They travelled over land and sea all headed to the seaside of Haverigg and Route44 for rounds 3 and 4 of the Cumbria MX club championship.
Report and Images by Peter Bell
With this being the only meeting in the north, the entry was huge, all classes full and upwards of 340 riders (a Cumbrian record maybe) and the cream of both Adult and youth ranks at British level mixed in with our super fast locals, this was a meet not to be missed.
The Autos were first up on Saturday. The super-stylish Harry Dale was the overall winner on the day ahead of moto one winner Ethan Grawley with Scotlands Ricky Barrack making the long road down a worthy one going 3-3-3 for the final podium step.
The 65s were next, and even a moto two slip could not prevent Hayden Statt from taking the overall, after a final moto shootout with Owen Kenningley and Joel Winstanley-Dawson, second place for Kenningley was enough for second overall.
For me the best class to watch of the weekend was the Small Wheel 85s, so often mixed in with the big wheels, the big turn out gave them a chance to battle it out alone. Josh Vail and Billy Askew had ding dong battles all weekend, and a moto three win for Vail on Saturday was enough for the overall ahead of askew. Never far of the top 2 was Cumbrian Ryan Waggott continuing his progress in the S/W class and third overall.
Ollie Colmer in the big Wheel class will be cursing the lockdown this season, as a big year was forecast for him. The Ktm pilot has lost none of his speed and skills, and as always was brilliant to watch as he took the Big Wheel class. Tyla Hooley put the cat amongst the pigeons by taking a very impressive moto two win, with Hudson Rooper completing the podium. Max Harris from Lancashire had a quiet Saturday coming 9th, but more was to come the following day.
The weekend saw a large contingent of families coming over from Northern Ireland, and one of them Drew McCreanor recovered from a slow start in moto 1 of the Rookies to eventually take the overall from Jack Lindsey who was left to rue a moto two 11th finish. Arai Elcock just pipped another Northern Irish rider, Charley Irwin, to the final podium place.
The A-class can only be described as stacked this weekend. Brad Anderson’s Verde Ktm took the overall going 1-3-1 benefiting from Carlton Husbands Moto 3 puncture while in the lead. Cumbrian Jamie Law solid as ever split the North East pair on the Podium steps.
As with the 85 classes, it has been a while since we have seen a separate B class at Route44, and a welcome return to motocross after some tree dodging enduro to take the win on Saturday was Ryan Burton, the first maximum points haul of the weekend in doing so. Ben Evans did enough to take second overall with Michael Graham in third.
The Vets class or Over 30s C class, hit the track next with some proper old school racers, Ewan Johnston, Paul Coward, to name a couple. The overall, however, was taken by the second maximum points haul of the day in David Hartley, Local Coward got second with another local lad Ben Southward in third.
The final class of the day is the Under 30 C class, Harry Pickford went 1-1-2 to take the overall from Alfie Owens moto3 winner and Mark Blacklock solid in third.
Sunday saw another baking day and still another bumper paddock full, although the day was to be overshadowed by a couple of nasty incidents resulting in only two blocks of racing. We would like to wish the injured riders a speedy recovery, namely Jack Murray, a local lad with a great family and we all send our best wishes to them.
Once Again the Autos were up first, and after a sighting lap, it was straight into racing. Harry Dale was once again the one to beat, and looked fast, taking maximum points, definitely a name to look for in the future. Rickey Barrock went one better than Saturday to take second and Ethan Grawley third.
Hayden Statt produced probably one of the biggest holeshots I’ve ever seen in moto two and never looked troubled going 1-1. Joel Winstanley-Dawson and Kameron Greenhalgh completed the top 3. Never far away in fourth and worth a mention was Malachi Allen, from Scotland, having just made the step up to the 65 machine. Don’t be surprised to see him make the top 3 when he returns in 2 weeks for the next club round.
If we thought Saturday was good, Sunday was even better in the S/W class. Josh Vail, Kalvin Kelly, Billy Askew, Ryan Waggott and Cole McCullough battled it out with some awesome racing between them all. Top marks lads. Although Vail and Kelly finished level on points, Vail took the overall after a moto two win. Billy Askew went 3-3 for a third overall.
After a seemingly quiet day on Saturday, Max Harris shot out the gate on Sunday to take the holeshot in moto one and have a great battle with eventual winner Ollie Colmer. Hudson Roper came third behind Harris.
The tables were turned in the Rookies class with Jack Lindsay going 1-1 from Drew McCreanor and a very impressive result for Cumbrian regular racer Kyle Peel grabbing third overall taking his liking to the very rough sand.
Brad Todd made the trip down on Sunday to add another British Championship name to the line-up and take maximum points and some race time building up to the start of the Mx Nationals at Hawkstone Park in August. Todd’s friend and training partner Jamie Law went 2-2 for second overall with Brad Anderson third.
Ben Evans took maximum points in the B Class ahead of tied on points Michael Graham and Saturday winner Ryan Burton in second and third.
Ben Southward improved on Saturday to take the overall win on Sunday, staying calm winning moto one after a gate failure delayed the start. Tony Whitelaw impressed taking the moto two win and second overall with the #44 machine of Jack Radcliffe in third.
Last but not least on Sunday was the under 30’s. Harry Pickford went 1-1 for the overall with Grant and Alfie Owens second and third respectively.
It was great to see so many new faces racing in Cumbria. Hopefully, we can use this as a platform to get some more numbers regularly on the gates.
Results
Saturday:
Autos 1 Harry Dale 2 Ethan Grawley 3Rickey Barrack 4 Brooklyn Tinkler 5 Callum Bradley
65s 1 Hayden Statt 2 Owen Kenningley 3 Joel Winstanley- Dawson 4 Finley Cowie 5 Leo Self
S/W 85 1 Josh Vail 2 Billey Askew 3 Ryan Waggott 4 Kalvin Kelly 5 Jamie Keith
B/W 85 1 Ollie Colmer 2 Tyla Hooley 3 Hudson Rooper 4 Warren Clarke 5 Billy Hauxwell
Rookies 1 Drew McCreanor 2 Jack Lindsay 3 Arai Elcock 4 Charley Irwin 5 Corey Collins
A’s 1 Brad Anderson 2 Jamie Law 3 Carlton Husband 4 Callum Mitchell 5 Jake Preston
B’s 1 Ryan Burton 2 Ben Evans 3 Michael Graham 4 Richard Miller 5 Marky Trow
C Over 30s 1 David Hartley 2 Paul Coward 3 Ben Southward 4 Gav Southward 5 Ewan (bone head) Johnston
C under 30s 1 Harry Pickford 2 Alfie Owens 3 Mark Blacklock 4 Grant Owens 5 Josh Ithell
Sunday
Autos 1 Harry Dale 2 Ricky Barrock 3 Ethan Grawley 4 Freddie Box 5 Jude Richards
65s 1 Hayden Statt 2 Joe Winstanley-Dawson 3Kamerson Greenhalgh 4 Malachi Allen 5 Leo Self
S/W 85 1 Josh Vail 2 Kalvin Kelly 3 Billy Askew 4 Ryan Waggott 5 Cole McCullough
B/W 85 1 Ollie Colmer 2 Max Harris 3 Hudson Rooper 4 Warren Clarke 5 Lennox Dickinson
Rookies 1 Jack Lindsay 2 Drew McCreanor 3 Kyle Peel 4 Arai Elcock 5 Corey Collins
A’s 1 Brad Todd 2 Jamie Law 3 Brad Anderson 4 Callum Mitchell 5 Jay Hague
Bs 1 Ben Evans 2 Michael Graham 3 Ryan Burton 4 Richard Pratt 5 Paul Hautwell
C’s over 30 1 Ben Southward 2 Tony Whitelaw 3 Jack Radcliffe 4 Gav Southward 5 Lee Shaw
C’s Under 30 1 Harry Pickford 2 Grant Owens 3 Alfie Owens 4 Daz Birkbeck 5 Cody Jankowski
