Wilkinson & Millard shine at Sherwood! 2022 British Sidecarcross Championship Round 1 – Race Report & Results

The NORA MX Club hosted the first round of the ACU British Sidecarcross championships of 2022 at Sherwood MX Park near Mansfield. It was part of a fantastic two-day Easter NORA MX event that incorporated all their quad classes. Amazingly the Easter weather was very good to us with the sun shining all weekend, the track was prepared well and maintained with smoothing and watering overnight, and between races as needed.

Report and Images by Tracy Thacker

With a very closely fought end to the 2021 sidecar season, we knew the racing would be exciting with the top teams all fighting hard to take the advantage early in the season, but it was Brett Wilkinson with new passenger Joe Millard who took the championship lead from Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain by a very narrow margin with some close battles throughout the day.

Racing got underway with an early lead for Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain with Gary Moulds/ Lewis Gray holding second from another new pairing of Jake Brown/ Paul Horton with Brett Wilkinson/ Joe Millard in fourth. Very quickly the battle was on, Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain pulled out a safe lead going on to take a good win. Behind, Brett Wilkinson/ Joe Millard blasted into third and by the halfway point they were up to second. Jake Brown/ Paul Horton tucked into third with Gary Moulds/ Lewis Gray holding fourth. George Kinge and new passenger Dan Phelps held a steady fifth just ahead of Michael Hodges and his new passenger Jack Wilkinson.

In Race two it was Gary Moulds/ Lewis Gray who took the holeshot, much to the delight of their Northern Irish supporters. But they were soon under pressure from behind with Brett Wilkinson/ Joe Millard holding second but blasting into the lead within the first few laps. Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain were on top form again and by lap three they had tucked into second. The leaders battled but passing was difficult, both teams had their supporters hanging over the fences, but it was Brett Wilkinson/ Joe Millard who managed to stay ahead, Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain took second ahead of Gary Moulds/ Lewis Gray in third. Dan Foden/ Nathan Cooper put their race one problems behind them and took a great fourth place just ahead of Jake Brown/ Paul Horton with George Kinge/ Dan Phelps in sixth.

In the last championship race of the day Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain took an early lead, but there was drama on bend one with Sam Osbaldiston/ Harley Lloyd crashing and the race was red-flagged to get them medical attention. In the re-start, Gary Moulds/ Lewis Gray took their second holeshot of the day, but again were under pressure. Brett Wilkinson/ Joe Millard blasted into the lead with Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain tucking into second. There was another great battle, but it was Brett Wilkinson/ Joe Millard who held the advantage on a tough track, Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain took a close second. Gary Moulds/ Lewis Gray did well to stay ahead of Jake Brown/ Paul Horton. Dan Foden/ Nathan Cooper took fifth with Michael Hodges/ Jack Wilkinson just behind.

At the end of an eventful day, Wilkinson/ Millard hold a three-point advantage over the current champions Brown/ Chamberlain, with Moulds/ Gray taking third overall. Just two points behind Brown/ Horton hold fourth with just three points separating Foden, King and Hodges for fifth overall.

Don’t miss round two on 01 May at Duns Motocross Track in Scotland, where the close battles will continue.

Results

Expert Overall