Sunday 3rd April saw action from round 5 of the BWMA/AMCA LA Motor Company British Womens Motocross Championships, the first after the adult qualification for the Elite Ladies Pro-Class and the National Ladies Championship classes.
Report and Images by Howard Marriott
Non-championship Wild Card entries for this round included last year’s ACU Women’s Champion, Scotlands Elaine MacEachern to add some additional quality to the racing. Conditions were dry and the dust would hold off produce some great racing.
Qualifying and it was current Championship leader New Zealand’s Roma Edwards, just 4/10ths quicker than Chelsea Gowland and MacEarchern 2/10ths further back so the top 3 setting up for some great racing. Wild Card Ria Truman took 4th ahead of Rheanna Morgan-Rogers and Jaysi Austin, Izzy Neale was only a couple of tenths behind with South African Amber McGregor in 8th following her superb 15th overall as Team GB’s sole representative at the first round of the IMBA European Ladies championship held in Austria the week before, Caitlin Newman and Grace Bates rounding out the top 10 qualifiers.
Race 1 and it was MacEarchen that took a gate to flag victory pushed all the way by Roma Edwards who had the quicker time but a mistake forced her to drop back, taking the championship race win. Current British Champion Chelsea Gowland gave chase in the opening lap until Edwards got past powering up the hill, Gowland could only shadow these two for the rest of the race but couldn’t get close enough to mount a challenge and settled for second in class. The real battle was behind between the young guns, 15 year old Rheanna Morgan-Rogers, Izzy Neale and Jaysi Austin 3rd, 4th and 5th. Grace Bates fell to drop from fourth to 7th as Austin worked her way up from 9th to chase Izzy Neale but Neale was glued to Morgan-Rogers with just a few tenths separating them at the flag. Amber McGregor had a steady race in 6th to the flag whereas Caitlin Newman made hard work of her race following a poor start she had to fight her way through the field to finish in 8th ahead of Tailor Searle and Beanie Reece in 10th.
In the National Class Naomi Dolby had a great race taking the win ahead of Gemma Holtham who was unlucky to fall, dropping her down to second ahead of Autumn Jenkinson who took 3rd from Anya Collie and India Hodgkinson who again recovered from a fall for 5th place.
Race 2 and again Elaine MacEachern took the holeshot but Roma Edwards was quick to take the lead, MacEachern was putting on the pressure and Edwards made an unusual mistake allowing MacEachern to take the lead, but brought home the class win, Gowland rode an untroubled 2nd in class again shadowing the top two throughout the race. Second wild card Ria Truman had a better second race finishing fourth with Rheanna Morgan-Rogers close behind taking 3rd in class. Caitlin Newman was racing out of her skin for fourth chasing Morgan-Rogers but a mistake dropped her to 7th place giving Jaysi Austin 4th place and Amber MacGregor moving up to 5th just in front of Grace Bates who crashed on lap one and worked her way back to 6th place. Missing from the front of the field was Izzy Neale who’s race was hampered with a flat front tyre on lap one but kept circulating for valuable points to take the 10th place position behind Tailor Searle and Beanie Reece.
In the National Class Race 1 winner Naomi Dolby crashed out of the lead but bravely remounted to bring it home in 6th place leaving Autumn Jenkinson to take the win ahead of a vastly improving India Hodgkinson finding a new lease of life, Anya Collie came home in 3rd ahead of Gemma Holtham and Aaliyah Hulbert.
Race 3 and Roma Edwards was again the Muscle Doctor Holeshot winner but MacEarchern was quick to take the lead and the overall win, Edwards took the class win as Gowland, Truman, Morgan-Rogers and Izzy Neale all held their start positions to the flag, but that didn’t show how close the racing was between Neale and Morgan-Rogers as they couldn’t be separated throughout the race, Jaysi Austin got past Amber McGregor on Lap 1 to finish in 5th ahead of McGregor who is improving every race. Grace Bates had an untroubled race to finish 7th ahead of Tailor Searle who had a great race beating Caitlin Newman and Beanie Reece in 10th.
India Hodgkinson went one step further in her last race of the National Championship to take her first race win from Anya Collie and Autumn Jenkinson but Jenkinson had done enough for the overall and to retain the championship lead, Naomi Dolby brought it home in 4th ahead of Gemma Holtham.
Elite Ladies Pro-Class Championship
1st Roma Edwards 150pts
2nd Chelsea Gowland 141pts
3rd Rheanna Morgan-Rogers 135pts
4th Jaysi Austin 125pts
5th Amber McGregor 119pts
6th Izzy Neale 117pts
7th Grace Bates 113pts
8th Caitlin Newman 105pts
9th Tailor Searle 103pts
10th Beanie Reece 95pts
National Ladies Championship
1st Autumn Jenkinson 140pts
2nd India Hodgkinson 138pts
3rd Anya Collie 135pts
4th Naomi Dolby 132pts
5th Gemma Holtham 129pts
6th Aaliyah Hulbert 121pts
7th Beth Emms 111pts
8th Chloe Kelly 105pts
In the super competitive 85cc Youth Girls Championship the two fastest 85cc girls in the country right now are fighting over top honours and despite young Leah Rees-Evans taking another qualification pole by just 2/10ths from Hollie Roberts it’s Roberts that is just getting the better of Rees-Evans, behind them Northern Irelands Checoby Rainey put in a super qualifier just 2 seconds down on the long Brookthorpe circuit. Holly Williams was next ahead of Erin Howes and Sophie Jones who is improving every race getting closer to the top girls, Poppy Banning, Cameron Mansbridge and Mollie Neale followed.
Race 1 and Hollie Roberts showed her determination to dominate getting the Muscle Doctor Holeshot from Leah Rees-Evans but Leah wasn’t giving an inch as she pushed and pushed Roberts all the way to the flag at a pace that would have put them in the top 4 of the adult girls. Checoby Rainey had a gate to flag 3rd place followed by Holly Williams who took 4th from Erin Howes in the early stages, Howes chasing hard but couldn’t respond settling for 5th place in end, Sophie Jones and Poppy Banning shadowed each other with Jones getting the better of Banning for 6th place while Cameron Mansbridge took 8th from Molly Neale.
Race 2 and after a few laps the race was red flagged following a high speed crash by Holly Williams that sent her to hospital but was later released with muscle damage. The re-run saw Hollie Roberts take another Muscle Doctor Holeshot and looking like a repeat of the first race but on lap 4 Leah Rees-Evans found the turbo button as she found a few seconds on that lap to blast past Roberts and even the score up and take the win, Roberts couldn’t respond. Checoby Rainer took another solid 3rd place ahead of Erin Howes and without Holly Williams in the mix, Sophie Jones managed a well earned 5th place. Mollie Neale had an incredible race to finish ahead of Cameron Mansbridge who capitalised on young Poppy Banning crashing out.
Race 3 and the pressure was on both the young front runners, would it be Leah Rees-Evans or Roberts to take the overall? Roberts got her hat trick of Holeshots and Evans gave chase but she’d spent all her energy in race 2 and could only shadow Roberts to the flag Checoby Rainey again brought home a safe solid 3rd place after passing Erin Howes on lap 2, Howes coming home in fourth but Sophie Jones after racing a solid 5th all race crashed allowing Molly Neale, Poppy Banning and Cameron Mansbridge all to move up a pace leaving Jones to finish in 8th.
85cc Youth Girls Championship
1st Hollie Roberts 147pts
2nd Leah Rees-Evans 144pts
3rd Checoby Rainey 135pts
4th Erin Howes 127pts
5th Sophie Jones 117pts
6th Molly Neale 113pts
7th Poppy Banning 111pts
8th Cameron Mansbridge 107pts
9th Holly Williams 43pts
