Bromyard victory for Beanie! British Womens Motocross Championships Round 2 – Report & Results

The BWMA/AMCA Westermans International British Womens Motocross Championships went to the Upton Motocross Clubs Bromyard circuit deep in the Herefordshire countryside for Round 2. The day was full of drama and incredible racing fitting of a British Championship event starting with the qualification.

Report and Images by Howard Marriott

After watering the track heavily on the Saturday it was in prime condition, a hard pack naturally flowing track with some man-made jumps making for great exciting racing. No surprise for the Adult Pro-Class qualification class as Team Green Kawasaki’s Chelsea Gowland put in a flawless ride to take pole position, Catherine King put in some super quick laps to get within 2 seconds of Gowland followed by Tanisha Thomas in 3rd. The BWMA’s teenage sensations Georgie Potter getting the better of a determined Hannah Jones followed by Chloe Richards finding her true form only half a second down, Caitlin Newman after a couple of scary moments took 7th another half a second adrift with Grace Bates, Amber McGregor and Kimberley Holden James rounding out the top 10.

Race 1 and it was the fast gating Tanisha Thomas taking the first Muscle Doctor Holeshot of the day from Chelsea Gowland. Thomas pushed hard riding out of her skin to hold off Gowland keeping her behind for almost two laps. By the time Gowland took the lead Thomas had a gap over the super determined Catherine King and for a while it looked like King couldn’t make an impression as both these girls were matching each others times, but as the race wore on King slowly edged closer, it was as they hit the backmarkers on lap 8 that King managed to close right up to Thomas and made an impressive move to snatch 2nd place. All the time behind them young Georgie Potter was keeping a close watch until she made a small mistake and settled for a comfortable 4th place ahead of Chloe Richards who got the better of Hannah Jones who was starting to feel the effects of a knee injury that will keep her out for the next few rounds. Grace Bates had to fight hard to keep Caitlin Newman at bay as she got the better of 10th place finisher Gemma Holtham.

Race 2 and the hot conditions meant water was needed to keep the dust down and this caused some trouble for the riders. Again Tanisha Thomas nailed another Muscle Doctor Holeshot but Gowland took no time in taking the lead only to drop it on a slick section in front of Thomas allowing the field to get past her restarting 16 places down. Thomas pushed hard in the tricky conditions as she could see a win was on the cards gapping Catherine King who was down in 5th on the first lap getting up to 3rd quickly but couldn’t make an impression on Thomas, meanwhile, Gowland was on a mission and showed why she is the British Champion, picking her way through the field to second and with two laps to go it looked like it was going to be too much to take the win but approaching a group of backmarkers, Thomas was more cautious than Gowland and Gowland took Thomas in a brave move and the win. Behind these Chloe Richards took advantage of the conditions and got her best race result of the season with fourth capitalising on a fall by Georgie Potter who finished 5th ahead of Hannah Jones, Amber McGregor. Grace Bates got 7th with only a couple of seconds splitting her, Gemma Holtham and Autumn Jenkinson rounding out the top 10.

Race 3 and with a dry track Chelsea Gowland finally dialled in her first Muscle Doctor Holeshot and taking her first gate to flag win of the Championship, behind her though it was far from sealed with Catherine King tucking in behind Gowland to follow her to the flag but Georgie Potter was having the best race of her career, she had showed she could keep up with the front runners but this time was ahead of Tanisha Thomas in third place and stayed there for half the race keeping pace with King until a supreme effort from Thomas made the pass to take 3rd, Potter by now in a comfortable 4th but showed she is a top runner in 2021. Grace Bates picked up her best result of the season with 5th place leading the battle with Chloe Richards and Hannah Jones taking 7th place, Caitlin Newman put in another solid ride for 8th and Kimberley Holden-James taking her first top 10 in 9th place ahead of Gemma Holtham in 10th.

1st Chelsea Gowland 180pts
2nd Catherine King 158pts
3rd Tanisha Thomas 154pts
4th Georgie Potter 139pts
5th Chloe Richards 135pts
6th Hannah Jones 127pts
7th Grace Bates 125pts
8th Caitlin Newman 111pts
9th Amber McGregor 109pts
10th Gemma Holtham 105pts

The 85cc Youth Girls Championship is delivering some great racing and Round 2 was no exception with all kinds of drama. Team Green Kawasaki must be happy as they seem to be dominating in both classes at the moment with Beanie Reece taking another Pole position closely followed by Amber McGregor, Millie Sweeney, Leah Rees-Evans and flying the flag for Northern Ireland Checoby Rainey in 5th place.

Race 1 and it was Beanie Reece taking a comfortable Muscle Doctor holeshot but on the second corner collided with another rider hitting the ground hard as she remounted and started her bike she was dead last with all to race for. Meanwhile, South African Amber McGregor capitalised and rode a steady controlled race to take the win followed by Leah Rees-Evans, but behind them, with the most impressive ride of her career so far Beanie Reece picked her way through the packed field to finish in a creditable 3rd overall. Behind Reece Checoby Rainey, Holly Williams and Erin Howes battled for 4th place.

Race 2 and Leah Rees-Evans nailed her first Muscle Doctor Holeshot with Beanie Reece close behind, Reece eventually taking the lead and win from Rees-Evans, first race winner Amber McGregor finished in a comfortable 3rd but the two casualties in the first race Millie Sweeney who damaged her finger in a fall and Wales’ Ellie Davidson fought hard for 4th and 5th place.

Race 3 again Leah Rees-Evans grabbed another Muscle Doctor Holeshot with Reece close behind, Rees-Evans this time holding off Reece for a few laps before taking a fall dropping her down to a 6th place finish, but the race of the day was for second place between Millie Sweeney and Ellie Davidson, Davidson hounding Sweeney all race long until finally making the pass for second but she couldn’t make it stick as Sweeney took it back managing the pain of her finger to finish second. Young Ellie Davidson though had the best finish of her career in 3rd place and showed the progress riders can make in this championship. Northern Irelands Checoby Rainey finished in fourth ahead of Amber McGregor.

1st Beanie Reece 170pts
2nd Amber McGregor 155pts
3rd Leah Rees-Evans 151pts
4th Checoby Rainey 137pts
5th Millie Sweeney 132pts
6th Ellie Davidson 132pts
7th Holly Williams 127pts
8th Erin Howes 117pts
9th Lowri Rees 109pts
10th Sophie Jones 99pts

The 65cc Rising Stars were again racing with the Youth Girls and both Poppy Banning and Angelica Bennett enjoyed some great racing with the bigger girls. It was 2019 champion Banning that took all three wins but Angelica Bennett ended the day leading the championship. Young Cameron Mansbridge bravely tried to carry on after a heavy fall but couldn’t continue the days racing, happily she is back for round 3.

1st Poppy Banning 180pts
2nd Angelica Bennett 162pts