The NETT Club hosted the second round of the ACU British Sidecarcross championships of 2022 at Duns MX Park in Scotland. It was part of a fantastic two-day NETT MX event which incorporated the NETT Championship on Day one and the Sidecar and Quad British Championship on day 2.
Report and Images by Tracy Thacker
The track was prepared well but rain overnight left some large puddles which did need clearing and left the track very wet and muddy, but there was no further rain on race day, and the track dried out although it did leave some big soft ruts for the rider to negotiate.
With round one seeing a very closely fought battle for the championship lead, at the start of the day Brett Wilkinson with new passenger Joe Millard held a three-point advantage from current champions Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain. The leading pairs battled hard again and at this round it was Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain who took the three-point advantage which left both teams on the same points, and the same number of championship race wins.
Racing got underway with an early lead for Gary Moulds / Lewis Gray, much to the delight of their Northern Irish supporters, with Brett Wilkinson/ Joe Millard holding second. Very quickly the battle was on with Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain moving into second and chasing for the lead, but as the two teams turned the bend together then touched and Gary Moulds / Lewis Gray kept going, but Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain stalled, this let Brett Wilkinson/ Joe Millard back into second and it was then their turn to chase Gary Moulds / Lewis Gray for the lead with Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain quickly re-starting and holding third.
The supporters were hanging over the fences and the three teams locked into a close battle, but the action was brought to an abrupt halt when the Red Flag was shown. The was a crash on track with Matthew Connor/ Jake Grahame needing medical attention. It was quickly determined that only Jake was seriously injured, and he was taken off to the Royal Edinburgh Hospital with hip injuries that needed an emergency operation. So, the race one went to a re-start with Brett Wilkinson/ Joe Millard leading the re-start from Gary Moulds/ Lewis Gray, Jake Brown / Paul Horton held third. Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain where initially fourth, but gradually worked their way forward until they held second, and again the chase for the lead was on, but it was Brett Wilkinson/ Joe Millard who held on for the win from Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain second with Gary Moulds / Lewis Gray just behind. Dan Foden / Nathan Cooper were on top form battling through to fourth just ahead of Jake Brown / Paul Horton with George Kinge/ Dan Phelps in sixth.
In Race two it was Brett Wilkinson/ Joe Millard who took the holeshot with Gary Moulds/ Lewis Gray holding second. Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain were fighting hard to catch the leading teams when they hit a deep rut and passenger Josh was thrown from the chair, he hadn’t even hit the ground before he was running to re-join the bike and get back in the race. This left Brett Wilkinson / Joe Millard in a safe lead, with a battle for second but Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain recovered well and at the halfway point they were back into second and chasing the lead, now the supporters were really going wild, with the gap closing by a few second each lap, and with just a few laps remaining it looked like another win for Brett Wilkinson / Joe Millard but they had troubles with their clutch and didn’t have enough drive to hold the advantage with Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain blasting ahead on the final lap. Third place was another great fight with Gary Moulds / Lewis Gray working hard to stay ahead but they also had clutch problems on the final lap, this left Jake Brown / Paul Horton to take third. George Kinge/ Dan Phelps were next just ahead of Dan Foden / Nathan Cooper with took fifth with Michael Hodges/ Jack Wilkinson just behind.
In the last championship race of the day Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain took an early lead, but there was drama on bend on with Jake Brown losing passenger Paul Horton off the back of the bike, and even though he lay on the track being hit by other bikes that wasn’t going to stop him, he jumped up and ran to a waiting Jake and they were on their way at the back of the pack but going like a train. This time Stuart Brown / Josh Chamberlain were determined to stay ahead despite Brett Wilkinson / Joe Millard being a close second and pushing hard throughout. Dan Foden / Nathan Cooper had another consistent race to take third ahead of George Kinge/ Dan Phelps. Gary Moulds/ Lewis Gray were on the reserve bike which didn’t give them such a great start but took a safe fifth ahead of Michael Hodges/ Jack Wilkinson. Amazingly, Jake Brown / Paul Horton blasted into seventh, passing Tony Graeme / Ryan Henderson on the last lap.
At the end of another eventful day Wilkinson/ Millard and Brown/ Chamberlain hold the same number of points and the same number of race wins (three each). Moulds/ Gray hold third in the championship, just two points behind Brown/ Horton who hold fourth, with Foden/ Cooper just three points behind them.
Don’t miss round three on 29 May at Dean Moor, where the battles will continue
Results
Standings after 2 rounds
