The Billy blitz continues at Blaxhall!
The GTCI Revo Kawasaki team were sadly hit by a setback in the week leading up to the fourth round of the Revo ACU British Motocross Championships at Blaxhall, as reigning MX1 Champion Tommy Searle crashed whilst practising in the Netherlands and aggravated his previously-injured ribs. An attempt to ride on Saturday proved that the pain was too much, although he did make the trip to the circuit to support his teammates in their efforts.
Mel Pocock looked to continue his good run from the previous round when he first raced the KX250 for the team as a stand-in for Dylan Walsh. He went for a fast lap at the start of the session while the track was at its best and set a solid 8th-fastest time as a result. The MX2 class suffered from issues with the start gate in both races, and on the third attempt the organisers had to resort to a flag start in order to prevent further delays. It didn’t go well for Mel and he had a lot of work to do, hustling up to 10th after the first lap, then engaging in a race long scrap with fellow Kawasaki riders Charlie Cole and Carlton Husband. He rode strongly to finish in 7th.
After running 8th in one of numerous attempts at starting race two, the team made the decision to pull him out of the moto rather than make a fourth attempt with the ongoing start gate issues.
In the 250cc Youth class, Billy Askew again set the best time in Qualification by a distance, this time finishing 3.2 seconds faster than the 2nd-placed rider. He continued that form into the races, surviving a second corner carve-up to quickly take command from halfway around the first lap, grabbing the Kecks Fastest Lap award on lap three, and winning his class by 32 seconds, actually 23 seconds clear of the 125cc winner in the mixed-capacity tear-up.
Before race two Billy’s bike had an electrical issue in the holding area, and the team made the decision to jump on the spare race bike. He started in around 6th spot but swiftly moved up to second by the end of the opening lap. Setting the fastest lap time of the whole race again on the first full circulation, he moved past early leader Jak Taylor to win by a steady 13.4 seconds, maintaining his perfect unbeaten record in the Championship this season. “The track was very good and technical, just the sort of going I like”, said Billy on the podium.
Team Manager Sam Yates was upbeat at the end of “a strange weekend. Billy was very impressive again in managing his races, and Mel rode well too. We will now focus on getting Tommy fit and come out swinging at Hawkstone.”
The next round is at the legendary Shropshire venue on the 18th of June.
