Back at it at Apex! 2022 British Minibike Championship Round 1 & 2 – Report & Results

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The 2022 British Minibike Championship descended on Apex Motopark, Worcester for rounds 1 and 2 of the series back on the 23rd and 24th April.

Images courtesy of Wendy Rose

The track was prime, the weather was great and the on-track action was sizzling hot.

Blaine Blackwells Pro title defence got off to a superb start with a moto one win on Saturday but a DNF in race two halted his claims on the number spot at Round 1 although he would win moto 3 for good measure. By taking the moto 2 chequers and with a solid set of results it would be Kieran Sembiante who would take the honours at round 1 ahead of Chris Hughes in second and Jody Burton rolling back the years in third.

Blackwell would be back with a bang on Sunday and with a 3 ride maximum would win round 2 ahead of Sembiante and Daniel Fisher who was another who suffered big time with a DNF on Saturday hindering his result.

Blackwell said of his Saturday issue “I got to the top of the start straight and my engine dropped a valve. I just rode off the track to get out the way of everyone. Rushed back to the pits borrowed a new head off Louis James and fitted a new piston just about made it out for my last race! Was running it in 😅😂”

The Clubman class was stacked with the victory on Saturday going the way of Shaun Ballard who was flanked on the podium by Kiya Glassey in second and Ryan Barnett in third. On Sunday though Lee Clark came to the fore and took the number spot over Barnett and Max Hadlington in third.

Despite machinery trouble, former Youth champ Leo Vowles nailed the Rookie win on Saturday fending off Jack Harrison and Ben Moran for the victory, but it was Daniel Fisher who ruled the roost on Sunday ahead of Vowles and Shaun Ballard.

Chris Hughes was a dominant force in the Masters category and would win all six motos over the weekend for double round winning weekend. Jody Burton was second each time and Dan Foreman was third on both days.

In the Vets, Chris Rose was back to his vintage best and stormed to a complete set of six victories to claim both round wins. On Saturday Neil Parsons picked himself up from a number of crashes and was second and Tony Herd was third with the two swapping positions on Sunday.

The growing Farmbike class saw Lewis Rose have a stunning couple of days and he would go unbeaten in a super competitive group of racers. On the number two step of the podium on Saturday was Josh Howell with another rider who has come through the youth ranks Senna Summers in third. Howell would be second behind Rose again on Sunday but this time the number three spot was filled by Sam Thomson.

Ash Gorman and Tom Dunk duked it out all weekend long for Superstock Glory with Gorman claiming Saturday’s victory with 2 race wins to Dunk’s one, only for Dunk to hit back with the same 2-1 ratio on Sunday over Gorman. Ant Martin was third on Saturday while on Sunday the third step on the box was claimed by Luke Walker.

In the Kids 50cc class Lily Senior was on fire and blitzed the field with a full house of moto victories giving her the overall for round 1 and 2. Oscar Smith and Harvey-James Wood were second and third on both days.

Over in the Kids 65cc class Zach White dominated proceedings and hammered in six moto victories to take the round 1 and 2 spoils followed on each day by Jenson Batner, Georgie Crossman and Seth Golding.

The three riders who battled it out for the Youth Junior title in 2021 would be going at it again in 2022 at Apex. On Saturday last years runner up Tyler Griffiths was in top form and maxed out for the win ahead of 2021 champ Hugh Darley, and third place rider from the last campaign Olly Haynes in third. Darley came back on Sunday though and took the win over Haynes and Griffiths. This could be a title battle that again goes down to the wire.

Jacob Darley headed home Harrison Haslam in Day one of the Youth Senior competition with Thomas Hunt in third, but on Sunday Haslam had his race face on and fired in a 1-1-1 scorecard to claim the round 2 victory ahead of Darley with Jayden Bickerton in third.

The series now heads to Pontrilas on the 28th and 29th May. For more info go to https://minibikechamps.co.uk/

Results

Round 1 – Saturday

Pro

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Kieran Sembiante	292	95	100	97
2	Chris Hughes	283	91	97	95
3	Jody Burton	275	89	95	91
4	Dan Foreman	271	90	91	90
5	Danny Kidd	270	93	90	87
6	Leo Vowles	263	85	89	89
7	Chris Rose	262	88	86	88
8	Jordan Lane	253	83	85	85
9	Scott Thomas	253	86	87	80
10	Scott Joyner	251	76	93	82
11	Warren Benner	251	82	88	81
12	Neil Parsons	245	78	84	83
13	Jack Guntrip	237	81	78	78
14	Matt Chamberlain	237	77	83	77
15	Ben Moran	230	79	77	74
16	Rhys Streeter	229	80	80	69
17	Jack Harrison	228	70	82	76
18	Tony Herd	226	73	74	79
19	Max Hadlington	221	71	75	75
20	Craig Griffiths	221	68	81	72
21	Jay Taylor	216	72	71	73
22	Jeff Pike	212	69	72	71
23	Blaine Blackwell	200	100	–	100
24	Daniel Fisher	190	97	–	93
25	Jake Pearce	173	87	–	86
26	Lee Clark	168	84	–	84
27	Steve Scott	153	74	79	–
28	Phil Thomas	148	75	73	–
29	Ethan Lochrie	146	–	76	70

Clubman

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Shaun Ballard	205	67	70	68
2	Kiya Glassey	202	66	69	67
3	Ryan Barnett	196	63	68	65
4	Jason Hawkes	193	62	65	66
5	Matthew Cole	192	61	67	64
6	Peter Boyd	186	59	64	63
7	Teagan Parnell	179	53	66	60
8	Matt Barnard	177	58	62	57
9	Casey Dommett	174	52	60	62
10	Tommy Gwilt	174	56	59	59
11	Jordan Burton	168	51	61	56
12	Alex Clarke	157	49	53	55
13	Joseph Sparling	153	48	52	53
14	James Crow	148	47	50	51
15	Charlie Hazlehurst	146	46	51	49
16	Craig Swales	142	44	48	50
17	Daniel Wilson	137	45	45	47
18	Alex Sutton	131	43	44	44
19	Jordan Johnson	123	60	63	–
20	Conor Gamby	120	65	55	–
21	Louis James	117	–	56	61
22	Shaun Ballard	116	–	58	58
23	Patrick Ryan	111	57	54	–
24	Carl Elliott	107	50	57	–
25	Ned Caprile	103	–	49	54
26	Ben Gotsell	101	54	47	–
27	Ian Lennox	101	55	–	46
28	Liam Lennox	94	42	–	52
29	Armani Garland	94	–	46	48
30	Jodie Wills	84	41	43	–
31	Ash Arrowsmith	64	64	–	–
32	Brian Oliver	45	–	–	45

Rookies

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6
1	Leo Vowles	69	22	–	25	–	22	–
2	Jack Harrison	56	16	–	22	–	18	–
3	Ben Moran	52	18	–	18	–	16	–
4	Daniel Fisher	50	25	–	–	–	25	–
5	Shaun Ballard	44	–	15	–	15	–	14
6	Ryan Barnett	41	–	14	–	14	–	13
7	Teagan Parnell	37	–	13	–	13	–	11
8	Casey Dommett	36	–	12	–	12	–	12
9	Ethan Lochrie	31	–	–	16	–	15	–
10	Joseph Sparling	31	–	11	–	11	–	9
11	James Crow	27	–	10	–	10	–	7
12	Ned Caprile	19	–	–	–	9	–	10
13	Liam Lennox	17	–	9	–	–	–	8

Masters

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6
1	Chris Hughes	75	25	–	25	–	25	–
2	Jody Burton	62	18	–	22	–	22	–
3	Dan Foreman	56	22	–	16	–	18	–
4	Scott Joyner	49	15	–	18	–	16	–
5	Matt Chamberlain	46	16	–	15	–	15	–
6	Jeff Pike	40	13	–	13	–	14	–
7	Jason Hawkes	37	–	12	–	12	–	13
8	Matt Barnard	33	–	11	–	11	–	11
9	Craig Swales	29	–	10	–	9	–	10
10	Steve Scott	28	14	–	14	–	–	–
11	Shaun Ballard	22	–	–	–	10	–	12

Vets

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6
1	Chris Rose	75	25	–	25	–	25	–
2	Neil Parsons	66	22	–	22	–	22	–
3	Tony Herd	52	16	–	18	–	18	–
4	Jay Taylor	46	15	–	15	–	16	–
5	Peter Boyd	43	–	14	–	14	–	15
6	Phil Thomas	34	18	–	16	–	–	–
7	Ian Lennox	27	–	13	–	–	–	14
8	Brian Oliver	13	–	–	–	–	–	13

Farmbike

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Lewis Rose	75	25	25	25
2	Josh Howell	66	22	22	22
3	Senna Summers	52	18	16	18
4	Sam Thomson	49	15	18	16
5	Freddie Hales	41	16	14	11
6	George Pym	39	9	15	15
7	Stuart Robson	39	14	13	12
8	Jake Rose	38	13	11	14
9	Ben Rose	34	12	9	13
10	Max Inman	32	11	12	9
11	George Pickering	30	10	10	10
12	Darrell Mitchell	20	5	7	8
13	Joe Brown	20	8	5	7
14	Cole Howard	20	7	8	5
15	Jon Slack	18	6	6	6
16	Jonathan Maw	12	4	4	4
17	Ben Fisher	7	2	2	3
18	Harris Goddard	5	3	–	2
19	Pryce Howard	3	–	3	–
20	Sam Smith	2	–	1	1
21	John Pohlman	1	1	–	–

Superstock

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Ash Gorman	72	25	25	22
2	Tom Dunk	69	22	22	25
3	Ant Martin	52	16	18	18
4	Tom Daniels	50	18	16	16
5	Marcus Manning	38	12	12	14
6	Luke Walker	37	14	13	10
7	Paul Woodroof	35	11	11	13
8	Travis Taylor	31	10	10	11
9	Johnny Farleigh	30	–	15	15
10	Thomas Down	29	15	14	–
11	Shaun Szarek	29	9	8	12
12	Alex Hepher	26	8	9	9
13	Charlie Howell	22	7	7	8
14	Tyla James	19	6	6	7
15	Nick Luckman	13	13	–	–

Kids 50cc

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Lilly Senior	75	25	25	25
2	Oscar Smith	66	22	22	22
3	Harvey-James Wood	49	15	18	16
4	Charlie Moody	46	16	12	18
5	Austin Senior	44	14	16	14
6	Harley Kidd	42	13	14	15
7	Erik Lennox	38	18	11	9
8	Rudy Symons	34	12	10	12
9	Forrest Pearce	34	10	13	11
10	Reggie Cornell	34	9	15	10
11	George Whittle	33	11	9	13
12	Alfie Rodgers	24	8	8	8
13	Leo Golding	21	7	7	7

Kids 65’s

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Zach White	75	25	25	25
2	Jenson Batner	60	22	16	22
3	Georgie Crossman	58	18	22	18
4	Seth Golding	50	16	18	16

Youth Junior

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Tyler Griffiths	75	25	25	25
2	Hugh Darley	62	22	18	22
3	Olly Haynes	58	18	22	18
4	Aaron Shepherd-Smith	46	15	16	15
5	Alfie Saunders	44	13	15	16
6	Oakly Summers	42	14	14	14
7	Jess Cooling	37	12	13	12
8	Kayden Harriman	32	11	10	11
9	Mason Barnard	30	10	11	9
10	Alfie Chesman	29	16	–	13
11	Annie Hunt	26	9	9	8
12	Chase Barnard	22	–	12	10

Youth Senior

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Jacob Darley	69	25	22	22
2	Harrison Haslam	65	15	25	25
3	Thomas Hunt	58	22	18	18
4	Jayden Bickerton	50	18	16	16
5	Jack Saunders	45	16	14	15
6	Jimmy Flockhart	43	14	15	14
7	Ben Johnstone	26	13	13	–
8	George Winslip	25	–	12	13

Round 2- Sunday