Crendon Tru7 Honda’s Conrad Mewse clinched the 2024 Fastest 40 MX1 championship crown despite there still being one round left to run, after a determined ride at Hawkstone Park. It marks back-to-back title wins in the series, which was called the MX Nationals until last year.
Words & Pictures: Crendon Tru7 Honda Racing
The event was the first ever combined ACU British Championship and Fastest 40 meeting, with points scored by all riders counting towards both Championships.
Mewse once again ended up on the podium with two hard-fought second places, both times behind five-times World Champion Jeffrey Herlings. That gave the 25-year-old Briton second overall on the day, and means he is now nine points behind the Dutchman with two more ACU British Championship rounds remaining.
Mewse started the day well with second in qualifying, but made a terrible start in the first race and was near the back of the field. He then staged a thrilling ride through the pack. Conrad rounded the first lap in 11th position then picked off riders every single lap until he finally moved his Honda CRF450R into second place on lap eight. By then, Herlings had pulled a big lead and Mewse had to settle for second. He still finished a staggering 26secs in front of third placed Tristan Purdon.
In the second moto Mewse rocketed out of the start and was neck-and-neck with Herlings into the first turn but “The Bullet” had the inside line and pushed Mewse wide to take the lead.
The Briton knew his only chance to was stay with his rival and he gave it his all as he stayed close to the Number 84 for as long as he could. But Herlings began to edge away and once again, the Honda man had to settle for second place. Third place was MXGP rider Bobby Bruce, 1m 15sec back from Mewse as the leaders lapped up to tenth place.
Mewse said: “It’s great to wrap the Fastest 40 championship up. That’s two for two – I won it last year and to defend and do it again is just awesome. It’s a great championship, I love the series and the new format this year.
“As for the racing today, it was a tough one as Jeffrey got the better of me. 2-2 on the day behind him was all I had today.”
The MX2 class saw Jake Nicholls and Taylor Hammal determined to battle for the lead but Hammal crashed hard in his first lap of qualifying which detuned him for the first moto. And when there was a pile-up in the first turn, which saw Billy Askew and Dylan Walsh go down, it hampered both Nicholls and Hammal. Nicholls went to the inside and managed to just about squeeze through while Hammal was forced wide into even more traffic.
The end of the first lap saw Nicholls in ninth and Hammal 16th, both fighting hard for every position. By lap three Nicholls moved into eighth while Hammal made a push forward and by the fifth lap, he was in 12th.
Nicholls was putting the pressure on Ben Mustoe but on lap nine the youngster had a terrifying crash over a tabletop and Nicholls was lucky not to get wiped out in the carnage. The race was red-flagged so medical crews could assist Mustoe. So Nicholls ended up seventh and Hammal 11th.
Race two was a cleaner start for both Crendon Tru7 Honda riders, with Hammal rounding the first lap in eighth and Nicholls 14th. Hammal got into seventh by the third lap and hounded former British MX2 champ Dylan Walsh to the finish but couldn’t quite get by.
Nicholls was a star performer in the first half of the race, battling past rivals to get up to ninth place on the roughening circuit. He held his place until the end of the moto to take seventh overall, two slots in front of his team-mate.
Nicholls said: “I’m not a full-time racer any more so I have to be happy that I rode well and finished seventh overall against such good fast competition. I had two top ten finishes and I enjoyed racing on this track. I was lucky to just about avoid the carnage in the first corner of race one but got tangled up a couple of corners later so it was hard work from there on.”
Hammal said: “I didn’t start the day off very well at all. The very first fast lap in qualifying I had a big crash and hit the ground pretty hard. I was really hurting after that and that took the wind out of my sails for the rest of the day. In the first race I didn’t get a great start but was coming through and it got red flagged. I was starting to find a rhythm towards the end but it was too late. In the second race I had a better start and was in seventh but couldn’t get by Dylan Walsh. I was trying really hard but I got stuck at his pace which caused me to lose a bit of focus. But I came back at the end so I was happy with that.”
“Sevenths is not where I want to be – I should be top three – but it’s a very fast group this year and I feel like I was riding OK in that second race. It’s also not my favourite track where some riders love it here.”
Team principal Dave Thorpe said: “Congratulations to Conrad on taking the Championship again. He rode so well and that first race was just stunning the way he came through the pack. And of course, a Championship win is well deserved for the whole team who work so hard to give Conrad what he needs.”
“Both our MX2 riders rode really well in tough conditions and against such fast competitors. Jake doesn’t ride full-time any more so to come here and run consistently in the top ten is a big credit to him. Taylor had a difficult day after his crash in qualifying. But in race two he was back to battling for good positions. Hawkstone is not his favourite track so I expect he’ll be stronger at the next two rounds.”
