Back on Sunday, 26th April, the Chard Motor Club hosted the opening round of the newly formed South West AMCA Classic Motocross Championships at Martinstown, near Dorchester in Dorset. This is a new Championship series which consists of five clubs each running a round which consists of Pre 74, Pre 68, Twinshock A, B, C, D and E plus Evo A and Evo B Championships.
Race Report and Images by Dave Rich
The Chard Club were overwhelmed with the interest shown for the opening round as all classes were full, with reserves waiting to see if a spot became available. Martinstown track was a new venue, which was a grass field with many cambered corners as well as a long uphill straight, which was very fast. The club was to put down water the previous night, which made things a bit slippery in practice, but it soon dried. More water was put down in the interval, but with the sun shining, it was hard to keep the dust at bay, but nethertheless there was some really good racing to be seen by the many spectators who were in attendance.
In the combined classic class, it proved a good day for the Pre 74 Mx 360 Yamaha of Martin Stephens who seemed to get the liking of this new venue and was to be lapping some four seconds quicker than anyone else in the opening race, and he continued in fine form in the other two races and took the overall with a hattrick of wins, with Philip Peaster on his 250 Can am after a good tussle with Ray Hooper on his 380 Cz taking second overall with Hooper third overall, whereas in the Pre 68 class there was no stopping the 500 Hickie BSA of Luke Hickie who was to take the overall winning all three races with Richard Palmer on the 441 BSA Metisse taking second overall with the 650 Triumph Metisse of Steve Iles Jnr taking third overall.
The Twinshock A class was full of talent, including one of the South West’s top riders from earlier years in the shape of Luke Hill, who was out on a 1984 Cr 500 Honda. Hill showed that he meant business straight from the off in all three races with three convincing wins, but there was some good racing going on behind him between the 600 BSA of Tim Dallaway and Leighton Holmes on his Kx 500 Kawasaki. Jack Alderton was also going well on his 490 Maico, but he slipped off in the second race, which slimmed his chances of a podium. Dallaway and Holmes were tied on points at the end of the day, but with Holmes having the better result in the last race, he took second overall from Dallaway.
In the Twinshock B class Steve Folland had taken a third and a win on his 490 Maico Mega and was looking good to take the overall, but a disastrous last race for Folland put him off the podium and it was Ryan Baker on his 650 Xr Honda who took his second win of the day that took the overall with Gary Wright on the 250 Yz Yamaha taking second overall by one point from Shaun Thomas who had three consistant rides on his 490 Maico.
The Twinshock C class saw Adam Trewern on the 465 Yz Yamaha take the win in the opening race, with David Ponting winning the other two races on his 490 Yz Yamaha, but it was consistency that was to decide the overall, and that went to Trewern, with fellow Yz 490 rider Jack Courtney having three consistent rides, taking third overall.
In the Twinshock D class it was a battle til the end with both Chris Brown on his Yz 250 Yamaha and the 125 Yamaha of Nick Ponting both with a win and a second each tied on points going in to the last race, which was to be won by Brown by less than two seconds to give him the overall from Ponting with third overall going to the 550 Rotax of Steven Bristow.
The Twinshock E class was all about consistency, as there were two wins for Ashley Brammall, with the other win going to Sean Cook, but with three second-place finishes, the overall was to go to Julierme Bruniera on the XL 185 Honda. Wyn Morgan took second overall, with Tony Cole third overall.
The Evo classes were to be very popular and, as with other groups, were to fill up very quickly as soon as the regs came out. In the Evo A class, there was a fine performance from Ryan Allen, who was out on a borrowed bike, which was Neville Bradshaw’s 1989 Cr 500 Honda, which he rode in the 2017 British Championship. Allen was soon to get the grip with the Honda and was to take a clean sweep of wins and take the overall with Carl Luke, who was up against it a bit on his 125 Cr Honda, taking second overall with three second place finishes, with third overall going to the KX 250 Kawasaki of Nick Phillips.
In the Evo B Class there was a good battle in the opening race between Jason Alba on his Yz 490 Yamaha and the 125 Yz Yamaha of James Adams with Alba eventually taking the win, but both these riders were said to be too quick for this class and were put in the A class so they didn’t compete in the other two Evo B races which were won by Steve Davey and Martin Parr which left Parr tied on points with Paul Ford, but with the better result in the last race Parr took the overall from Ford with third overall going to Greg Pascoe.
SEE THE FULL RESULTS >>HERE<<
