Benstead claims Blaxhall overall! ACU Eastern Centre Motocross Championship Round 3 – Race Report & Results

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Woodbridge MCC hosted round three of the Eastern Centre Motocross Championships, sponsored by Instanda and Stebbings Car Superstore on Sunday. Held in fine sunny conditions, the Blaxhall circuit was prepped to perfection and a large crowd enjoyed watching the action packed fifteen race programme.

Report by Charlie Raphh – Images courtesy of Richard Blyth – Image Rich Media

Following the timed practise sessions, the 200 riders were put into the five race groups, with the fastest 40 making up the points scoring premier class.

Race one of the Premier group saw Kawasaki rider, Luke Parker, storming to the front, but Luke Benstead (GH Husqvarna), took over at the front on lap two, and was never headed throughout the twenty minute long race. 2019 champion, Lewis Tombs, (Banks Honda), managed to pass Parker, but could not get within striking distance to challenge the on-form Benstead. Declan Whittle took his Lings Husqvarna to fourth at the finish, followed by Braintree’s Josh Peters, with Ben Cole rounding out the top six. The first Junior grade rider to cross the finish line was fifteen-year-old Bayliss Utting, riding the little 125cc Husqvarna, into a fine 10th place.

The second Premier class race saw lots of drama. Luke Parker once again led the forty strong pack, chased hard by Tombs, with Benstead right at the back of the field. Parker led for ten minutes until Tombs took over at the front. Parker held on to second place, chased by his two fellow Norfolk based riders, Ben Cole and Whittle, but all eyes were on the progress of Benstead, who was scything his way through the pack at a furious pace. At the end of lap one, he was already in 16th place, then, two laps later, he was into 7th position. On lap six, Benstead passed both Whittle and Cole to move to 3rd place, and at the end of twenty minutes, he had almost caught Parker, but had to settle for 20 points in 3rd place. At the finish it was Tombs, Parker, Benstead and Whittle, with Peters and Reece Martin making up the top six. Another brilliant ride from young Utting saw him the first Junior home again, this time in 13th place. Second best Junior was Kent rider, Ryan Matthews in 16th, closely followed by sixteen year old Callum Murfitt.

Benstead stormed to the front of the third and final race and demonstrated his liking for the Blaxhall circuit by building up a huge lead. At the halfway point, he was already lapping riders, and had lapped up to 12th place at the end of an action-packed day. Ben Cole held second place for a couple of laps until passed by Tombs. Luke Parker had stalled his Pope Kawasaki at the start, but fought through to 3rd at the finish, followed by another good ride by Whittle for 4th place. Cole ended his day with a 5th place, ahead of the consistent Josh Peters, (Gabriel KTM). Young Callum Murfitt led the junior grade riders for most of the race but was passed by Bayliss Utting on the penultimate lap. Utting finished in a creditable14th place and scored the maximum 75 points in the Junior championship points tally.

In the A Group support races, enduro star, Jamie Roper took the overall win. Roper won the first two moto’s from veteran John Hinz, but after a sluggish start in race three, had to settle for second place. Hinz dominated the race, finishing over twenty seconds ahead of the rest. Consistent riding from Robert Baldry, Gareth Lane and Ben Gilbert saw them 3rd, 4th and 5th in the overall standings.

Local Woodbridge club member, Mark Hunt, easily won all three Group B races, and Tyrone Tugwell took his Kawasaki to second overall with a 5th and two 2nd place finishes.

Yamaha rider Philip Waldron had two wins and a second place to clinch the overall in Group C, with Vince Snell, who was racing for the first time after an absence of fourteen years, taking the 2nd spot with three good rides. Zac Roberts had a race win and a 2nd place, but a lowly 16th place in the third leg, ruined his overall chances.

The Group D support races saw Christian White narrowly taking the overall win from Jody Cutler and Shaun Tacey.

Championship positions after round 3

Experts. Tombs 216, Parker 181, Whittle 168, Cole 135, Benstead 132, Martin 124

Juniors. Gardiner 174, Murfitt 159, French 146, Fisher 116, Clark 96, Bunkle 93

Results

Premier Class Expert

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Luke Benstead	70	25	20	25
2	Lewis Tombs	69	22	25	22
3	Luke Parker	62	20	22	20
4	Declan Whittle	54	18	18	18
5	Josh Peters	47	16	16	15
6	Benjamin Cole	45	15	14	16
7	Reece Martin	42	13	15	14
8	Max Broadbelt	37	14	10	13
9	Wiliam Farrow	35	12	13	10
10	Kieran Clarke	31	11	8	12
11	Stephen Wade	31	10	12	9
12	Jason Morland	26	9	9	8
13	Brad Woodroffe	22	–	11	11
14	Robert Nicoll	22	8	7	7
15	Glen Bixby	16	5	5	6
16	Jack Youngs	12	6	6	–
17	Harry Clark	7	7	–	–

Premier Class Junior

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Bayliss Utting	75	25	25	25
2	Callum Murfitt	64	22	20	22
3	Ryan Gardiner	56	18	18	20
4	Ryan Matthews	53	13	22	18
5	Archie Fisher	46	15	15	16
6	Matthew French	43	16	13	14
7	Tommy Clark	39	12	16	11
8	Connor Bunkle	37	11	11	15
9	Jake Rackham	35	14	14	7
10	Benjamin Parry	30	7	10	13
11	Ryan McDonnell	28	20	8	–
12	Shane Brown	21	–	9	12
13	Finley Jarvis	21	9	12	–
14	Freddie Wyard	18	8	–	10
15	Harry Smith	17	6	3	8
16	Craig Heslop	16	10	6	–
17	Thomas Batts	14	1	4	9
18	Jedd Wheatley	11	4	7	–
19	Christopher Thorpe	10	5	5	–
20	Joe Phillips	9	2	1	6
21	Amie Goodlad	8	3	–	5
22	Lewis Holmes	6	–	2	4

Support A

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Jamie Roper	133	45	45	43
2	John Hinz	131	43	43	45
3	Robert Baldry	119	41	37	41
4	Gareth Lane	110	37	34	39
5	Ben Gilbert	107	39	33	35
6	Mark Goodson	107	34	39	34
7	Jack Whitlam	105	33	35	37
8	Charlie Dormer	95	35	32	28
9	Joshua Deadman	92	25	41	26
10	Alby Smith	87	32	25	30
11	Archie Cockerill	85	23	30	32
12	Oliver Gaut	79	21	31	27
13	Karl Sturman	78	29	18	31
14	Paul Hubbard	77	24	29	24
15	James Rowsell	74	27	24	23
16	Benjamin Watling	71	19	27	25
17	Thomas Mustard	67	6	28	33
18	Henry Rogers	66	16	21	29
19	Scott Claydon	62	17	26	19
20	Callum Lake	54	20	12	22
21	Lloyd Goldstraw	54	12	22	20
22	Jay Peperell	51	7	23	21
23	Marc Nickerson	44	30	14	–
24	Daniel Wright	43	8	19	16
25	Ethan Plummer	42	11	17	14
26	Alex Truslow	39	13	16	10
27	Oliver Hill	33	15	–	18
28	Max Whittley	33	2	20	11
29	Jacob Carter	32	10	9	13
30	Luke Nolan	31	3	11	17
31	Ross Young	31	22	–	9
32	Marcus Smith	31	31	–	–
33	James Gadd	30	5	13	12
34	David Farrant	30	14	8	8
35	Jack Watling	29	4	10	15
36	John Hall	28	28	–	–
37	Lee Butson	26	26	–	–
38	Lee Kirkpatrick	24	9	15	–
39	Charlie Baker	18	18	–	–

Support B

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Mark Hunt	135	45	45	45
2	Tyrone Tugwell	123	37	43	43
3	Dan Lee	121	43	41	37
4	Kyle Wilby	102	30	33	39
5	Joshua Warren	101	33	37	31
6	Josh Sturman	91	23	35	33
7	Gareth Cushion	88	32	27	29
8	Fynn Ellis	82	34	21	27
9	Stephen Atkins	79	21	32	26
10	Lee Scott	78	22	34	22
11	Joshua Fullalove	78	39	39	–
12	Scott Blazey	75	24	23	28
13	Shaun Palfrey	74	17	22	35
14	Ethan Cone	73	19	24	30
15	William Jurgens	68	27	–	41
16	Mitchell Beagrie	63	15	29	19
17	Josh Smith	62	31	31	–
18	Henry Cox	59	35	–	24
19	Luke Clifton	57	25	–	32
20	Georgia Potter	57	13	26	18
21	Michael Kester	57	14	28	15
22	Sam Menzies	55	–	30	25
23	Sam Edwards	53	–	19	34
24	Ty Atkins	52	6	25	21
25	Aidan Weston	50	9	18	23
26	Andrew Cattermole	41	41	–	–
27	Tom Sutton	40	10	14	16
28	Steven Bennett	40	28	12	–
29	Ben Roper	37	–	17	20
30	Bradley Allen	33	18	15	–
31	Kevin Rossiter	33	20	13	–
32	Ben Roberts	32	12	20	–
33	Ben Secker	32	16	16	–
34	Jack Janes	29	29	–	–
35	Craig Page-Baker	26	26	–	–
36	Dexter Lambe	24	7	–	17
37	Jake Lane	11	11	–	–
38	Charlie Starsmoore	8	8	–	–

Support C

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Philip Waldron	133	45	43	45
2	Vincent Snell	119	37	39	43
3	Reece Horne	119	41	41	37
4	Sam Cushion	117	39	37	41
5	Zak Roberts	113	43	45	25
6	Reece Gill	103	34	35	34
7	George Stark	98	26	33	39
8	Lewis Dorling	98	33	34	31
9	Aaron Saunders	93	35	32	26
10	Max Monk	90	31	24	35
11	Dean Suckling	81	28	25	28
12	Robert Hayden	80	29	29	22
13	Lewis Saunders	78	20	28	30
14	Steven East	77	18	26	33
15	Chris Gaut	72	27	16	29
16	Aaron Holden	72	21	27	24
17	Sebastian Millbank	67	4	31	32
18	Conor Bardwell	62	32	30	–
19	George Reeves Furness	60	24	9	27
20	Jason Turner	54	14	17	23
21	Samuel Cook	51	11	19	21
22	Alfie Self	51	30	21	–
23	Andrew Rooke	49	17	15	17
24	Katie Stock	45	19	11	15
25	Luke Jordan Pharoah	45	22	23	–
26	Robert Green	45	23	22	–
27	Thomas Olley	44	7	18	19
28	Jack Noon	42	10	14	18
29	Troy Brumpton	38	6	12	20
30	Lewis Abel	38	25	13	–
31	Robbie Blaxell	36	16	20	–
32	Tony Rooke	33	9	8	16
33	Andrew Smith	32	8	10	14
34	James Day	19	13	6	–
35	Jesse Eaves	15	15	–	–
36	Tom Garnham	12	12	–	–
37	Russell Snowling	10	3	7	–
38	Ryan Whitehead	5	5	–	–

Support D

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Christian White	123	45	33	45
2	Jody Cutler	123	43	41	39
3	Shaun Tacey	121	35	43	43
4	Adam Groom	119	39	45	35
5	Mark Hegarty	117	41	35	41
6	William Mcrae	100	29	34	37
7	Darren Stone	93	34	39	20
8	Anna Groves	91	32	28	31
9	Shaun Mutch	91	33	31	27
10	Carl Hood	87	24	29	34
11	Jason Eaves	87	25	30	32
12	Gene Barfield	83	28	22	33
13	Thomas Davies	77	26	21	30
14	Jack Matthews	74	37	37	–
15	Adam Baker	71	23	24	24
16	Michael Foster	70	16	25	29
17	Matthew Herring	70	22	20	28
18	Christopher Bickley	69	21	23	25
19	David Homan	62	30	32	–
20	Michael Blaxell	60	19	19	22
21	Kane Young	54	27	27	–
22	Geraint Hubbard	53	15	17	21
23	Luke Olen	52	–	26	26
24	Colin Booker	45	13	14	18
25	Kai Ryder	39	–	16	23
26	Liam Ryland-Pye	37	18	–	19
27	Keeley Winyard	31	31	–	–
28	Aiden Payne	29	14	15	–
29	Stephen Hood	20	20	–	–
30	Jacques Hesse	18	–	18	–
31	Ben Saltmarsh	17	17	–	–