Last weekend, Team GRT headed North to another new track on the calendar for 2023, Schoolhouse MX, in County Durham.
Images courtesy of Andrew Conway
Once again, Joe Brookes (Pro MX2) and Blake Ward-Clarke (85BW) lined for the sixth time at the Revo ACU British Motocross Championship this year. Accompanied this time by our two 65cc riders (Teddy Merriman & Elliott Shawyer) on their second British Championship outing of the year.
Being a two-day event for our youth riders, Ward-Clarke, Merriman and Shawyer took to the stage on Saturday for three of their four races of the weekend, with the last race coming on Sunday, along with Joe Brookes’s appearance in the Pro MX2 class.
Our two 65cc riders, Teddy Merriman and Elliott Shawyer, showed great pace and ability this weekend as they are seeing themselves finishing further and further up the rankings in the 65cc class.
Merriman, who has always showed progress and determination in his riding, is now seeing the hard work pay off with a career best finish of 5th Overall. He showed grit in Moto 1 to pass more than 10 riders in the first half of the race, after coming from the back of the pack, eventually finishing 6th. Races like these show us the true ‘want’ in a rider to give their 100%, and Teddy has never been an exception to this. With his first ever podium under his belt at the Revo ACU British MX (65cc podium includes 1st to 5th), Teddy will be looking for more of the same in the coming rounds.
Shawyer also had a great weekend, and just narrowly missing the podium, finishing 6th Overall. Elliott has also been progressing extremely well lately, and after spending a couple of years on the 65cc machine now, is looking more and more comfortable with racing. With some more time at the races, Elliott will be making his mark on the sharp end of the class.
85 Big Wheel rider, Blake Ward-Clarke, had another solid weekend of building on the bigger bike last weekend, and is asserting himself amongst the fastest teenagers in the country. 8th Overall on the weekend solidifies his 8th place in the Championship as it stands. He’ll keep pushing for top 5’s and eventually podiums.
Finally, Joe Brookes had a great weekend in the Pro MX2 class, recording his best finishes at the ACU British MX to date, finishing 8-9 for 8th Overall. Brookes had two good starts and battled well at the front of the pack. For Joe, these weekends are a great confidence boost as he tries to make his mark in the Pro class in his rookie year.
Dan Giffard (Team Owner): “We’ve had a great weekend of building the foundations for our riders to push for the results we are striving for. This year is a transitional year for our riders, with some being rookies of their classes, so building confidence and speed on the bike is what we are trying to achieve. I feel that we did just that this weekend, and are moving forwards each week! A special congrats to Teddy Merriman too, who has been working so hard over the past few years to get to where he is now. Your hard work is paying off!”
A very positive weekend for the whole team, as we look ahead now to Oxford Motoparc for Round 3 of the Michelin MX Nationals series this weekend.
