The famous Hawkstone Park venue was again the site for another historic event as the Dirt Store ACU British Motocross Championship and the Motul Fastest 40 joined forces and hosted a combined championship event. With the sun shining down on Hawkstone Park, it was set to be a great weekend of racing.
Saturday saw a combination of both championships classes, with the main focus for SJP Moto being on the SW85 class where Leo Wilson and Jimmy Boxall were competing. In the qualifying session, Leo went 4th fastest after a crash on his first flying lap and Jimmy was 22nd fastest.
In the races, Leo finished the opening moto in 5th place before claiming 4th in the second moto and a well-deserved 3rd place finish in the final moto. The three top 5 results gave him 4th overall on the weekend. For Jimmy, it was a tough weekend on a challenging track, but he persevered, racing against many very good riders and building confidence in his first year competing on the SW85 to take 19th – 18th – 21st for 21st overall.
Sunday saw the focus turn to the Youth 125 class and the BW85 class. In the 125cc class, Josh Vail was looking to close the gap at the top of the standings in the Dirt Store and extend his lead in the Fastest 40 Championship. In the qualifying session, Josh went fastest by around one second. In the BW85cc class, Harvey Collins started the day with 8th fastest.
Going into the races, Josh made a great start and moved into the lead where he would quickly open a gap at the front of the field to take the race win by nearly 40 seconds. After taking the first race win, Josh was keen to make another strong start and take the race win and the overall. When the gate dropped, Josh made a good start, and quickly got to the head of the pack and pushed forward to take another dominant race win. The double race win saw Josh claim the overall in both the Dirt Store MXGB and the Fastest 40 125cc classes.
In the Dirt Store MXGB Josh closed the gap in the championship down to just one point, with two rounds remaining, while he continues to lead the Fastest 40 Championship with one round left.
When the gate dropped for Race 1 of the BW85’s, Harvey made a good jump out the gate and pushed through to finish in a well-deserved sixth place for his best result in British rounds. Unfortunately in Race 2 Harvey suffered a bad jump out the gate and got boxed in making it hard work coming through the pack to finish in 15th but he showed the capability and the pace is there. Harvey now sits 7th in the Championship with two rounds remaining.
The championship returns at Schoolhouse at the end of the month with all classes from 65cc to Pros.
Words by SJP Moto – Images by JHMX Photography
