Poppy Power! British Womens Motocross Championship Round 6 – Race Report & Results
The BWMA/AMCA Westermans International British Womens Motocross Championships was hosted by the Market Drayton club at their Ollerton circuit in Shropshire. The glorious British summer lived up to expectations with showers throughout the weekend making for another round of challenging conditions, but credit to all the riders for completing every race.
Report and Images by Howard Marriott
Qualifying followed a day of rain and overnight showers and the Adult girls were first on the track making putting in a fast time difficult, Team Green Kawasakis Chelsea Gowland again got pole position but only by 0.22 seconds from Tanisha Thomas, Caitlin Newman put in her fastest qualifying of the championship bagging 3rd place just ahead of Cath King, 5th place half a second separated Georgie Potter and Grace Bates with the two National Championship teenagers Paige Gould and India Hodgkinson taking 8th and 9th ahead of Gemma Holtham rounding out the top 10.
Rain in between qualifying and race 1 made for tricky race conditions for the Elite Ladies Pro-Class, but it was Chelsea Gowland who took the first Muscle Doctor Holeshot of the day and demonstrated her all-round skill to take an untroubled win ahead of Cath King and Tanisha Thomas. Enjoying the wet conditions more Thomas soon put the pass on King and rode hard to keep Gowland in site but by the halfway point Gowland had pulled a comfortable lead, Caitlin Newman capitalised on her qualifying and was running for most of the race in 5th place battling with Georgie Potter until the tricky conditions caught her out and a fall left her finishing in 8th place, Grace Bates and Chloe Richards were swapping places throughout the race but it was Bates that took 5th place by just 4 seconds, Gemma Holtham was using all her enduro skills to keep safe and secure a solid 7th place ahead of Newman and 15-year-old Georgia Bottrell. In the National class 18-year-old Paige Gould rode a perfect race to secure the win ahead of Kimberley Holden James and 16-year-old India Hodgkinson who was looking fast until a fall cost her the race and out for the rest of the day leaving Aaliyah Hulbert to take 3rd.
The track was starting to find grip towards the end of the first race but a shower in between meant that race 2 was another challenging one, Chelsea Gowland again shot out of the start gate grabbing her second Muscle Doctor Holeshot, this time Thomas was second and chasing but again Gowland controlled the race handling the mud with ease winning with a comfortable margin, Catherine King was buried in the midpack off the start behind Georgie Potter and Gemma Holtham with her best start of the series then Caitlin Newman. By the time King had pulled through, Thomas had a comfortable gap but it was another unlucky race for Newman as she dropped it and fell back to another 8th place finish, Georgie Potter rode a steady race holding onto her fourth-place start to the flag despite early pressure from Grace Bates who found herself defending her position from the fast Chloe Richards thwarted by falls hampering her progress, Holtham dropped down to 7th place and Georgia Bottreill taking another 9th. In the National Class it was a repeat of the first race with another controlled smooth ride by Paige Gould taking another win, followed by Kimberley Holden James and Aaliyah Hulbert in 3rd place.
Again showers fell before the last race of the day making for another mudder, this time the holeshot was taken by Catherine King with Gowland in hot pursuit, it wasn’t long before Gowland took the lead and the win, Tanisha Thomas had the misfortune of her gate not falling but with the adrenalin flowing she quickly made her way through the pack to start challenging King for second, as the race progressed King seemed to have second under control with Thomas on her tail Kings bike suddenly poured smoke out and she was left to push her bike over the line for valuable points in 9th place, capitalising on King’s misfortune Georgie Potter took her best race result of the season in 3rd place, Chloe Richards not far behind for 4th and Caitlin Newman staying on this time and finishing in a strong 5th place, Grace Bates rounded off her day with another solid ride finishing 6th ahead of Gemma Holtham and Georgia Bottriell in 8th. In the National Class Paige Gould fell foul of the worsening conditions and struggled to get started after a fall finishing in 6th place spoiling her overall, leaving two new girls to the championship Jasmine Watson to take the win with Laura Ciotte 3rd behind championship leader Kimberley Holden James in 2nd.
Elite Ladies Pro-Class Championship results
1st Chelsea Gowland 150pts
2nd Tanisha Thomas 141pts
3rd Georgie Potter 131pts
4th Catherine King 123pts
5th Chloe Richards 121pts
6th Grace Bates 121pts
7th Caitlin Newman 111pts
8th Gemma Holtham 111pts
9th Georgia Bottriell 101pts
National Ladies Championship results
1st Kimberley Holden James 139pts
2nd Paige Gould 139pts
3rd Aaliyah Hulbert 135pts
4th Jasmine Watson 131pts
5th Laura Ciotte 127pts
6th Terri Wallace 121pts
7th India Hodgkinson 37pts
Qualifying for the 85cc Youth Girls and it was Wales’s 11-year-old Leah Rees-Evans that took the pole with a blistering time 3 seconds ahead of Northern Irelands Checoby Rainey, South Africas Amber McGregor was in 3rd ahead of Millie Sweeney and Wales’s Ellie Davidson with Championship leader Beanie Reece down in 6th place setting the scene for a competitive day.
As the girls sat on the line waiting for the start it started raining but this didn’t deter them, blistering out of the gate and it was Amber McGregor taking the Muscle Doctor Holeshot by a tyres width from Reece, with Rainey half a bike length behind, McGregor set a quick pace but Reece, back on form, soon took the lead and rode a steady controlled race, Rees-Evans was riding her heart out as she picked her way through the pack setting fastest time of the race but couldn’t catch Reece, settling for 2nd, Amber McGregor kept Rainey at bay but only half a second separated them at the flag with Millie Sweeney rounding out the top 5.
Again as the girls were waiting on the gate for race two the heavens opened making conditions even worse than race 1 but this didn’t stop the girls producing another thrilling race. This time it was Northern Irelands Checoby Rainey finding some traction to run away with the Muscle Doctor Holeshot Reece was further down and struggled in the conditions with a fall hampering her progress she could only finish in 5th place, it was Leah Rees-Evans who was racing out her skin to take a well deserved race win, Rainey kept her head and second position ahead of the consistent Amber McGregor and Millie Sweeney in fourth place.
The girls finally had a dry start for race 3 and Leah Rees-Evans took the Muscle Doctor Holeshot this time and with a clear track ahead looked like she was going to repeat her race 2 win but a heavy fall and struggling to get started again dropped her to 7th place finish, this left Beanie Reece to make her way up to the lead and take her 2nd win of the day, Amber McGregor was back up there in 2nd place after chasing Reece all the way just missing out by 2 seconds at the flag, Holly Willaims had a better race finishing in 3rd ahead of Millie Sweeney 4th and Checoby Rainey 5th
85cc Youth Girls Championship Results
1st Beanie Reece 141pts
2nd Amber McGregor 137pts
3rd Leah Rees-Evans 134pts
4th Checoby Rainey 131pts
5th Millie Sweeney 127pts
6th Holly Williams 123pts
7th Ellie Davidson 107pts
8th Sophie Jones 103pts
9th Erin Howes 103pts
10th Lowri Rees 97pts
In the 65cc Rising Stars Championship, it was Poppy Banning that topped the qualifying ahead of Angelica Bennett just 3 seconds clear of Cameron Mansbridge. The conditions were bad for the bigger bikes but these girls didn’t let it stop them and despite struggling in the conditions all three battled through. Race 1 and it was Poppy Banning battling with the 85’s taking the win in second Cameron Mansbridge got the edge over Angelica Bennett. Race 2 and again it was Banning taking the win, Angelica Bennett struggled in the rain but still took the flag in 3rd behind Mansbridge who rode a cautious race. Race 3 was a repeat of race 2 but this time Angelica Bennett was closer to Cameron Mansbridge. The fact that all these girls finished was a credit to their belief and determination in terrible conditions.
65cc Rising Stars Championship Results
1st Poppy Banning 150pts
2nd Cameron Mansbridge 141pts
3rd Angelica Bennett 135pts
