Waterman whips up a storm at Coleorton! 2021 AMCA British Motocross Championship Round 6 – Race Report & Results

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On what was the hottest weekend of the year so far, the Coalville MXC made their debut as hosts of an AMCA British Motocross Championship at Coleorton. And despite the continuous threat of ever-rising dust clouds, to their ultimate credit the Coalville crew refused to be defeated and were all as one certainly up for the challenge having already spent endless hours of hardwork and preparation pre-event. Despite then being forced into two big watering sessions during the event, three full blocks of hot action were eventually completed by 6.30pm. So it’s a massive well done to all the club officials and marshalls for their determination in getting the job done !

Report and Images by Mike Wood

So this was round six, and having now passed the mid-point in this super series powered by Datatag and supported by Dunlop, one man who refuses to be removed from his pole position at the head of the Championship table is MX1 leader Ashley Greedy. At Coleorton, the LHRT Kawasaki rider took another podium placing in 3rd behind winner Josh Waterman and James Dodd, two riders who are still very much in the race for the title. In moto one, it was defending Champion Luke Burton who was to take the win after Jamie Skuse had initially grabbed the holeshot in a clash which also saw Adam Wells briefly lead the way for a couple of early laps. With Wells eventually dropping down to 7th, Waterman eventually got home in 2nd after a superb race-long tussle with Luke Hawkins, Greedy and Dodd.

Racing on his home club circuit, Burton was keen for another MX1 win in moto two and quickly he was right on the tail of fast starting early leader Will Hughes. Before the completion of lap one though there was to be drama as Hughes went down and Burton hit the carnage, thankfully both lads being able to quickly jump to their feet and continue competing! Incredibly just a single lap later and Burton tasted the soil again in exactly the same spot as his earlier tumble. Whilst Burton dropped down to 14th, at the front there was to be a stunning three-way battle for supremacy. Eventually taking the win was Waterman after seeing off Dodd and Greedy, what a high-class tussle that was! Taking a rather lonely 4th spot was Hawkins ahead of Strydom having his best ride of the season so far, Mackrel and Dean whilst Burton had to work hard for 11th with Hughes getting home in 13th.

James Dodd(292) and Josh Waterman battling it out in MX1

Dean then led the final MX1 charge in what was to be another classic contest as Greedy, Dodd, Waterman and Hawkins got through to indulge in a serious battle for honours. Three laps from home and the cool Dodd took control for the win from Waterman as Greedy encountered a few anxious moments after losing the use of his Kawasaki’s front brake but still took what could prove to be a vital 3rd spot finish. In the race for the title, just 27 points separate leader Greedy, Dodd and Waterman and with a ‘double header’ next up at Brookthorpe it’s certainly all still to play for in this one!

What a dramatic contest the opening MX2 moto at Coleorton was to be as young Rossi Beard grabbed the holeshot and lead the way for three blistering laps. By lap four though the race picture had dramatically changed with Beard crashing and dropping down to 10th whilst Jamie Wainwright went out of the contest. Riding on home soil, Jamie suffered a spectacular off, cartwheeling several times before coming to a halt when holding 5th spot. At the front, Shane Carless was in control and there he remained as Henry Williams worked overtime to resist heavy pressure and hold off series leader Nev Bradshaw for 2nd. Also in the mix were Ray Rowson, Josh Coleman, Cory McShane and James Hanscomb.

Shane Carless chasing his FUS teammate Nev Bradshaw in the final MX2 clash

Despite being very battered and bruised, Wainwright started moto two and was to take a hard-earned 2nd after seeing off the challenge of both Williams and Bradshaw. At the front, though a very focussed and immaculate Carless led the contest from gate to flag as his teammate Bradshaw eventually got home in 3rd. As per moto one, all of the above names mentioned earlier got home again inside the top ten joined on this occasion by Lee Truman and Josh Canton.

In a runaway battle of the FUS Marsh MX Husqvarna boys, Carless and Bradshaw quickly broke away at the front of the final MX2 moto to indulge in their own private battle. Shane had led the opening four laps before Nev scorched past to take control but two circuits later it was all change again. Struggling with cramp in his leg, Nev was overhauled by Shane and that’s the way it remained as Rowson got home in 3rd. Having his best meeting of the series so far, Coleman took a great 4th with Williams and McShane next up. The MX2 podium was a victory for the experienced riders as Carless, Bradshaw and Rowson took home the awards…

There was some major news before the commencement of Sunday’s 125cc action as the Meredith MX Fantic team announced that series leader Kieran Banks and Jordan Meredith were self-isolating and laid low due to a dose of that horrible Covid infection!. What a shame this was particularly for Banks who has been simply superb in every round so far, get well soon lads! So that meant that there would potentially be a new AMCA 125cc Championship pace-setter come Sunday night but first, they would have to wipe out the big 78 point advantage already fabricated by Banks.

In moto one it was Bradley Tranter, 3rd in the series and still struggling with a shoulder injury sustained during the previous round at Hawkstone who led the way as Lloyd Morgan, 2nd in the series was in trouble and struggling down in 24th place following an excursion into the trackside rope marking. At the front, though Tranter was soon coming under pressure from Matt Ridgway and with just three laps remaining the Hardcore Racing Yamaha made his move and thus bag his first moto win of the series. Taking 3rd was Jordan Wright from Jack Timms, Joel Fisher, Tom Fish and Stuart Owen as Morgan had to settle for 15th.

Despite that moto one rope incident, Morgan was to be then involved in an epic 125cc tussle in the second clash of the day. In an amazing three-way battle at the front, Tranter, Timms and finally Morgan took turns to lead. Also joining the party late on was a hard-charging Ridgway. At the flag in this red-hot contest, Timms having his best meeting of the series so far took 2nd with Ridgway passing Tranter on the last lap for 3rd.

125cc top two as Lloyd Morgan(414) lines up a pass on Bradley Tranter

Although Matt Ridgway grabbed the final 125cc holeshot, Tranter then finally Morgan took control of the race leadership. With Morgan getting the win from Tranter and eventual overall winner Ridgway, Fisher, Owen, Clinton Barrs and Tomos Wright who all wrapped the meeting up by producing strong rides. After earlier going 3/5, Wright’s day finished with a puncture when holding an early 4th. Another rider suffering last moto heartache when on course for a potential podium spot was Timms. With his front brake seized on, Jack could only watch the last moto action and must be cursing the misfortune which appears to be stopping any potential progress up the Championship table. So in the Championship battle, it’s now Morgan in control, 8 points clear of Tranter with the absent Banks still 3rd and only 48 points off the top slot. The major mover of the weekend in this series was Matt Ridgway, jumping from 7th up to 4th.

Despite being the first class out on a heavily watered track, the opening Vets moto at Coleorton ran pretty much to form with series leader Phil Mercer controlling all the way from Gary Davies, Paul Burn, Simon Lane, Sean Smith, Andrew Watkins and James Lane. The younger of the Lane brothers certainly had to work hard though for that 7th spot after initially being right down in 26th spot on completion of lap one.

With another gate to flag win in moto two, Mercer put another big 50 Championship points onto his tally as Davies and Burn again chased him home. Having a good ride in this one was Andrew Marchant in 6th whilst Brian Staples and Gareth Dunsford was also inside the top ten. The final Vets clash at Coleorton was to then provide the best of the bunch as Burn, Davies and finally, Mercer led the way. With Mercer victorious, the fast-starting Burn eventually had to settle for 4th as James Lane passed him on the final lap. In the mix again were Simon Lane, Smith, Vets Over 50’s series leader Watkins, Staples and Dunsford who all bagged some very nice points hauls…

Youth 85cc action as Oliver Rigby(2) just about gets the holeshot

Once again it was a case of the current Championship top two dominating the Youth 85cc class as Charlie Hucklebridge and Oliver Rigby controlled the Coleorton racing. Going 1/2/1, Hucklebridge was to take the overall win on the day from series leader Rigby as Tyler Smith joined them on the podium. In the opening clash, Hucklebridge led all the way from Rigby as Smith won a super race-long tussle for 3rd ahead of Logan Jay-Powell, Will Turner and Linc Hasted.

Moto two and it was Rigby all the way from Hucklebridge, Turner, Hasted, Smith and Jack Evans. So with one apiece for Hucklebridge and Rigby it meant a last race decider for the Coleorton overall verdict, an honour which was to go eventually to Hucklebridge. Initially, though Rigby had claimed the holeshot but two laps in his Wiltshire based title rival found a way through and there he remained as Smith got home in 3rd. In the separately scored SW85cc contest, Harley Prickett took the top slot from Oakley Kettle and Harrison Davies and now also leads the Championship race by just a single point better off than Kettle.

Results

MX1

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Josh Waterman	144	47	50	47
2	James Dodd	138	41	47	50
3	Ashley Greedy	133	43	45	45
4	Luke Hawkins	131	45	43	43
5	Luke Dean	113	35	37	41
6	Jamie Skuse	113	39	35	39
7	Luke Burton	113	50	30	33
8	Damon Strydom	111	33	41	37
9	Zac Stealey	94	30	33	31
10	Will Hughes	87	29	28	30
11	Jayden Ashwell	85	26	31	28
12	Adam Wells	85	37	29	19
13	Jimmy Margetson	82	28	27	27
14	Luke Meredith	77	17	25	35
15	Henry Partridge	77	24	24	29
16	James Mackrel	70	31	39	–
17	Mark Young	69	27	16	26
18	Benjamin Nicholls	66	20	22	24
19	Rhys Walker	64	21	20	23
20	Chris Neesam	58	15	21	22
21	Jack Griffiths	58	19	19	20
22	Tye Barrs	52	16	15	21
23	Sean Wainwright	51	–	26	25
24	Luke Chessell	44	13	14	17
25	Harvey Tillotson	41	18	23	–
26	Rory Merchant	40	22	18	–
27	Ted Bailey	31	14	17	–
28	Mark Roberts	25	25	–	–
29	Adam Harris	23	23	–	–

MX2

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Shane Carless	150	50	50	50
2	Neville Bradshaw	137	45	45	47
3	Ray Rowson	131	43	43	45
4	Henry Williams	129	47	41	41
5	Josh Coleman	121	41	37	43
6	Cory Mcshane	117	39	39	39
7	Josh Canton	103	33	33	37
8	James Hanscomb	101	37	31	33
9	Lee Truman	101	35	35	31
10	Harry Linton	88	28	30	30
11	Martin Jones	82	31	24	27
12	Callum Ford	78	15	28	35
13	Keelan Southwood	78	25	25	28
14	Joe Russell	77	24	27	26
15	Sean Eckersley	76	26	21	29
16	Aaron Collins	68	20	23	25
17	Adam Hill	65	21	22	22
18	James Smith	64	22	19	23
19	Joshua Barnett	63	19	20	24
20	Brooklyn Evans	56	27	29	–
21	Macauley Davies	55	17	17	21
22	Troy Jones	54	18	16	20
23	Patrick Gilligan	49	23	26	–
24	Mitchell Perry	48	30	18	–
25	James Wainwright	47	–	47	–
26	Ben James	31	16	15	–
27	Rossi Beard	29	29	–	–

125’s

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Matt Ridgway	140	50	45	45
2	Bradley Tranter	137	47	43	47
3	Lloyd Morgan	126	26	50	50
4	Stuart Owen	113	37	35	41
5	Clinton Barrs	109	33	37	39
6	Jack Timms	108	43	47	18
7	Joel Fisher	107	41	23	43
8	Tom Fish	107	39	39	29
9	Jordan Ridgway	94	30	29	35
10	Harry Ridgway	93	29	33	31
11	tomos wright	90	23	30	37
12	Luke Newman	88	24	31	33
13	Jordan Wright	86	45	41	–
14	Callum Baldwin	85	28	27	30
15	Yarin Evans	81	31	26	24
16	Jake O Gorman	74	22	24	28
17	Toby English	72	27	19	26
18	Ezra Blackwell	70	25	25	20
19	Olly Hathaway	69	21	21	27
20	Oliver Barnes	69	20	28	21
21	Mitchell Gregory	65	18	22	25
22	Tom Cumber	59	17	20	22
23	Joshua Fletcher-Williams	58	19	16	23
24	Mitchell Hartill	52	15	18	19
25	Jamie Smith	35	35	–	–
26	Lewis Smith	33	16	17	–

Vets

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Phil Mercer	150	50	50	50
2	Gary Davies	141	47	47	47
3	Paul Burn	133	45	45	43
4	James Lane	125	37	43	45
5	Simon Lane	125	43	41	41
6	Sean Smith	117	41	37	39
7	Andrew Watkins	111	39	35	37
8	Brian Staples	98	30	33	35
9	Gareth Dunsford	97	33	31	33
10	Matthew Chaplin	89	29	29	31
11	Mark Hawkins	89	35	24	30
12	Richard Tudor	82	24	30	28
13	Stephen Hurst	78	21	28	29
14	Russell Hartill	75	23	26	26
15	Guy Langmead	73	25	21	27
16	Paul Biddulph	73	28	22	23
17	Andrew Marchant	70	31	39	–
18	Matthew Evans	69	22	23	24
19	Gary Hurst	68	18	25	25
20	Steve Ferney	61	19	20	22
21	Stephen Sankey	56	17	18	21
22	Christopher Jukes	54	15	19	20
23	David Bullock	52	16	17	19
24	Russell Hurst	48	14	16	18
25	Shaun Brooker	47	20	27	–
26	Stuart Brown	32	–	15	17
27	John Heath	27	27	–	–
28	Ryan Thomas	26	26	–	–

Youth 85’s/150’s

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Charlie Hucklebridge	147	50	47	50
2	Oliver Rigby	144	47	50	47
3	Tyler Smith	131	45	41	45
4	Will Turner	127	41	45	41
5	Wyatt McGregor	113	35	35	43
6	Jack Evans	113	37	39	37
7	Linc Hasted	112	39	43	30
8	Logan Jay Powell	107	43	31	33
9	Jack Davis	105	33	37	35
10	Rheanna Morgan-Rogers	102	30	33	39
11	Harley Prickett	86	31	30	25
12	Sion Wright	85	26	28	31
13	Oakley Kettle	85	29	29	27
14	Harrison Davies	80	27	24	29
15	Alfie Bebb	76	23	27	26
16	Jonas Brown	72	25	19	28
17	Conrad Tomlinson	67	19	25	23
18	George Bromley	64	20	22	22
19	Logan Chinnock	61	21	16	24
20	Oliver Bebb	58	17	21	20
21	Amber McGregor	56	18	17	21
22	Tremaine Young	52	15	18	19
23	Rylee Francis	50	24	26	–
24	Josh Lansbury	42	22	20	–
25	Braedon McGinn	39	16	23	–
26	Cameron Chell	28	28	–	–