The Ledbury MCC were in action last Sunday for their second event of 2026, and the meeting certainly lived up to its title of ‘Full Throttle’ by producing some outstandingly fast and highly competitive racing.
Race Report and Images by Mike Wood
Following on from his victory in the previous weekend’s ACU GT140 British Championship, Wayne Broadhurst was in the winning mood again at Ledbury. In the FGA Seniors he stormed to four straight wins, chased home on each occasion by Graham Thomas and Max Broadhurst. During the first three heats Phillip Thomas got home in fourth spot before Sam Crabtree got that honour in the last one. In this class, Colin How, Ben Crabtree and Charlie Glaze were also right in the mix.
Showing simply superb form, young Thomas Vining, just two days before his 17th birthday, celebrated early by scoring a great maximum points haul in the 250cc solo class. Luke Tuck, Richard Knight and Jacob Phillips (twice) chased the flying Vining home. Right on the pace, Phillips was though to endure a slightly frustrating day, also having a DNF and no score against his name. That meant it was to be Richard Knight taking 2nd overall with Tuck 3rd and Isaac Collins-Bullock 4th.
Chasing some of the big prize money on offer, Luke Harris topped the 500cc solo class final qualifiers whilst winning three out of four heats along the way and in some style! In what proved to be an ultra- competitive line-up, Darryl Ritchings (2), Max Perry (2) and Martin Williams also scored heat wins. Despite scoring those two wins, the qualifying heats did end rather painfully for Perry, coming off the back of his bike in his fourth outing! So, it was Harris, Williams, Tony Atkin, Perry, Tim Curnock, and Ritchings who had suffered an exclusion in his third outing, with Liam Ashcroft and Ryan Ashcroft progressing directly to the final. Joining that top eight were then Jake Breeze and David Hammersley, who safely negotiated the LCQ. Having been very impressive throughout the heats, the final, though, did not run to plan for Luke Harris, who, encountering clutch issues, had to settle for 4th spot as Oxford speedway rider Ritchings took the win from Perry and Williams.
READ MORE: GRASSTRACK NEWS
The final solo class was for Youth Juniors, and Albie South took victory in the opening heat ahead of Brayden Blyth, Harry Little, Lilly Bence, Levi Collins, AJ Bence and Lillie-Mai Warwick. From here onwards, though, Blyth was to be the dominant force, scorching to a hat-trick of wins. On each occasion, South took 2nd spot, Harry Little 3rd and Lilly Bence 4th. That was also mirrored in the Juniors’ overall finishing positions.
Richard Webb/Ant Goodwin, the 2026 ACU British Masters 500cc sidecar champions, were in great form again at Ledbury by taking the overall win. The new champions won 3 out of 4 heats contested, with their only defeat coming in leg three when Josh Goodwin/Scott Goodwin were first past the post. With Goodwin being the overall runner-up, Paul Whitelam with new passenger Chloe-May Watts were the eventual 3rd place crew. In this class, Barrie Bennett/Rowan Lucas were unfortunately not able to compete following a crash in practice.
So, to the big 1,000cc right-hand chairs and it was welcome back to Matt Fumarola, returning to race action after being out for over a year following injuries sustained in a crash at the very same Ledbury venue. Although it was naturally a cautious start for Matt, he was quickly right back on the pace and, with trusty sidekick Andi Wilson in the chair, even recorded a heat win in their second outing. Also picking up wins in the qualifying stages were Mark Cossar/Wayne Rickards (2), Terry Saunters/Liam Brown (3), Tom Cossar/Ryan Wharton and George Penfold/Carl Pugh. Those results meant that it was Saunters, Mark Cossar, Tom Cossar and Penfold progressing directly to the final.
In the LCQ, a determined Fumarola grabbed his second win of the day to earn a deserved place on the final start grid and was joined by Paul Whitelam/Richard Webb, who had been ultra- consistent throughout proceedings, with this result being his fifth runners-up finish of the day! Following his big Wimborne Whoppa win, Mark Cossar then did it again in the ‘Full Throttle’ final despite being under heavy, constant pressure from Saunters. In his comeback meeting, Fumarola was to earn a very popular 3rd spot ahead of Tom Cossar, Whitelam and Penfold.
Results
Youth Juniors 1 Brayden Blyth 46 points 2 Albie South 42 3 Harry Little 36 4 Lilly Bence 32 5 AJ Bence 25 6 Lillie-Mai Warwick 23 7 Levi Collins 19.
FGA Seniors 1 Wayne Broadhurst 48 points 2 Graham Thomas 40 3 Max Broadhurst 36 4 Phillip Thomas 31 5 Sam Crabtree 28 6 Colin How 22 7 Ben Crabtree 22 8 Charlie Glaze 13 9 Archie Palmer 11 10 John Cox 9 11 Theo Copestake 6.
250cc solo 1 Thomas Vining 48 points 2 Richard Knight 37 3 Luke Tuck 35 4 Isaac Collins-Bullock 26 5 Adam Hawker 23 6 Shane Knight 23 7 Jacob Phillips 20 8 Christopher A Brook 12 9 Russell Little 7.
500cc solo FINAL 1 Darryl Ritchings 2 Max Perry 3 Martin Williams 4 Luke Harris 5 Tony Atkin 6 Ryan Ashcroft 7 Liam Ashcroft 8 Tim Curnock 9 David Hammersley 10 Jake Breeze DNS Other scorers 11 Liam Cox 12 Glyn Drake 13 John Cox 14 Karl Miles 15 Jody Hodgson 16 Simon Hammersley 17 Max Derrick 18 George Pardoe 19 Luke Tuck 20 Jason Prynne.
500cc Sidecars 1 Richard Webb/Ant Goodwin 22 points 2 Josh Goodwin/Scott Goodwin 18 3 Paul Whitelam/Chloe-May Watts 11 4 Mike Skelding/Louis Skelding 9 5 Marcus Crutchingdon/Louis Bennett 4.
1,000cc Right-Hand sidecars FINAL 1 Mark Cossar/Wayne Rickards 2 Terry Saunters/Liam Brown 3 Matt Fumarola/Andi Wilson 4 Tom Cossar/Ryan Wharton 5 Paul Whitelam/Richard Webb 6 George Penfold/Carl Pugh. Other scorers 7 Steve Smith/Gareth Little 8 Peter Lloyd/Terry Madley 9 Stef Blyth/Morgan Blyth 10 Will Penfold/Ricky Pay.
