Beniston edges it at Culham! 2023 Acerbis Amateur Nationals Round 6 – Race Report & Results

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The Acerbis Amateur National series took a trip down south and to the banks of the River Thames and the pristinely prepared Culham circuit in Oxfordshire where with just a couple of rounds left to run, things are starting to get down to the nitty gritty in terms of championship standings.

Race Report by Arran Murphy – Images courtesy of Matthew Rudd Photography

First up to hit the track were the Moto Connection 125 2 stroke pilots where Damon Strydom played the perfect championship management game by claiming the overall through being ultra consistent. 2-2-3-2-3 results were enough to give him the victory with an eight point buffer from runner up Luke Grundie, who tied on points with first race winner Ash Harland but the final race result was the deciding factor and Grundie took second leaving Harland with third. North Easterner Ollie Colmer took a break in his EMX125 schedule to recover from a first race 26th to claim the remaining four moto wins and jump to fourth overall.

It was battle royale in the MX Dreams California Open 2 stroke category as Josh Spinks and Rory Jones scrapped for race wins all weekend. Spinks was always fast out of the gate however which played a big role in the outcome and with Jones hounding him the whole way, managed to take home maximum points and a solid gap going into the finale at Cusses Gorse. Jones eventually had to settle for five runner up spots and will be looking to turn the tables on the KTM man in three weeks time. Cumbrian James Dent was again super consistent and was rewarded with third overall ahead of Mitch Armour in fourth and wildcard rider Tommy Alba finished the weekend fifth.

All season the closest championship has been the Craigs Motorcycles MX2 class but Culham could have been a defining weekend as series leader Lee Sealey put some distance between himself and closest challengers Alfie Calvert and Jake Winnard as the Kawasaki man claimed the overall honours while Calvert and Winnard finished outside the top 5 overall. Sealey finished tied on points with wildcard Louis Vincent but got the nod by way of the final moto result. Vincent claimed three race wins over the weekend but the third in his final moto put pay to the overall while Joel Fisher had a consistent weekend and took third on the box. Logan Wilcox and Patrick Gilligan rounded out the top five just a point apart.

The Acerbis sponsored MX1 class was full of action all weekend as series leader Jack Beniston had his hands full as there was a rocket of a 500 to deal with in the hands of former Grand Prix rider Nev Bradshaw. Bradshaw claimed both wins on day one but Beniston turned the tables on day two and took the remaining three wins to take the overall on the tie break leaving Bradshaw to settle for runner up spot overall. Dan Parry had a solid weekend and took home third while Travis Steels finished fourth and former champion of the class James Hutchinson finished the weekend inside the top five.

In the Manchester Xtreme Junior Open category young Kawasaki pilot Riley Voase has one hand on the 2023 title as he took home yet another overall win and extended his points gap in the process. Kieran Mulloy-Card took the moto three victory which helped him upto runner up overall ahead of Ryan Lowes who led laps over the weekend and stepped up onto the podium taking home third. Lewis Griffin and Lewis Petfield finished the weekend fourth and fifth respectively.

In the Motoverde Ladies class it was business as usual for points leader Grace Richards as she tightened her grip on her second Ladies championship by claiming maximum points. Richards didn’t have it all her own way however as Rebecca Newham led laps over the weekend and came so close to taking a race victory in moto three but a last lap pass by Richards denied the Yamaha rider. Grace Packman just pipped former champion Nadiya Jones to the podium as the pair tied on points when all was said and done but the final moto decided the outcome and it was the number 7 that stood on the rostrum.

Business resumed as usual in the LS2 Helmets Vets Over 40 class as Ryan Voase did his usual holeshot and leave the rest to fight over second as another maximum points haul means just like son Riley, he has one hand on the title but also his 100% win record is still firmly in tact. Danny Tollett finished runner up aboard his 2 stroke taking four runner up spots and a third ahead of 2022 champ Lee Martin who gave Tollett a run in the final moto to claim a second spot and a valuable couple of points back in the race for second in the series. David Wilcox took home fourth and David Evans rounded out the top five.

It’s not over until the fat lady sings is the slogan for the Roberts Plant Engineers Vets Over 50 class as series leader Simon Bonsor had a practice crash Saturday morning meaning the weekend was a long one for the GasGas man and his series lead has been demolished. Ady Bradley was the man to claim the overall honours when all was said and done with 2-3-1-2-1 results aboard his Suzuki ahead of Cumbrian Honda rider Richard Miller who claimed the remaining three race victories and has potentially taken over the points lead going into the finale at Cusses with his runner up overall. Andy Watkins pushed hard all weekend and was rewarded with third for his efforts while Nigel Smorfitt and Dave Dunn took home the remaining top five positions.

The final round of series heads to a new venue for the championship and to Cusses Gorse in three weeks time.

Results

MX1

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	JACK BENISTON	194	36	38	40	40	40
2	NEV BRADSHAW	194	40	40	38	38	38
3	DAN PARRY	171	29	36	36	36	34
4	TRAVIS STEELS	164	30	34	32	32	36
5	JAMES HUTCHINSON	159	38	32	30	34	25
6	CORY NEMETH	143	32	29	28	27	27
7	SIMON BOOTH	142	28	28	25	29	32
8	HARRY LINTON	136	25	26	29	26	30
9	KIA THIRLWELL	134	27	30	26	25	26
10	ED BRISCOE	121	24	18	27	24	28
11	BRADLEY FLAGG	114	22	25	20	23	24
12	TODD RICHIE	112	34	19	–	30	29
13	KEELAN HOPE	112	23	27	34	28	–
14	PETE HAMLETT	106	21	21	21	21	22
15	LUKE TURNER	97	19	17	19	19	23
16	ADAM THIRLWELL	90	20	24	24	22	–
17	LEE HARRISON	72	26	23	23	–	–
18	SAM ARBON	58	–	–	18	20	20
19	MAX WOOD	56	–	–	17	18	21
20	DAN WHITEHEAD	44	–	22	22	–	–
21	CHARLIE SELLICK	34	18	16	–	–	–
22	GLEN PHILIPS	20	–	20	–	–	–
23	SCOTT BATES	17	–	–	–	17	–
24	JAKE MARSH	16	–	–	16	–	–

MX2

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	LEE SEALEY	194	38	38	40	38	40
2	LOUIS VINCENT	194	40	40	38	40	36
3	JOEL FISHER	174	36	28	36	36	38
4	LOGAN WILCOX	154	24	34	28	34	34
5	PATRICK GILLIGAN	153	34	29	32	30	28
6	JAKE WINNARD	148	28	32	29	29	30
7	JACOB RUSSELL	139	30	27	27	28	27
8	LEWIS MEADOWS	130	32	30	12	24	32
9	MYLES REID	127	26	22	26	27	26
10	ALFIE CALVERT	127	29	36	34	9	19
11	BEN WHITE	126	27	23	25	26	25
12	KYRON CARRON	125	8	26	30	32	29
13	JAKE BAKER	109	19	19	24	23	24
14	HAYDEN STEVENS	105	17	20	23	22	23
15	CONNER CHALLINOR	99	22	15	17	25	20
16	RICHIE ROBERTS	96	23	24	19	12	18
17	JOE FIELD	88	18	18	20	19	13
18	RYAN ALLISON	86	25	25	–	14	22
19	RYAN MANLEY	84	15	17	18	17	17
20	GEORGE CLARKE	84	14	16	22	20	12
21	JORDAN HEARN	82	21	14	11	21	15
22	ADAM NEVITT	74	16	–	21	16	21
23	ARRAN MURPHY	67	13	13	15	15	11
24	EZRA BLACKWELL	63	11	11	14	13	14
25	KYLE NOBLE	61	12	12	16	11	10
26	LUKE POSS	43	10	10	13	10	–
27	CALUM PRIDDLE	41	20	21	–	–	–
28	SCOTT NEWHAM	34	–	–	–	18	16
29	JENSEN HEAD	18	9	9	–	–	–

2 Stroke Open

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	JOSH SPINKS	200	40	40	40	40	40
2	RORY JONES	190	38	38	38	38	38
3	JAMES DENT	176	36	36	36	34	34
4	MITCH ARMOUR	162	34	34	30	32	32
5	TOMMY ALBA	153	32	30	32	30	29
6	DREW ROE	150	30	32	29	29	30
7	REECE WAINE	135	26	29	28	24	28
8	JAMES HANSCOMB	135	28	27	27	27	26
9	JAY CHEEL	132	29	24	26	28	25
10	ALEX NEEDHAM	130	27	26	24	26	27
11	ROSS BENTON	119	23	22	25	25	24
12	CHAE JENKINSON	116	24	25	22	22	23
13	JOSH COLEMAN	106	–	–	34	36	36
14	MITCHELL PERRY	85	20	23	19	23	–
15	FRED BOX	76	19	19	18	20	–
16	BEN WALKEN	65	22	20	23	–	–
17	JASON MARTIN	63	21	21	21	–	–
18	LEWIS MEADOWS	53	25	28	–	–	–
19	ELLIOT PUSH	41	–	–	20	21	–

125cc

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	DAMON STRYDOM	186	38	38	36	38	36
2	LUKE GRUNDIE	178	36	36	38	30	38
3	ASH HARLAND	178	40	34	34	36	34
4	OLLIE COLMER	170	10	40	40	40	40
5	PAUL NEAL	162	34	30	32	34	32
6	WESLEY McGAUN	149	32	28	28	32	29
7	HARRY BARKER	147	30	32	29	28	28
8	LUKE NEWMAN	146	28	29	30	29	30
9	SEAN VENESS	131	27	27	27	23	27
10	RYAN WAGGOTT	118	29	25	22	26	16
11	WYATT McGREGOR	117	23	19	24	25	26
12	ADAM DYER	108	21	23	20	22	22
13	BILLY BAYLISS	107	25	21	23	20	18
14	ASH CROSSLEY	105	26	18	25	11	25
15	STU OWEN	103	24	26	26	27	–
16	TOM GOODFELLOW	103	17	24	14	24	24
17	BENNY LEWIS	98	22	20	19	16	21
18	GEORGE POOL	83	18	16	18	14	17
19	SONNY NOBLE	80	19	15	17	17	12
20	REGGIE GESNER	78	20	17	–	18	23
21	LOUIS PERRIN’BROWN	74	15	8	16	15	20
22	JAMIE ARROWSMITH	69	14	14	13	13	15
23	JACK EVANS	62	–	22	21	19	–
24	TOM BLACKWOOD	57	12	10	11	10	14
25	JAKE CHAMBERLAIN	55	16	12	15	12	–
26	MAX WALSHAM	52	11	9	10	9	13
27	LEWIS PROUD	40	–	–	–	21	19
28	STUART KEEN	36	13	11	12	–	–
29	ROS FEGAN	13	–	13	–	–	–

Ladies

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	GRACE RICHARDS	200	40	40	40	40	40
2	REBECCA NEWHAM	190	38	38	38	38	38
3	GRACE PACKMAN	168	34	34	30	34	36
4	NADIYA JONES	168	32	32	34	36	34
5	CATLEN NEWMAN	156	30	30	32	32	32
6	LILLY MORELAND	143	29	28	28	29	29
7	EMILY NOON	138	28	27	27	28	28
8	AMBER McGREGOR	118	–	29	29	30	30
9	LIBBY CHATBURN	108	36	36	36	–	–

Vets Over 40

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	RYAN VOASE	200	40	40	40	40	40
2	DANNY TOLLET	188	38	38	38	38	36
3	LEE MARTIN	182	36	36	36	36	38
4	DAVID WILCOX	158	30	34	30	32	32
5	DAVID EVANS	151	34	24	29	30	34
6	ALAN JONES	151	32	32	32	27	28
7	ANDY LILENTHALS	150	29	29	34	28	30
8	MARK SUTHERLAND	131	26	27	26	25	27
9	ANDY DUFILED	123	25	23	25	24	26
10	RORY WOOTTEN	116	–	30	28	29	29
11	LEE BUCK	107	28	26	27	26	–
12	RICHARD BRYCE	96	24	–	24	23	25
13	STEVE RILEY	52	27	25	–	–	–
14	STEVIE GESNER	34	–	–	–	34	–
15	PAUL FERGUSON	28	–	28	–	–	–

Vets Over 50

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	ADY BRADLEY	192	38	36	40	38	40
2	RICHARD MILLER	190	40	40	36	40	34
3	ANDY WATKINS	184	36	38	38	34	38
4	NIGEL SMORFITT	166	32	32	34	36	32
5	DAVE DUNN	158	34	34	32	30	28
6	EWAN JOHNSTON	147	28	30	30	29	30
7	CHRIS ELCOCK	136	27	28	26	26	29
8	SIMON BONSER	135	29	29	9	32	36
9	DAVID HOPKINS	130	24	27	28	25	26
10	ADRIAN LEWIS	128	25	25	29	24	25
11	JOHN GAUNTLETT	127	26	26	25	27	23
12	PAUL WILDMAN WILLIS	125	30	19	21	28	27
13	IAN WILSON	114	21	24	23	22	24
14	LEE DAVIES	110	23	23	24	21	19
15	JOHN PRISTLEY	105	20	22	19	23	21
16	STEPHEN HUMPHIRES	99	18	21	18	20	22
17	BRIAN FRASER	92	19	16	22	19	16
18	MICHALE JOHNSTON	91	16	20	17	18	20
19	COLIN BERRY	81	15	18	15	16	17
20	ALAN REECE	69	11	14	12	14	18
21	IAN POSS	69	17	17	20	15	–
22	STANLEY MORPHET	68	13	8	16	17	14
23	NEIL JENKINSON	66	12	13	13	13	15
24	JOHN CARD	55	14	15	14	12	–
25	TONY PRIESTLEY	49	22	–	27	–	–
26	IVOR GILFORD	43	9	12	11	11	–
27	DAVID CLAYBORN	39	10	9	10	10	–
28	SIMON SMART	17	7	10	–	–	–
29	BRIAN MUNDAY	11	–	11	–	–	–
30	ANDY STEPHENS	8	8	–	–	–	–

Junior Open

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	RILEY VOASE	194	40	36	38	40	40
2	KIERAN MULLOY-CARD	178	38	32	40	32	36
3	RYAN LOWES	170	32	38	34	38	28
4	LEWIS GRIFFIN	162	30	34	30	34	34
5	LEWIS PETFIELD	158	36	28	26	30	38
6	LUKE RICHARDSON	157	29	30	32	36	30
7	SHEA RYAN	146	27	29	29	29	32
8	SAMUEL RAYNER	128	26	27	27	22	26
9	BEN HUGHES	126	25	24	28	24	25
10	TAYLOR MISSELBROOK	126	28	26	25	26	21
11	LIAM GUNNING	126	34	40	36	–	16
12	JACK GALTLAND	115	21	23	24	25	22
13	TYLER WILCOX	110	19	13	22	27	29
14	DYALN HARRISON	102	24	25	15	19	19
15	DAN NEVITT	85	4	17	18	23	23
16	JACK TOMPLINSON	85	15	21	19	16	14
17	JAKE BASHFORD	83	13	14	16	20	20
18	RODGER FREAN	80	14	20	17	12	17
19	SAM HAMER	77	6	19	20	17	15
20	KURT RICHARDSON	71	17	18	–	18	18
21	FINNLY ABOTT	68	20	3	–	21	24
22	DAN EVANS	68	18	12	12	13	13
23	JAMES MILNE	64	1	–	8	28	27
24	ANTONIO SOUZE	64	16	22	11	15	–
25	GEORGE BRANT	61	12	16	14	11	8
26	LLOYD CLARKE	54	11	11	13	9	10
27	KIERON RILEY	51	23	5	23	–	–
28	ALEXANDER WILLIAMS	50	22	7	21	–	–
29	GREG THYNNE	49	8	15	–	14	12
30	ZAC CHEEL	45	10	10	9	7	9
31	JACK HOARE	42	5	8	10	8	11
32	KERION DAVIES	28	9	9	–	10	–
33	MATT BENNETT	27	3	4	7	6	7
34	TOM BERRY	21	–	6	5	4	6
35	AIDEN MURPHY	11	–	2	4	1	4
36	MIKE HARBAGE	10	–	–	–	5	5
37	RICCIE PETFIELD	10	7	–	–	3	–
38	BEN LARDNER	8	2	–	6	–	–
39	GARY CHESHIRE	6	–	1	3	–	2
40	RYAN WOODS	3	–	–	–	–	3
41	JUCK BUCK	2	–	–	–	2	–