Its challenge was signed, sealed and delivered as the AMCA wrapped up their 2024 British Motocross Championship with a deciding round at Lower Drayton in Staffordshire. Just over two months earlier, the circuit was hit by a deluge of rain, ruining the intended staging of round 4 of the series, but this time, there were to be no such issues. For the rerun, conditions were spot on, allowing riders to give it their all as they battled out four motos apiece to determine their final Championship positions.
Race Report and Images by Mike Wood
Although four of the ten titles had been already confirmed during the penultimate event at Monster Mountain, there was still plenty to race for at Lower Drayton. The first rider to add his name to the 2024 Roll of Honour was young, exciting MX2 ace McKenzie Marshall. Already holding a 55-point advantage, McKenzie got the job done in the opening two motos on Saturday by being the first MX2 rider home in the combined clashes with the Open class boys. Topping it off, McKenzie was also the best MX2 ace in Moto Three before finishing with a 4th in the final clash. As per the script for most of the season, Liam Gale took the runners-up spot both in the round overall and also the MX2 series. Going into the Lower Drayton event, six riders could mathematically take 3rd in the final series table. It was Adam Nevitt who was to go on and take that honour despite being outscored over the weekend by both Logan Jay-Powell and Martin Jones.
Title clincher number two at Lower Drayton was the superb 125cc flyer Jimmy Margetson. And confirming just why he is the AMCA number one, Jimmy finished his campaign in style with another faultless maximum score. Chasing him home was rapid wildcard rider Jake Davies, whilst Charlie Palmer scored 3rd overall. That meant that Palmer also earned the series bronze medal as the very consistent Luke Newman deservedly took silver. Over in the 125cc Youth series, Tom Goodfellow went 4/2/1/1 to wrap up his title win and also score another overall win. The runner-up in the series belonged to Ollie Jewitt, but it got very tight in the hunt for bronze! After seven rounds, just 14 points were to separate Linc Hasted, Lewis Roberts, Oakley Kettle and Ryan Oboye. Although Hasted was a non-starter at Lower Drayton he did just about have enough in the bag to secure that series 3rd place finish. Oboye, though, did earn some last-round glory with a deserved podium spot behind Goodfellow and Jewitt.
All season long, there’s been a right old scrap at the top of the Open class featuring former top ACU rider Ray Rowson and Will Hughes. Going into Lower Drayton, Rowson held just a 12-point advantage, which meant that it was certainly all to play for in this one. As expected, it did indeed go right down to the final moto of the season, but showing his pure class and track craft, it was Rowson who was to get the job done. Remaining cool, composed and very controlled, Rowson won the opening three motos with Hughes in 2nd. Then, in the deciding big last moto, Wildcard Scott Aldridge took the win as Ray sat in 2nd crucially ahead of Will, knowing that he had produced a title-clinching ride. Although Adam Wells bagged another podium at Lower Drayton alongside Rowson and Hughes, it was Harvey Tillotson who was to claim the Open class series 3rd spot.
Just like the Open class, the BW85cc and SW85cc were to go right down to the wire in absolute thrillers. Entering the final round, Sean Smout held an 8-point advantage at the top in BW85cc ahead of Ryan Jackson, with Oakley Skinner, Jack Bullock, Daniel Sheppard and Jacob Ince still in the mix. Whilst wildcard Elvis Totney cleared off to record an impressive maximum points unbeaten score, in the opening three motos, Jackson went 3/2/2 whilst Smout reeled off 4/4/7 finishes. Those results meant that going into the final race of the campaign, Jackson was now the BW85cc series leader 6 points better off than Smout. With tension naturally high, Northern Irish racer Jackson then remained composed to go on and snatch the title as he followed Totney home and, importantly, with Smout back in 3rd. What a finish to a very entertaining season as Skinner earned the bronze medal spot.
There was also to be a dramatic change at the top of the SW85cc standings as Mason Brown snatched victory away from Alfie Pincher. Going into the final round, Pincher was 12 points clear of Brown, but then in the opening two Lower Drayton moto, Brown finished ahead of Pincher on both occasions to thus reduce the gap at the top down to 6 points. The decisive moment then came in moto three when Pincher picked up that dreaded DNF when disappearing from proceedings on lap two whilst Brown took almost maximum advantage by following Jimmy Whiston home to earn another crucial 22 Championship points. So, going into the last SW85cc moto, it was advantage Brown with now a 14-point lead in the title contest. And then hammering it home all the way to the 2024 SW85cc crown, Mason Brown was again top SW pilot in the final moto from Pincher, Whiston and Connor Johnston. In the final Championship table, it was Brown the Champion, 19 points clear of Pincher with Whiston 3rd. This 85cc class also incorporated the BWMA 85cc Girl’s series with Lexi Emery, a runaway winner of the title. Lexi also proved to be very competitive when mixing it alongside the boys. At Lower Drayton she again got stuck in scoring a superb 6/6/9/13.
With Grace Richards having already confirmed the BWMA Women’s crown, Lower Drayton was all about the battle for silver and bronze. And, having a fantastic season in which she competed on 85cc and 125cc machinery, Leah Rees-Evans eventually got 2nd in the series. Whilst Richards, in her normal dominant fashion, raced off to an untroubled maximum score in this final round, Leah took the runners-up spot on the podium. On three occasions, Leah had chased Grace home, but her best ride arguably came in moto two when recovering from a lowly 11th to get back up to 3rd at the flag. Taking the final podium place at the weekend was Holly Roberts, whilst Ebony Brown took 4th, enough for the series bronze medal spot. Ebony has been consistently putting in the high points-scoring rides through 2024 and thoroughly deserved her eventual series top three spot. The next best in this Championship table were Libby Chatburn, Holly Roberts, Caitlin Newman, Amber McGregor and Grace Bates.
During the penultimate round at Monster Mountain, James Lane had already wrapped up the Vets O40’s title, so Lower Drayton was to be all about the battle for silver and bronze featuring Mark Swift and Richard Meakin. Going into the weekend, Meakin held just a 2-point advantage ahead of Swift. Following the four completed moto, though, Swift had not only outscored Meakin by 6 points to earn silver, but he also bagged the Lower Drayton overall verdict with Richard Tudor taking 3rd. For Champion Lane it was to be a rather mixed weekend. In the opening moto James elected to ride his Honda 250cc two-stroke EVO bike but a misfiring motor resulted in a DNF. Switching back to his title winning KTM he then went 1/DNF/1.
Making it a historic family double, Simon Lane then matched his brother James’ achievement by going on to earn the Vets O50’s title, but boy, was he made to work hard for eventual glory! Defending Champion Matt Ryder was determined to keep his crown, and he certainly gave it everything at Lower Drayton! Starting with a strong Moto one win, Matt then went 2/2/1 in the remaining clashes to finish the meeting on 94 points, the same total as Simon Lane. Going into this round, though, Simon had held a 20-point advantage in the Championship table, so that was enough to bag him another AMCA title. Brian Staples took a solid 3rd place in the final Vets O50 standings.
In the Honda Cup Championship, Matt Wright and Ricky Ryder scored a moto win apiece and finished the event on 47 points each. Crucially though, Wright, who had already secured the title, also took the Lower Drayton overall verdict courtesy of his victory in the second race of the weekend. Finishing 3rd in the Honda Cup table was Mark Allen. Completing the Lower Drayton programme was a support contest for Clubman riders, who saw the overall victory go to Romeo Mead ahead of Kye Marshall and Lloyd Clarke. In the four motos, Mead won the first three clashes before Marshall was first past the post in the last battle.
So that’s a wrap and it’s many congratulations to the 2024 AMCA Champions, Ray Rowson (Open), McKenzie Marshall (MX2), Jimmy Margetson (125cc), Tom Goodfellow (125cc Youth), Grace Richards (BWMA Women), Lexi Emery (BWMA Girls 85cc), Ryan Jackson (BW85cc), Mason Brown (SW85cc), James Lane (Vets O40’s) and Simon Lane (Vets 050’s).
Results
Open
| Pos | Competitor | Total Points | r 1 | r 2 | r 3 | r 4 |
| 1 | Ray Rowson | 97 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 22 |
| 2 | Will Hughes | 84 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 20 |
| 3 | Adam Wells | 76 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 18 |
| 4 | Harvey Tillotson | 67 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 15 |
| 5 | Scott Alldridge | 47 | – | – | 22 | 25 |
| 6 | Patrick Gilligan | 31 | – | – | 15 | 16 |
MX2
| Pos | Competitor | Total Points | r 1 | r 2 | r 3 | r 4 |
| 1 | McKenzie Marshall | 93 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 18 |
| 2 | Liam Gale | 89 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 25 |
| 3 | Logan Jay Powell | 67 | 20 | 15 | 16 | 16 |
| 4 | Martin Jones | 64 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 15 |
| 5 | Adam Nevitt | 55 | 15 | 12 | 14 | 14 |
| 6 | Samuel Bishop | 53 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 12 |
| 7 | Oliver Davis | 49 | 12 | 13 | 11 | 13 |
| 8 | Tim Burrows | 48 | 16 | 20 | 12 | – |
| 9 | Jack Lindsay | 44 | – | – | 22 | 22 |
| 10 | daniel Nevitt | 43 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 11 |
| 11 | Lee Truman | 38 | – | – | 18 | 20 |
| 12 | Will Turner | 31 | 13 | 18 | – | – |
| 13 | Matt Wright | 19 | 10 | – | 9 | – |
| 14 | Jonas Brown | 9 | 9 | – | – | – |
125cc
| Pos | Competitor | Total Points | r 1 | r 2 | r 3 | r 4 |
| 1 | Jimmy Margetson | 100 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| 2 | Jake Davies | 88 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 |
| 3 | Charlie Palmer | 76 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 16 |
| 4 | Luke Newman | 70 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 18 |
| 5 | Wyatt McGregor | 67 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 20 |
| 6 | Billy MCgillivray | 59 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 15 |
| 7 | Matt Ridgway | 18 | – | – | 18 | – |
Womens
| Pos | Competitor | Total Points | r 1 | r 2 | r 3 | r 4 |
| 1 | Grace Richards | 100 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| 2 | Leah Rees-Evans | 86 | 22 | 20 | 22 | 22 |
| 3 | Holly Williams | 78 | 20 | 22 | 18 | 18 |
| 4 | Ebony Brown | 74 | 18 | 16 | 20 | 20 |
| 5 | Grace Bates | 66 | 16 | 18 | 16 | 16 |
| 6 | Erin Howes | 58 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 15 |
| 7 | Caitlin Newman | 58 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 14 |
| 8 | Cyra-j Carysforth Smith | 49 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 12 |
| 9 | Amber McGregor | 47 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 9 |
| 10 | Lucy Fearn | 46 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 13 |
| 11 | Sophie Jones | 40 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 11 |
| 12 | Sasha Tollet | 38 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 |
Vets Over 40
| Pos | Competitor | Total Points | r 1 | r 2 | r 3 | r 4 |
| 1 | Mark Swift | 92 | 25 | 20 | 25 | 22 |
| 2 | Richard Meakin | 86 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 20 |
| 3 | Richard Tudor | 76 | 20 | 18 | 20 | 18 |
| 4 | James kay | 68 | 18 | 16 | 18 | 16 |
| 5 | James Lane | 50 | – | 25 | – | 25 |
| 6 | Ian Jesson | 31 | 16 | 15 | – | – |
Vets Over 50
| Pos | Competitor | Total Points | r 1 | r 2 | r 3 | r 4 |
| 1 | Matt Ryder | 94 | 25 | 22 | 22 | 25 |
| 2 | Simon Lane | 94 | 22 | 25 | 25 | 22 |
| 3 | Brian Staples | 80 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
Honda Cup
| Pos | Competitor | Total Points | r 1 | r 2 |
| 1 | Matt Wright | 47 | 22 | 25 |
| 2 | Ricky Ryder | 47 | 25 | 22 |
| 3 | Caitlin Newman | 40 | 20 | 20 |
| 4 | Mark Allen | 36 | 18 | 18 |
125cc Youth
| Pos | Competitor | Total Points | r 1 | r 2 | r 3 | r 4 |
| 1 | Tom Goodfellow | 90 | 18 | 22 | 25 | 25 |
| 2 | Ollie Jewitt | 86 | 22 | 20 | 22 | 22 |
| 3 | ryan oboye | 78 | 20 | 18 | 20 | 20 |
| 4 | Bobby Watson | 60 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 16 |
| 5 | Max Monk | 56 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 14 |
| 6 | Lewis Roberts | 53 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 15 |
| 7 | Oakley Kettle | 51 | – | 15 | 18 | 18 |
| 8 | Louis Perrin-Brown | 50 | 25 | 25 | – | – |
| 9 | Tyler Lane | 48 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 10 | Mason Care | 47 | 16 | 16 | 15 | – |
Big Wheel 85
| Pos | Competitor | Total Points | r 1 | r 2 | r 3 | r 4 |
| 1 | Elvis Totney | 100 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| 2 | Ryan Jackson | 86 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 22 |
| 3 | Oakley skinner | 78 | 22 | 20 | 20 | 16 |
| 4 | Sean Smout | 70 | 18 | 18 | 14 | 20 |
| 5 | Arley Marshall | 58 | 16 | 16 | 13 | 13 |
| 6 | Aston Whitehead | 57 | 13 | 11 | 18 | 15 |
| 7 | Charlie Walters | 52 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 8 |
| 8 | Jack Bullock | 50 | 14 | 15 | 10 | 11 |
| 9 | Jacob Ince | 49 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 12 |
| 10 | Samuel Gibbs | 40 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | Archie Dixon | 34 | – | – | 16 | 18 |
| 12 | Ioan Lloyd | 33 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 7 |
| 13 | Finn Fitzgerald | 29 | – | 12 | 11 | 6 |
| 14 | Junior Carroll | 22 | – | – | 8 | 14 |
| 15 | Kaleb Copeland | 15 | – | – | 6 | 9 |
Small Wheel 85
| Pos | Competitor | Total Points | r 1 | r 2 | r 3 | r 4 |
| 1 | Mason Brown | 97 | 25 | 25 | 22 | 25 |
| 2 | Jimmy Whiston | 85 | 20 | 20 | 25 | 20 |
| 3 | Connor Johnston | 74 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 18 |
| 4 | Alfie Pincher | 66 | 22 | 22 | – | 22 |
| 5 | Toby White | 66 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 16 |
Girls
| Pos | Competitor | Total Points | r 1 | r 2 | r 3 | r 4 |
| 1 | Lexi Emery | 100 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
Clubman Under 40 Support
| Pos | Competitor | Total Points | r 1 | r 2 | r 3 | r 4 |
| 1 | Romeo Mead | 97 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 22 |
| 2 | Kye Marshall | 78 | 9 | 22 | 22 | 25 |
| 3 | Lloyd Clarke | 76 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 18 |
| 4 | Ricky Ryder | 65 | 15 | 18 | 16 | 16 |
| 5 | Lewis Day | 50 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 |
| 6 | Rob Longworth | 48 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 10 |
| 7 | Harvey Emblin | 45 | 18 | 15 | – | 12 |
| 8 | Matas Galdikas | 40 | – | – | 20 | 20 |
| 9 | Ben Hurley | 32 | 16 | 16 | – | – |
| 10 | Liam Noden | 29 | – | – | 14 | 15 |
| 11 | Jeremy Titley | 29 | – | – | 15 | 14 |
| 12 | Tom Hughes | 26 | – | – | 13 | 13 |
| 13 | Neil Shevlin | 25 | 10 | 10 | – | 5 |
| 14 | Jack Bromley | 25 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 4 |
| 15 | Andrew Hayes | 24 | 12 | 12 | – | – |
| 16 | Matthew Knowles | 22 | 11 | 11 | – | – |
| 17 | George Bromley | 22 | 22 | – | – | – |
| 18 | Mark Allen | 21 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 3 |
| 19 | Chris Duckett | 20 | 8 | – | 6 | 6 |
| 20 | Tommy Taylor | 19 | – | – | 10 | 9 |
| 21 | Jacob Potter | 17 | – | – | 9 | 8 |
| 22 | Wes Cooper | 14 | – | – | 7 | 7 |
| 23 | Ryan Murphy | 8 | – | – | 8 | – |
| 24 | Oliver Westwood | 4 | – | – | 2 | 2 |
| 25 | Aston Amos | 4 | – | – | 3 | 1 |
