsell; unbelievably, Williams was up to seventh by the end of lap one and chasing Ogorman down the following lap. With the laps winding down, he had reeled Daniels in and made the inevitable pass, and even pulled out a six-second lead! Daniels and Walters upheld the four-stroke honour filling out the top three. Walters put his Kawasaki to the front in the third with Daniels hot on his pipe, but Williams was there and had sythed his way through and onto another victory. Walters held Daniels at bay with Jamie Kuehn putting his Ktm into the mix for the first time this weekend with a comfortable fourth. Alfie Crealock-Lovell held the slow-starting Ben Sullivan off on his hard charge through the pack for fifth. The final outing saw Williams take another, with Daniels having another great run in second. Jones came through the pack passing the battling pair of Walters and Ogorman to take third.

Small Wheel 85’s went to the line with a couple of Harley’s fastest! That’s O’Callaghan and Prickett, not the American cult choppers! Prickett took the Apico holeshot in race one and started to get chased by OCallaghan, but with less than 3 minutes to go, OCallaghan had gone from the leaderboard after setting the fastest lap on lap five with Prickett responding with his fastest, so all was set for a last lap showdown! Prickett went over the line nearly a minute ahead of the gifted second place of Bixby, with Lewys Morgan Charlie James and Finley Stead all bumped up a place.

Moto two saw Prickett with a comfortable margin over Bixby, with Ocallaghan taking no further part in the weekend it looked like it was going to be a whitewash for the #22. Stead took third from Morgan ahead of the hard-charging James. Moto three and Prickett took another comfortable win from Bixby after he’d disposed of James who held third till the flag. Jayden Neale held fourth for the first half of the race before finally dropping to sixth at the flag. The final race had Prickett out front ahead of the fast starting Neale only to see a fired-up Bixby come past both to go onto the flag with a ten second margin!

The Junior 65 riders had the stand-out pair of Casey Lister and Cohen Jagielski a considerable distance in front of the rest of the field. With Lister’s lap times as quick enough to put him inside the top three in the small wheel! Lister was pretty much in his own postcode as was Jagielski to the rest of the pack, but last year’s auto champion is no match size-wise to Lister. All but one of the races were dominated by Lister, but getting out of the gate last and Jagielski out front put a very interesting spin on things in the third race with only five laps to overhaul the entire pack, the crowd were on their tiptoes watching into the valley as Lister carved new lines to slice through into a distant second by lap two setting a blistering pace on the last lap they crossed the line half a second apart with Jagielski just holding onto it! Behind this pair in all the races it was a lottery as to who could get the final piece of podium pie. In the end, the best of the rest went to Arthur King, who fought off fierce challenges for that third step from Theo Stead and John Slade and through into the mix Butterworth, Newman, Cuddy and Boxall who were all in with a chance it proved to be another of the top groups for excitement.

The Auto class was another domination by Tommy Wood as he swept the board with big margins over his closest competitor Charley Wilcock. Wilcock took three seconds behind Wood but an incident in the second moto left him trailing behind playing catch up. Mason Forman took full advantage of Wilcock’s demise scored a fantastic second in that moto. Finley Pope proved most consistant of the rest claiming third step on the overall podium ahead of Sonny Saunders and Freddie Graham

The MX1 class may have been down a little on numbers, but at the sharp end, it was as exciting as ever. Despite being nearly 2.5 seconds down in qualifying, Ryan Voase pulled the Apico holeshot and lead the early going in moto one, but Reagan Skinner was carrying more speed and soon made the pass quickly, followed by Josh Greedy, Mark Young could smell blood in the water, and it was soon a four-way for the lead. Greedy hit the front and Voase re-passed Skinner as he looked to have burnt himself out going to fast to soon, Greedy then started to suffer from arm pump and Voase regained the lead and started to pull a gap. Young then got past Skinner and Greedy but couldn’t do anything about the lead. Moto 2 saw a great start for Jake Strange right up there in the mix holding a top six for two thirds distance until trouble struck. But Young hit the front kept under close watch by Voase for the whole race. Greedy got third ahead of Skinner again with Bailey Betsworth taking another fifth.

Sunday’s opener saw another close run thing between Young and Voase, Young taking it by only 3 seconds with Skinner getting the better of Greedy and Betsworth agin in fifth. Final race of the weekend saw victory for Young again, Voase strong in second with Skinner not to far adrift with Greedy going out with a mechanicalBetsworth took his best result, and Tobias Sammut made the top five after a great start from Brad Taylor slipped back out of the top five.

The final round being held at Walterstone on the hillside circuit should bring out some more great racing on the weekend of the 24th September, crowning a great championship.

Results

Auto’s

Pos Competitor Points R1 R2 R3 R4
1 TOMMY WOOD 180 45 45 45 45
2 CHARLEY WILCOCK 163 43 34 43 43
3 FINLEE POPE 156 41 39 37 39
4 SONNY SAUNDERS 152 31 41 39 41
5 FREDDY GRAHAM 147 37 37 41 32
6 MASON FOREMAN 144 32 43 35 34
7 AUSTIN EDWARDS 137 34 33 33 37
8 JIMMY BALL 137 35 35 34 33
9 MASON STADDON 132 33 32 32 35
10 HARRISON ASHWOOD MCNEILL 119 30 29 29 31
11 RONNIE MORGAN 117 27 30 30 30
12 OSCAR SMITH 112 29 28 27 28
13 MORRISON HIBBERT 109 28 24 28 29
14 FORREST ROBERTS 101 39 31 31
15 FREDDIE DENNIS 101 23 27 24 27
16 AVA PEEDLE 100 26 23 25 26
17 ARCHIE PARRY 97 24 26 22 25
18 WILLIAM KING 93 25 21 26 21
19 BRODY CHAPMAN 91 20 25 23 23
20 BLAKELY MORRISSEY 87 22 22 21 22
21 CHARLIE PARK 76 19 18 20 19
22 ZACHARY GROVES 62 19 19 24
23 JASPER MORGAN 41 21 20
24 REGGIE CORNELL 38 18 20

Junior 65’s

Pos Competitor Points R1 R2 R3 R4
1 CASEY LISTER 178 45 45 43 45
2 COHEN JAGIELSKI 174 43 43 45 43
3 ARTHUR KING 160 41 39 39 41
4 THEO STEAD 152 37 41 35 39
5 JOHN SLADE 150 35 37 41 37
6 RILEY BUTTERWORTH 140 39 34 32 35
7 HARRY CUDDY 137 31 35 37 34
8 SPENCER NEWMAN 130 34 30 34 32
9 JIMMY BOXALL 130 33 33 31 33
10 JAKE DIXON 125 29 32 33 31
11 OAKLAN WINNALL 112 30 23 30 29
12 TERRY CHALLINOR 110 32 29 19 30
13 COLBY BRISCOMBE 110 27 27 28 28
14 ALFIE COTTER 108 26 31 26 25
15 RUEBEN JENKINS 104 25 26 27 26
16 TYLER PEATY 93 20 21 25 27
17 WILL KREMER 92 24 24 29 15
18 KEEDAN WILLIAMSON 87 23 20 21 23
19 HARRY DEARLE 84 19 25 22 18
20 FRANCIS NELLIST 79 22 19 16 22
21 JACK MASTERS 78 21 18 23 16
22 THOMAS BAILEY 77 18 22 18 19
23 OLIVER BARDOE 73 16 16 20 21
24 LUCAS GROVES 71 17 17 17 20
25 FRANKY’LEE LITCHFIELD 60 14 15 14 17
26 LOUIE LANGFORD 58 15 14 15 14
27 JAMIE CURRIE 56 28 28
28 OLLY HADLOW 48 24 24
29 RILEY BEAGLEY 26 13 13

Small Wheel 85’s

Pos Competitor Points R1 R2 R3 R4
1 HARLEY PRICKETT 178 45 45 45 43
2 TRAVIS BIXBY 174 43 43 43 45
3 CHARLIE JAMES 158 39 37 41 41
4 LEWYS MORGAN 158 41 39 39 39
5 FINLAY STEAD 152 37 41 37 37
6 JAYDEN NEALE 140 35 35 35 35
7 FREDDY RICHARDS 133 33 34 34 32
8 SIDNEY MONGER 131 34 30 33 34
9 ELLIOTT MASON 130 32 33 32 33
10 JESSE LEE JESSOP 125 31 32 31 31
11 OLIVER PARRY 117 29 31 30 27
12 LUIE LEWIS 116 30 27 29 30
13 GEORGE WHITE 112 28 28 27 29
14 LEWIS DAY 112 27 29 28 28

Big Wheel 85’s

Pos Competitor Points R1 R2 R3 R4
1 KAI THORPE 174 45 43 41 45
2 ROCCO HANDS 174 43 45 45 41
3 RILEY VOASE 162 39 41 39 43
4 RILEY SMALL 152 35 39 43 35
5 FABIAN-JUNIOR MORRISON 139 31 32 37 39
6 AUSTIN BEASTY 137 37 37 26 37
7 ASHTON SOMERVILLE 133 41 24 34 34
8 CONNOR WILLIAMS 131 34 31 33 33
9 NOEL BROOKS 125 24 34 35 32
10 JONAS BROWN 122 30 30 31 31
11 BOBBY SMITH 114 26 29 30 29
12 MAX BEAUMONT 112 28 28 29 27
13 HENRY FENNER 109 27 27 27 28
14 OLIIE DAVIES 108 29 26 28 25
15 LEWIS EVANS 68 33 35
16 TOM GOODFELLOW 65 32 33
17 BRAIDY BILTON 62 32 30
18 OLIVER SMITH 51 25 26
19 ZAC FREESTON 50 25 25

Seniors

Pos Competitor Points R1 R2 R3 R4
1 DYLAN WILLIAMS 180 45 45 45 45
2 MORGAN WALTERS 176 45 43 45 43
3 TRISTAN DANIELS 174 41 45 43 45
4 JAMES ROWSELL 162 43 41 39 39
5 KAI REASON 154 39 37 37 41
6 ALFIE CREALOCK-LOVELL 154 39 39 41 35
7 SHANE JONES 153 43 41 26 43
8 FINLY ABBOTT 152 37 39 41 35
9 JAMIE KUEHN 144 35 27 43 39
10 BENJAMIN SULLIVAN 143 37 30 39 37
11 ALFIE SMITH 138 34 37 33 34
12 OLLIE HARRIS 137 34 35 34 34
13 JOE BEAUMONT 136 33 35 35 33
14 CURTIS ROBERTS 135 32 34 37 32
15 THOMAS JAGO 129 33 32 32 32
16 JOEL KREMER 129 31 33 34 31
17 ALFIE THOMPSON 128 31 34 30 33
18 HARRY ARNOLD 127 30 33 33 31
19 JAKE OGORMAN 125 41 43 41
20 ARTHUR MACDONALD 122 29 32 31 30
21 RYAN HENWOOD 119 29 31 29 30
22 JACK RANNER 119 30 29 32 28
23 DREW RIGBY 118 28 31 30 29
24 TEGAN NIGHTINGALE 108 27 26 28 27
25 LEWIS BAILEY 105 25 25 29 26
26 OSCAR KNIGHTS 75 24 24 27
27 TED DEACON 72 35 37
28 GEORGE GOODFELLOW 54 26 28
29 BRADLEY PRICE 35 35
30 JAMES CHECKLEY 32 32
31 JAY PLATT 31 31
32 IEUAN JONES 25 25

Pos Competitor Points R1 R2 R3 R4
1 MARK YOUNG 178 43 45 45 45
2 RYAN VOASE 174 45 43 43 43
3 REAGEN SKINNER 160 39 39 41 41
4 BAILEY BETSWORTH 150 37 37 37 39
5 JOSH GREEDY 147 41 41 39 26
6 TOBIAS SAMMUT 136 35 34 30 37
7 FRASER GARDINER 135 34 35 34 32
8 DANIEL SULTANA 130 29 31 35 35
9 BRAD TAYLOR 128 31 30 33 34
10 JAKE STRANGE 124 30 29 32 33
11 JACK HANSFORD 121 28 32 31 30
12 KULLEN EVANS 114 26 28 29 31
13 TOBY BROOK 104 24 27 26 27
14 GRANT TUCKER 80 25 27 28
15 THOR TUCKER 60 27 33
16 KYLE NOBLE KYLE NOBLE 57 28 29
17 JOSH SCOTT 33 33
18 SHAY ARNOLD 32 32

Pos Competitor Points R1 R2 R3 R4
1 ADAM HARRIS 180 45 45 45 45
2 HARVEY JAMES 168 43 41 43 41
3 LEON WILLIAMS 154 37 37 37 43
4 KIERAN GREGORY 143 35 34 35 39
5 DANIEL BARTLETT 140 34 35 34 37
6 FINN EADY 133 33 32 33 35
7 JOSH TALBOT 129 32 33 32 32
8 CONNOR JAGO 123 31 31 30 31
9 DAN CROCKER 121 30 30 31 30
10 TROY GILLETT 119 28 29 28 34
11 RYAN REYNOLDS 119 29 28 29 33
12 LOUIS VINCENT 117 39 39 39
13 JOEL WORTHINGTON 109 26 27 27 29
14 RHYS GRIMES 107 27 26 26 28
15 BEN ZEALE 84 41 43
16 OLIVER ELMES 75 24 24 27
17 STEPHEN PERRY 73 25 23 25
18 DION HOWELLS 49 24 25
19 STEFFAN PHILLIPS 45 23 22
20 DOMONIC NEWBURY 41 41
21 LORENZO SAMMUT 26 26

Pos Competitor Points R1 R2 R3 R4
1 JUSTIN ROBINSON 178 45 45 45 43
2 SIMON BONSER 174 45 39 45 45
3 JAMIE DOBSON 172 41 43 43 45
4 SAM CALLOW 164 43 39 41 41
5 MARTIN CURTIN 161 43 43 41 34
6 MARK BONNING 154 41 37 37 39
7 JAMES JACKMAN 152 39 37 39 37
8 LEE MARTIN 149 34 41 35 39
9 BRYAN TUCKER 147 39 41 34 33
10 DARREN HANSFORD 144 37 35 35 37
11 KIERAN MCLELLAND 136 33 35 34 34
12 CARL ROBINSON 132 34 34 32 32
13 RICHARD GREEN 129 45 43 41
14 SEAN KETTLEWELL 128 32 32 32 32
15 IAN JAMES 126 31 31 31 33
16 PHILLIP JONES 124 30 30 33 31
17 ROBERT HOWARD 124 32 32 30 30
18 KEVIN MCCARTHY 124 31 31 31 31
19 JASON FISHER 113 29 28 27 29
20 ROBERT KENDRYNA 112 27 27 28 30
21 ASHLEY MAIR 102 26 22 26 28
22 SCOTT EATON 101 24 26 24 27
23 LEE EATON 100 25 24 25 26
24 BEN CANNINGS 96 23 25 23 25
25 JAMIE EPPLESTONE 86 28 29 29
26 DANIEL DEACON 82 39 43
27 ASHLEY LOCKE 72 37 35
28 STEVE MARTIN 71 37 34
29 DANIEL CAVANAGH 68 33 35
30 RORY WOOTTON 68 35 33
31 SCOTT CARLSON 66 33 33
32 STE MARLOW 35 35
33 GLEN PHILLIPS 30 30
34 TERRY DEARLE 23 23