High Five for Burton at Lower Drayton! 2022 AMCA British Motocross Championship Round 5 – Race Report & Results

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Five full throttle, all-action and intense Championship moto’s in one weekend is physically and mentally a tough ask for anyone, so for a rider to then perform at the highest level and record an unbeaten score is surely a momentous achievement at any level of the sport! During round 5 of the 2022 AMCA British Motocross Championship sponsored by Dunlop and held at Lower Drayton in Staffordshire, both Luke Burton (FUS Marsh Geartec Husqvarna) and Matt Bayliss (Darjen Contractors GasGas) hit that incredible goal, so take a richly deserved bow gentlemen!

Report and Images by Mike Wood

In MX1, Burton was simply magnificent and controlled every single clash. His only worrying moment came in race two on Saturday when picking up a front wheel puncture in the closing stages. From being an almost certain winner in that one, he suddenly came under intense pressure from James Dodd and Josh Waterman who were enjoying a simply stunning battle, just one of several throughout the weekend. Such was the pace of those two battling Honda aces that they rapidly reeled in Luke Burton and got within striking distance only for time to run out. Throughout the weekend, Doddy got the better of Josh in four of the five moto’s and that means that he has reduced the gap at the top of the series standings. With two rounds remaining, Josh is on 790 points, 7 clear of James with Luke getting closer and a further 13 in arrears. Moving up to 4th in the MX1 table is Adam Wells and what a brave effort he was to produce at Lower Drayton, completing all five moto’s despite a badly injured hand.

Enjoying one of his more profitable rounds of 2022, Matt Ridgway was fastest away in the opening 125cc moto of the weekend before first Chris Povey then eventual winner Matt Bayliss took control. Whilst Ridgway had to settle for 6th at the finish, Luke Dean charged hard coming from 5th up into 2nd. So with Povey getting home in 3rd, youngsters Joel Fisher, Wesley McGavin and Yarin Evans all started with very strong performances.

Following a similar pattern, Ridgway again got the holeshot in moto two before as per the opener Povey then Bayliss took over. The difference on this occasion was that title contender Dean was right down in 18th and with plenty of work to do. Working very hard in an attempt to keep his title hopes on course, Luke eventually climbed back to a great 7th with McGavin, Ridgway, Jordan Wright and Louis Vincent all ahead of him. Normal service then returned in the last clash of day one as super Bayliss took another win from Dean, Povey, Wright, Fisher and Ridgway having a great ride on his spare bike, also suffering a crash early on. After starting the event strongly with two very impressive results, McGavin had to settle for 17th this time, making a mistake which dropped him down from an early 6th spot.

Both races on Sunday saw Bayliss collect the wins from Dean and Povey as Ridgway, Wright and McGavin again bagged some big points. Special mention to young Evans on the SRH KTM enjoying his best points return of the season and Cameron Jackson of the CPMX Racing KTM team who impressed during all five moto’s. But back to Bayliss and by scoring that super five moto win success he has now increased his advantage at the top to a very handy 68 points with Dean in 2nd and Povey a further 70 points in arrears. Holding 4th in the table is Fisher and he’s also the leader of the 125cc Youth Championship standings.

The MX2 action at Lower Drayton was to produce plenty of great racing and some dramatic moments, typified by the very first race of the weekend. In that one, series leader Shane Carless controlled all the way as Henry Williams and Jake Preston fought out a titanic struggle for the right to finish 2nd. However these two lads were to then be joined in the closing stages by the hard charging, all-action Tommy Alba who after gating 6th was on a right mission. Aboard his fast 2013 2T KTM, Tommy got up to pass Preston on the final lap for 3rd with Rory Jones, Harry Linton, Lee Truman and Corey Hockey who had gated 15th next up.

Despite initially leading the second MX2 contest before dropping to 2nd, Williams did not enjoy the best of conclusions to this one, being impeded and brought off by a wandering backmarker. Thankfully, Henry was able to quickly remount and finish 3rd behind winner Carless who had took control early on and Alba. Having a great ride, Preston went from 10th up to 4th but day one was then to not finish well for the FUS 2T Husqvarna ace. Leading moto three, Preston’s engine blew thus allowing first Williams then the flying Carless to take control. Also not enjoying a satisfactory conclusion to day one was Hockey who disappeared from proceedings on lap four thus ruining any hopes of a podium placing at the end of the weekend. So MX2 on the opening day finished with another win for Carless ahead of Williams, Alba, Jones, Zac Stealey, Brooklyn Evans and Logan Wilcox.

Before Sunday’s MX2 action had even got underway there was to be major drama as Carless suffered a massive off during practice injuring his ribs and hip. In grimacing pain, Shane had to be virtually lifted off and on his bike for the rest of the day but this tough Welshman is a true Champion and was determined to still race on in the defence of his title. And that’s just what he did, even remarkably grabbing the holeshot in the first race of day two before being passed by Alba, Williams, Hockey and Jones.

Showing then just how quickly fortunes in motocross can change Shane’s FUS teammate Jake Preston was to be left very frustrated in the final MX2 moto leading the way before a red flag halted proceedings. Remarkably in the restart, Jake found himself in last place before producing a fantastic ride to get back to 7th behind winner Williams, Alba, Hockey, Jones and Carless. Early on Shane had been right up to 2nd only to suffer another painful crash on lap seven. Enjoying one of his strongest performances of the season, Cory McShane got home in 8th enough to earn him 6th overall on the day and also leadership of the separately scored MX2 Cup competition. In the main MX2 standings, brave Shane Carless still holds a 40 point advantage at the top from Alba who in turn is just a single point better off than the Lower Drayton overall winner Williams.

There’s a new leader at the top of the Youth 85cc Championship standings. With Ollie Bubb otherwise engaged and competing at another event, Jack Evans, Sebby Moore, Will Turner and Oakley Kettle all took advantage to leapfrog him in the series table. Indeed the Youth racing at Lower Drayton was to produce plenty of great racing as Turner (2), Wyatt McGregor (2) and Harrison Davies all bagged moto wins.

In the first one, Turner on the Midwest Racing Husqvarna led all the way, taking the win just 3 seconds clear of McGregor, Davies, Evans, Kettle and Braedon McGinn. With the South African rider McGregor earning top slot in moto two, Davies then bagged honours in the last race of day one.

Showing again though how fortunes can quickly change, Davies bike then stopped in the opening race of day two when holding 3rd place. Thankfully that incident occurred insight of the finish line so Harrison pushed his stricken machine past the chequered flag to still earn some Championship points. The winner of that one was again Turner chased home by the fast starting Kettle with Moore, McGregor, Evans and Ashton Phillips next up. In the final Youth 85cc contest, McGregor passed Kettle for the win to also give him the overall verdict for round five. In the Championship table, Evans is the leader 23 points clear of Moore and Turner a further 15 in arrears. The separately scored SW85cc class sees Oliver Bebb in control with Harley Piper and Lewis Day chasing hard.

Gary Davies leading Phil Mercer in a Vets battle

What a superb contest the race for the 2022 AMCA Vets British Championship is proving to be. After the latest action at Lower Drayton, Gary Davies and Shane Holmes are locked together at the top on 851 points apiece with defending Champion Phil Mercer just a further 7 points in arrears. It was Holmes who won the opener of the weekend ahead of Mercer, Davies, Jamie Powell, James Lane, Simon Lane, Brian Staples and Matt Chaplin. In the remaining four moto’s, Davies and Mercer won two moto’s each to ensure that the title race continues to thrill.

For Mercer that narrow gap at the head of the table could have been even tighter but for a last race spill. Initially he had grabbed the holeshot before Davies and Holmes passed him in one big swoop. However, Phil was still in contact until falling and dropping down to 4th as Simon Lane went through when he was still remounting. Regaining his rhythm and composure, Phil did regain 3rd but by this time his title rivals had checked out. In the Vets Over 50’s class, Mercer though is still at the top from Staples, Alan Reese and Sean Smith who was a Lower Drayton non-starter.

Results

MX1

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	Luke Burton	250	50	50	50	50	50
2	James Dodd	233	47	47	47	47	45
3	Josh Waterman	227	45	45	45	45	47
4	Adam Wells	203	41	39	37	43	43
5	Joe Clayton	201	39	43	41	37	41
6	Sion Talbot	197	35	41	43	39	39
7	Mark Roberts	154	37	37	39	41	–
8	Ashley Greedy	43	43	–	–	–	–

MX2

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	Henry Williams	236	47	45	47	47	50
2	Tommy Alba	234	45	47	45	50	47
3	Shane Carless	230	50	50	50	39	41
4	Rory Jones	207	41	39	43	41	43
5	Brooklyn Evans	183	33	35	39	37	39
6	Cory Mcshane	169	31	37	31	35	35
7	Jake Preston	168	43	43	–	45	37
8	Zac Stealey	168	30	31	41	33	33
9	Corey Hockey	164	35	41	–	43	45
10	Lee Truman	157	37	30	33	27	30
11	Harry Linton	155	39	33	35	17	31
12	Logan Wilcox	154	29	29	37	31	28
13	Martin Jones	132	24	28	25	28	27
14	Mitchell Perry	128	18	27	28	26	29
15	Keelan Southwood	127	23	25	29	24	26
16	Tim Burrows	126	25	22	30	25	24
17	Tomos Wright	124	27	17	26	29	25
18	Macauley Davies	122	26	26	27	22	21
19	Adam Cook	120	28	24	20	30	18
20	Aaron Collins	110	22	20	22	23	23
21	Joe Russell	100	17	18	24	19	22
22	Jordan Meredith	98	19	19	23	18	19
23	Adam Hill	84	20	23	–	21	20
24	Ben White	83	21	21	21	20	–
25	Josh Lansbury	16	16	–	–	–	–

125

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	Matthew Bayliss	250	50	50	50	50	50
2	Chris Povey	227	45	47	45	45	45
3	Luke Dean	225	47	37	47	47	47
4	Matt Ridgway	203	39	43	39	39	43
5	Jordan Wright	195	29	41	43	41	41
6	Joel Fisher	189	43	35	41	31	39
7	Wesley McGavin	188	41	45	24	43	35
8	Yarin Evans	171	37	31	31	35	37
9	Cameron Jackson	168	35	30	33	37	33
10	Liam Gale	148	30	33	37	30	18
11	Troy Jones	142	31	29	27	28	27
12	Benjamin Sullivan	132	27	21	28	26	30
13	George Pool	124	22	23	25	25	29
14	Ezra Blackwell	124	26	17	29	27	25
15	Toby English	122	21	26	23	29	23
16	Logan Jay Powell	121	25	28	26	23	19
17	Sion Wright	113	24	22	19	24	24
18	Joshua Barnett	109	–	25	35	21	28
19	Harry Bebb	105	23	20	21	19	22
20	Joe Wright	96	33	19	18	–	26
21	Jack Davis	96	20	16	22	18	20
22	Jack Jordan	88	19	18	14	20	17
23	Jamie Johnson	85	18	15	15	16	21
24	Joe Jordan	84	15	27	20	22	–
25	Jordan Ridgway	82	28	24	30	–	–
26	Alfie Bebb	80	17	14	16	17	16
27	Louis Vincent	72	16	39	17	–	–
28	Billy Bayliss	64	–	–	–	33	31

Vets

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	Phil Mercer	237	47	50	45	50	45
2	Shane Holmes	236	50	47	47	45	47
3	Gary Davies	235	45	43	50	47	50
4	James Lane	211	41	45	43	43	39
5	Simon Lane	203	39	41	39	41	43
6	Matthew Chaplin	189	35	37	37	39	41
7	Brian Staples	177	37	35	31	37	37
8	Richard Tudor	169	31	33	35	35	35
9	Russell Grove	148	25	30	29	31	33
10	Alan Reese	142	27	27	27	30	31
11	John Ball	135	26	26	25	28	30
12	Alan Jones	130	33	31	33	33	–
13	Jamie Powell	123	43	39	41	–	–
14	Stuart Kilmarten	108	28	25	26	29	–
15	Guy Langmead	87	29	28	30	–	–
16	Stephen Marlow	87	30	29	28	–	–

Youth 85

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	Wyatt McGregor	231	47	50	41	43	50
2	Will Turner	227	50	43	45	50	39
3	Jack Evans	223	43	47	47	41	45
4	Oakley Kettle	217	41	39	43	47	47
5	Harrison Davies	203	45	41	50	24	43
6	Sebby Moore	198	37	45	30	45	41
7	Braedon McGinn	183	39	37	33	37	37
8	Ashton Phillips	179	35	35	39	39	31
9	George Bromley	167	31	31	37	35	33
10	Harley Piper	165	33	33	31	33	35
11	Oliver Bebb	153	30	30	35	28	30
12	Alfie Irons	146	28	29	29	31	29
13	Marcus Shaw	139	27	28	28	29	27
14	Taylor Collins	137	29	24	26	30	28
15	harvey Hunt	124	26	26	22	25	25
16	Tyler Lane	120	24	23	23	26	24
17	Sophie Jones	102	22	–	27	27	26
18	Lewis Day	99	25	27	24	–	23
19	Alfie Finch	95	23	25	25	–	22