Who made the cut?? 2021 British Womens Motocross Championship – Qualifying overview
The BWMA caters for all ages and abilities of girl riders, through 65cc Rising Stars, 85cc Youth Class to Adult from novice to European Championship winner and to support the development of riders they run a qualifying system to split the adult girls into Pro-Class to reward the best girls in the country and National Class for the girls working their way to the top helping to nurture and encourage them to reach their full potential.
Report and Images by Howard Marriott
Round 4 of the 8 BWMA/AMCA Westermans International British Womens Motocross Championship Rounds was at Warmingham Lane and saw the confirmation of the Adult Ladies Championship classes. After four rounds the top 10 fastest girls qualified for the Elite Ladies Pro-Class and will now be racing for the £3000 prize pot split over the top 5 positions plus the Round 7 Brookthorpe Bonanza prize money round. The biggest prize in UK Womens Motocross. The girls will also be racing for the 6 permanent IMBA Team GB positions for the 2022 season.
Pro Class Grace Bates 34
Elite Ladies Pro-Class
Dominating qualifying and taking her tally of points through to Round 5 at Lower Drayton on 1st August is Team Green Kawasakis Chelsea Gowland defending her 2019 British Womens Motocross Title and aiming to make it 3 in a row. Close behind and already with a race win to her name is the leader of the Muscle Doctor Holeshot Championship, the ever-improving Cath King. New to the championship Wales Tanisha Thomas has been a close 3rd but finding a battle on her hands from the quick teenage pairing of 2019 85cc Youth Champion 15-year-old Jaysi Austin finding her feet on the 125 and 17-year-old Georgie Potter who has been a consistent top 5 rider and now finding her start grabbing her first Muscle Doctor Holeshot at Round 4 finds herself 4th in the championship. Austin who missed a round has done an amazing job to break into the top 10 standing in 7th place with four to go. Another fantastic result is Chloe Richards who again missed a round but still managed to squeeze into the Pro-Class in 9th place, two riders that have shown great pace and consistency throughout the qualifying are Grace Bates sitting in a solid 5th place ahead of Caitlin Newman holding on to 6th place. Former Ladies Enduro Champion Gemma Rose Holtham again raced hard and consistently to grab herself a ProClass position in 8th place. The final place is one of the fairytale stories of the championship, young 15-year-old Georgia Bottriell started racing with the BWMA on a 150 Honda in the Youth for the last round in 2019 and moved up to the 250f this year for her first full competitive season on the big bike, Georgia rode consistently throughout the first four rounds and is now a Pro-Class rider.
Pro-Class Tanisha Thomas leading Chelsea Gowland 47
Elite Ladies Pro-Class Standings
1st Chelsea Gowland 647pts
2nd Catherine King 610pts
3rd Tanisha Thomas 587pts
4th Georgie Potter 537pts
5th Grace Bates 481pts
6th Caitlin Newman 454pts
7th Jaysi Austin 418pts
8th Gemma Rose Holtham 413pts
9th Chloe Richards 374pts
10th Georgia Bottriell 372pts
Pro Class Caitlin Newman 461 leading Jaymee Garrood 27
National Ladies Championship
For the girls missing out on qualifying, they have the chance to chase their own championship, the BWMA Westermans International National Ladies Championship, helping them to continue improving particularly as they will be racing in the same race as the Pro-Class girls. Finding herself leading the Championship as we go into Round 5 is Aaliyah Hulbert who briefly ran in the top 10 as did Kimberley Holden James who will be pushing Aaliyah all the way for the title, Terri Wallace is one of the senior girls that live for the sport and is enjoying a solid 3rd place hoping to continue improving and stay in the top 3, behind her is young 16-year-old India Hodgkinson, missed round 1 but has gained more confidence as the season progressed particularly after the extreme conditions of the first rounds and she will be looking to break into the top 3 by the end of the season. Another young rider who will be looking to make up places after missing one round and crashing out of the last round is 18 year old Paige Gould another rider capable of challenging the top 4 making for an exciting championship. Next are two Pro-class riders that have had a cruel season, Jaymee Garrood, ex Team GB rider has only managed one round and finds herself a threat to the leaders in the National Championship along with Hannah Jones who was on fire at the beginning of the year but knee surgery halted her season, we are hoping to see her at the later rounds.
National Champs, Terri Wallace 83 India Hodgkinson 35 Aaliyah Hulbert 28
National Ladies Championship Standings
1st Aaliyah Hulbert 362pts
2nd Kimberley Holden James 360pts
3rd Terri Wallace 330pts
4th India Hodgkinson 270pts
5th Paige Gould 223pts
6th Jaymee Garrood 220pts
7th Hannah Jones 197pts
8th Autumn Jenkinson 155pts
9th Amber McGregor 153pts
10th Zoe Deacon 58pts
National Champs Paige Gould 102 chasing Kimberly Holden James 282
85cc Youth Girls Championship (The Crazy Gang)
Halfway through the season and the 85cc girls well and truly earned their nickname the Crazy Gang, as they are a bunch of the most competitive girls we have seen in the Youth class and a great prospect for the future of Womens Motocross in the UK. Team Green Kawasakis Beanie Reece is having an outstanding season, leading the championship in convincing fashion but behind her the pack is hungry and the girls are taking it in turns to give chase, most improved by far is Ellie Davidson who following her first season learning her craft in the 65cc Rising Stars she is now pushing for the lead and a regular top 5, South African Amber McGregor has shown the speed that could take the win by claiming two Pole position qualifiers but just needs to transfer that to race speed, Millie Sweeney is now finding the consistency to push for the lead, Checoby Rainey travels all the way from Northern Ireland to compete and is another rider finding her form with top 3 results. Holly Williams is always threatening and when it comes together she is a danger, with four rounds to go and more consistency Holly will be at the front. One of the most exciting prospects is 11 year old Leah Rees-Evans, already a holeshot winner and when leading Reece at Brookthorpe a fall with the finish in sight broke her collarbone but she was back 3 weeks later and will challenge again. As the season has progressed Sophie Jones, Erin Howes and Lowri Rees have all made incredible improvements and will be mixing it with the others. With all these riders now settling into their pace and continually improving the second half of the season is shaping up to provide some great racing.
Beanie Reece 111 Holly Williams 98 Ellie Davidson 165 Millie Sweeney 222 Checoby Rainey 41
85cc Youth Girls Championship Standings
1st Beanie Reece 645pts
2nd Amber McGregor 578pts
3rd Millie Sweeney 564pts
4th Checoby Rainey 537pts
5th Ellie Davidson 527pts
6th Holly Williams 521pts
7th Erin Howes 473pts
8th Sophie Jones 429pts
9th Lowri Rees 423pts
10th Leah Rees-Evans 327pts
65cc Rising Stars
The future of Womens motocross starts in this class and Poppy Banning is in her last year of 65cc racing on target to defend her 2019 title as she consistently battles with the 85’s as well as lead her class. New to the series and in a similar position to Ellie Davidson is young Cameron Mansbridge, she can follow Ellie seeing what progress can be made if you keep improving, third is Olivia Reynolds dropping in the standings after missing two rounds but catching her is 9 year old Angelica Bennett having missed one round is determined to work her way up the table in the last four rounds.
1st Poppy Banning 579pts
2nd Cameron Mansbridge 472pts
3rd Olivia Reynolds 400pts
4th Angelica Bennett 323pts
