This weekend was the final round of the Michelin MX Nationals Championship at the all-new Oxford Moto Parc venue. The brand-new circuit had been constructed on the Dalton Barracks Army base and produced an exciting new track to decide the Championships.
Report by Image Rich Media – Images courtesy of Architech Media
Coming into the final round, Tom Grimshaw was second in the Pro MX2 Championship and sat 10 points behind in the standing and hoping to challenge for the title.
The qualifying session on Sunday morning gave the riders their first chance to test the new circuit and in the Pro MX2 class, Tom Grimshaw went 6th fastest with Ben Franklin in 15th and Alfie Jones 16th. In the Pro MX1 class, Glenn McCormick went 10th fastest. Also contesting in the MXY2 class Harvey Cashmore went 6th fastest.
In the first of the Fastest 40 race of the day, Glenn made a good start and was just inside the top 10 with Tom just behind in 15th place, while Alfie and Ben were outside the top 25 and pushing forward in the moto. In the opening laps, Tom quickly moved towards the top 10 and got into 4th in the MX2 class and was challenging for the top 3 at the end of the moto but just missed out. In the MX1 class, Glenn rode a solid race to claim 9th place at the flag, while Ben moved up to 11th in the MX2 class with Alfie in 14th.
After the first race, the gap in the Championship battle had increased to 12 points with 25 points still up for grabs. When the gate dropped Tom and Ben both were around the top 15, while Alfie and Glenn suffered bad luck and went down in the first turn. During the race, Tom pushed forward and was in a battle with his title rival and managed to finish ahead of Jamie in 5th, but this was not enough to claim the Championship title. For Ben, it was a strong race as he battled forward along with Tom to claim 8th at the finish. Alfie and Glenn recovered from their bad starts to finish 13th in MX2 and 15th in MX1.
At the end of the day, Tom went 4th overall for 2nd in the Championship, while Ben claimed 9th overall and 14th in the Championship after only competing 3 of the 6 rounds. Alfie finished the weekend in 12th overall and 8th in the standings. In the MX1 class, Glenn was 12th overall and 8th in the championship.
Also competing across the weekend was Harvey Cashmore in the MXY2 class and after qualifying well, Harvey had a good first moto to claim 5th place in his class. Harvey then improved on this in the second moto of the weekend by finishing in a fantastic 2nd place. Going into Sunday Harvey was looking for another good result and started the day with a 3rd place finish and then rounded off the weekend with another 5th place. Harvey’s results gave him 3rd overall on the weekend and 6th in the final Championship standings.
Tom Grimshaw – Today was a stressful day but it was always going to be with the title on the line. In the first race, I got an average start, and it was hard against the 450’s, but I was pushing through the field well and battling with Jamie. Unfortunately, I could not make the pass on him, so I was a bit disappointed as I needed to finish ahead of him. I was really happy with my riding though and looking forward to the second race. In the second race there was a crash at the start which I managed to avoid and came from the back of the field to finish 5th and ahead of Jamie but it wasn’t enough to claim the title, so it was a bittersweet day, but we go again next weekend and prepare for the last British round.
Ben Franklin – This weekend I went 15th in qualifying which is something I need to keep working on as I’m missing a second there and that will help improve my gate pick. In the first race, I made an ok start but had to go wide in the second turn and then managed to work my way back up to 11th. Second race I made a better start and was running 5th early on but I did not have the pace to run there for the whole moto and slipped back to 8th, but it was a solid race with a strong line-up.
Alfie Jones – This weekend was not the best weekend for me, I went 16th in qualifying, and with the new track, I struggled to find my flow and get settled into the track. In race 1 I got a good start but got pushed wide on the first turn and then came back to 14th with a crash. In race 2 I got a decent start but went down in the first turn and then made a few passes on the first lap and then crashed on a jump and went down again and was a long way from the back of the field and came back to 13th at the finish.
Glenn McCormick – It was a bit of an up-and-down weekend for me, it was nice to ride a new track and fair play to the MX National team for creating a new venue and a great event. I had a good qualifying session in 10th, and then in the first race, I made a decent start but struggled to get going early on and lost a few positions and took a while to get going and came away with 9th. Then in the second race, I was looking to finish the season strong, but unfortunately, another rider took me and a few others down on the first corner and it ruined my race and everyone else’s as it was hard to come back from being so far down and I finished in 15th which I’m disappointed about and now looking forward to the last British round this weekend.
Harvey Cashmore – Best weekend at the brand-new Oxford Moto Parc, started off Saturday strong qualifying 6th and going into the first race getting a solid 5th. The track was absolutely unreal, I felt great on the bike and my speed was definitely there. Race two was my best result of the season and weekend with P2 and finishing Saturday off in P2 overall. Sunday could not have gone any better going out in race 3 and ending in 3rd. Finally going into race 4 I was trying to keep it consistent to take the podium for overall and finished race 4 in 5th and more importantly a podium place for 3rd overall. Honestly the best weekend out of my whole season, I was happy with my consistency and speed in all my races. I would like to say a massive thank you to Tim for always believing in me and this weekend my hard work definitely showed.
