This weekend the SJP Moto team headed to Canada Heights in Kent for the fourth round of the Revo ACU British Motocross Championship fuelled by Gulf Race Fuels as the hot weather made for an intense day of racing.
Images courtesy of ImageRich Media
Following the recent injury to Reece Jones and with Jayden Haigh still recovering, the team headed to Kent with just Charlie Heyman and Josh Vail competing in the 125cc and Big Wheel 85cc respectively. In the morning qualifying session, both riders were in great form and claimed pole position in their classes as they headed into the races.
In the opening 125cc class race Charlie got tangled with another rider on the start straight and had to recover from dead last. As the race progressed Charlie was quickly moving forward and soon into 4th place before he collided with another rider and while trying to remount was taken down twice more. When he was able to restart, Charlie rode his damaged bike to 11th at the finish.
After the tough opening race, Charlie got a clean start and was in 3rd early on before making his way to the front of the pack and taking victory by 13 seconds to claim 3rd overall on the day and extend his Championship lead.
In the Big Wheel 85cc class Josh made a good start and was inside the top 5 on the opening lap and quickly moved into 2nd place. Once in 2nd Josh pushed to try and close the gap on the leader and got to within 5 seconds at the finish for 2nd.
The second moto saw Josh make another good start and get into 2nd place on the opening lap before having a race long battle with Billy Askew and claimed another 2nd place finish for 2nd overall on the today.
Leighton Haigh – Team Manager – “Josh came into this weekend with a lot more belief that he can now run at the front and push for the race wins which showed by taking pole in qualifying. In both races he was a lot closer to the front taking two second places for second overall, so it was a good weekend and a big step forward. Charlie had some bad luck in the first race, going down on the start and then getting taken down at the end of the race. After the first race he was battered and bruised and had to dig deep for the second to take the race win which was a tough job. Although it was not the best weekend he still got onto the podium and extending his points lead in the championship so overall it was a positive weekend and a championship winning performance to dig deep.”
