Lilly’s Electric! 2022 Formula Grasstrack Championship Round 6 – Race Report & Results
Lilly Bence took the top step in the E-bike category at the 6th round of the H & N Supplies ltd FGA championship. Bence beat Bristol’s Eric Derrick into 2nd place, and she now leads the championship for the 4–7-year-olds.
Report and Feature Image by Ross Wharton
Charlie Dowd continued his domination of the Auto Cadet class with a 7-ride maximum with Kingswinford’s AJ Bence taking 2nd whilst Jess Cox mixed it with the boys as the only Cadet rider to enter.
Logan Price was able to add to his Cub championship lead beating Winsford’s Naythan Kukla as the two were mixed in with the Junior rider’s.
Joe Crewe looked to be continuing his dominance of the Junior class but had a mid-meeting blip with a 2nd and a 3rd. Despite this, he won the meeting and final with relative ease. Younger Crewe brother, Jack took 2nd place after a final run off with Jack baker, who had to settle for 3rd. Max Derrick had a mixed afternoon in 4th place with one win to his name, and Frank Wells made his 2nd FGA appearance in 5th.
The Senior Class produced some outstanding racing throughout the afternoon, and it wasn’t just at the front, with battles for positions right down the order.
Wayne Broadhurst, Kevin Gwillam and ‘wild card’ Graham Thomas all got off to winning ways with heat wins. Broadhurst and Thomas would continue this form in the first half of the meeting, both beating Gwillam in the 2nd and 3rd legs. The three would all meet in their 5th ride and Thomas would take maximum points beating Broadhurst and Gwillam into 2nd and 3rd respectively. Broadhurst would get revenge on his long-time friend in the final heat by beating Thomas on borrowed machinery meaning both were tied on points going into the hugely anticipated Jonathon Rodgers Memorial final. Gwillam would take 3rd spot and would be sure to be in with a chance of spoiling the Shrophire duo’s party in the final. Outside the top 3, David Binns was consistent, having to ride hard for his 42 points, finishing level with Andrew Rowson who had a racing incident with Max Broadhurst in their 4th leg, both going down hard but walking away with the race awarded on the lap before. Binns would beat Rowson in the final giving Binns 4th overall. Colin How suffered with a misfire for most of the afternoon but was still able to clinch 6th position after finishing with 2 wins. Jake Breeze was able to take 7th after some hard racing and Nick Bull earned himself an A Final Spot. Max Broadhurst was 9th overall after having to borrow machinery for his last two rides and Steve Mace rounded out the top 10 and was left wondering what might have been when his bike mysteriously
The Jonathon Rodgers Final was to be an anti-climax as Broadhurst made a superb start on a borrowed bike from Martin Adams to lead Thomas and Gwillam into the 1st turn. Thomas had no answer for the reigning Senior champion and had to settle for 2nd place as well as 2nd on the day. Gwillam duly took 3rd with Breeze heading home Binns, Rowson and Bull in that order.
A special mention to 90-year-old Mike Flynn who was able to finally take to the track for his 1st outing of 2022. A marvellous achievement!
Round 7 takes place at the same venue, Hampton Hall on 27th August.
Results
Ebike – 1st L. Bence 48, 2nd E. Derrick42
Autos – 1st C. Dowd 48, 2nd AJ. Bence 42
Cadets – 1st J. Cox 48
Cubs – 1st L.Price 48, 2nd N. Kukla 42
Juniors – 1st Joe Crewe 45, 2nd Jack Crewe 38, 3rd J. Baker 38, 4th M. Derrick 35, 5th F. Wells 24
Seniors – 1st W. Broadhurst 47, 2nd G. Thomas 47, 3rd K. Gwillam 44, 4th D. Binns 42, 5th A. Rowson 42, 6th C. How 41, 7th J. Breeze 37, 8th N. Bull 30, 9th M. Broadhurst 29, 10th S. Mace 29
