The historic venue of Hawkstone Park marked the next stop for the SJP Moto team as the Revo ACU British Motocross Championship rolled into the sandy former Grand Prix circuit. Coming into the event both Reece Jones and Josh Vail arrived with the Red Plate as Championship leaders and were looking to extend their points leads.
Images courtesy of Image Rich Media
Saturday started with the practice and qualifying sessions and in the Big Wheel 85cc class, Josh topped the time sheets by just over half a second. In the 125cc/250cc class Reece finished the session 7th fastest combined and 3rd fastest in the 125cc class.
The opening race of the weekend for Josh, saw him start around the top 10 and quickly move forward, ending the opening lap in 5th place. As the race went on Josh continued to move forward and was soon into 2nd. Despite pushing hard at the end of the moto, Josh was unable to make a pass for the lead and had to settle for 2nd.
Josh went into the second race looking to go one better and this time around he made a better start and quickly moved his way into the lead in the early stages. Once in the lead Josh started to pull away at the front and took the race win by an impressive 20+ second margin.
The final race on the Saturday for Josh saw him make another top 5 start and once again worked his way in to the lead on the second lap. Just like in the second race, Josh opened a comfortable lead to take another race win.
In the opening 125/250 race Reece started outside of the top 10 and rode a great race to push forward to 4th in the race and 2nd in the 125cc class. Once in 2nd, Reece tried to close the gap on the class leader but had to settle for 2nd at the flag.
Reece’s second race saw him struggle off the start and end the opening lap inside the top 15 and having to push forward early on. After a couple of laps Reece was soon battling the leaders and took the 125cc class lead when the race leader had to pull out with a bike issue. Once in the lead Reece rode a steady race to take the victory.
Sunday saw Josh back on track for his final race of the weekend. After making a strong start inside the top 5, he was soon into 2nd by the end of the opening lap and then took the lead on the next lap. Once in the lead Josh rode smart and opened a 13 second lead to take the race win and the overall victory and extend his points lead to 50 points.
Next it was time for Reece to head out for race 3 of the weekend. Unfortunately, after getting out jumped on the start, Jones was outside the top 15 on the first lap, but quickly pushed forward and was battling with the front runners of the 125cc class and ended the race with a late charge to claim 2nd in the 125cc class and 4th in the race.
Later, it was the final race of the weekend for Reece and he made a better start this time around and after working his way up to 3rd in the 125cc class, Reece had a small crash and lost a handful of positions and had to push forward once again to finish the race in 3rd in the 125cc class and 7th combine. The result saw Reece take the overall and extend his points lead to 21 points.
Leighton Haigh – Team Manager – “It has been another good weekend for the team with both Josh and Reece taking race wins, overalls and extending their points lead in each of their classes. Both riders struggled with their starts this weekend but made good passes in the early stages of the races to make up for it and get the results they deserved. We now have two weeks before they head to Schoolhouse for the next round.”
