Hughes Hauls at Haverigg! 2023 Acerbis Amateur Nationals Round Four – Race Report & Results

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The Acerbis Amateur Nationals hit the halfway mark in the 2023 series over the weekend at the sandy Haverigg racetrack in the south of Cumbria which provided some exciting racing and resulted in alot of mixed up results.

Race Report by Arran Murphy – Images courtesy of Matthew Rudd Photography

It was the Roberts Plant Engineers Vets Over 50 category that were first to tackle the rough circuit and Simon Bonsor carried on his winning ways taking home all five moto wins after having some tough battles all weekend. Fast starting local lad Richard Miller put up a solid fight aboard his Honda but unfortunately couldn’t quite match the speed of the series leader and had to settle for second once again while Ady Bradley took his 250 Suzuki to 5-3-4-3-3 results to give him third overall. Wildcard Geoff Wharton finished fourth and Ewan Johnston took a couple of holeshots on his way to fifth over the weekend.

It was business as usual in the LS2 Helmets Vets Over 40 class as ex GP rider Ryan Voase dominated the weekend and even after a moto 3 crash, the Kawasaki man claimed a full house of race victories. Voases weekend was made slightly easier when Paul Johnston went out of the weekend with mechanical issues gifting the runner up overall to defending series champion Lee Martin. Martin managed to fend off the attentions of Danny Tollett who pushed all the way to the flag but in the end came up just a couple of points short and had to settle for the third step of the rostrum. David Evans and Rick Darlington were a couple of fresh faces in the winners circle claiming fourth and fifth places respectively.

A solid class of Motoverde Ladies pilots made the trip to Haverigg and just like Hawkstone the fight was on between the flying scot Elaine MacEachern and defending champion Grace Richards. The pair shared the wins and second places on day one but MacEachern got out of the gate better in the third and fourth motos taking both wins leaving her to finish runner up in the final race and take the overall by a mere two points. Richards extended her points lead however due to the solid results and she goes into Farleigh with a solid 76 point advantage. Grace Packman had a consistent weekend and managed to claim third overall while Rebecca Newham and former champion Nadiya Jones finished fourth and fifth over the weekend.

In the Manchester Xtreme Junior Open category Dan Nevitt recovered from a first moto eighth to take two wins and two runner ups which was enough to give him the overall victory. Riley Voase had to stand on the second step of the podium for the first time in 2023 but still managed to claim two race wins on day two which boosted his tally upto second overall. If it wasn’t for a moto 4 eighth for Lewis Griffin he could well have been stood on the top step but unfortunately had to settle for the lower step of the rostrum while Stefan Robson and Ryan Lowes both had great weekends and both ended up in the top five.

In the Moto Connection 125 2 stroke class Damon Strydom is proving to be the man of the class in 2023 as he took his Husqvarna to four moto wins split with a race four 12th which made the overall a tight affair. Ash Harland claimed the remaining race victory which helped him take the runner up spot overall just a couple of points ahead of fast starting local Cumbrian Ryan Waggott. The Team Hutch rider had three runner up spots but the fourth and sixth places in motos 2 and 3 potentially cost him an overall on home soil. Chris Povey finished the weekend fourth and Harry Barker made his first trip to the winners circle finishing fifth.

Josh Spinks carried on his 100% overall win record as he stood on the top step of the podium of the California MX Dreams Open 2 stroke class but it wasn’t without its issues as a slow dropping gate at the start of moto 3 meant a race of fighting through the pack for an eventual fourth. The super aggressive all action style of Lewis Hall was ultra consistent and took home a bag full of runner up spots for the runner up spot overall while Rory Jones managed to fend off race three winner Jake Preston by just a couple of points for the lower step on the box.

The most wide open class of the year is the Craigs Motorcycles sponsored MX2 class which had the top 3 covered by 7 points coming into the weekend. It was series leader Jake Winnard that came out on top after the five motos with a 3-1-2-2-1 scorecard and extending his points lead in the process. Alfie Calvert is having a sterling year and is always mega consistent and took home another second spot. Round 1 winner Mitchell Meadows took another two race victories at Haverigg boosting him upto third overall just a point behind Calvert and a point ahead of race three winner Lee Sealey.

In the super fast Acerbis MX1 class Will Hughes claimed his first race and overall win of the year after a titanic battle in the final moto where he managed to overhaul former champ James Hutchinson. Hughes tied on points however with the reigning champion Jack Beniston who showed great speed all weekend and dominated when holeshots went his way and claimed a pair of race victories en route to runner up overall. After a couple of crashes in race one James Hutchinson recovered by taking a pair of race wins himself on his way to third overall ahead of a pair of former series winners Andy Wilson and Ed Briscoe.

With the series hotting up and heading into the second half of the series the paddock heads down south and to the legendary Farleigh Castle for the next round on July 15/16.

Results

MX1

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	WILL HUGHES	188	38	36	38	36	40
2	JACK BENISTON	188	40	38	40	38	32
3	JAMES HUTCHINSON	178	24	40	36	40	38
4	ANDY WILSON	172	36	32	34	34	36
5	ED BRISCOE	147	25	34	30	24	34
6	CORY NEMETH	146	32	29	29	27	29
7	ADAM THIRLWELL	145	30	28	28	29	30
8	KEELAN HOPE	141	34	24	27	32	24
9	DAN PARRY	138	26	30	32	28	22
10	SIMON BOOTH	132	29	27	23	25	28
11	KIA THIRLWELL	132	27	26	26	26	27
12	BRADLEY FLAGG	119	23	23	25	22	26
13	PETE HAMLETT	114	22	22	22	23	25
14	DAN WHITEHEAD	107	28	25	24	30	–
15	LUKE TURNER	100	20	20	20	19	21
16	MATT LOMAS	100	21	21	21	18	19
17	JOSEPH DAVIES	77	19	18	–	20	20
18	BEN SOUTHWARD	54	18	19	–	17	–
19	ASHLEY BENISTON	44	–	–	–	21	23
20	LUKE MERADITH	17	17	–	–	–	–

MX2

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	JAKE WINNARD	192	36	40	38	38	40
2	ALFIE CALVERT	176	38	34	34	36	34
3	MITCHELL MEADOWS	175	40	29	30	40	36
4	LEE SEALEY	174	32	38	40	32	32
5	LOGAN WILCOX	160	29	36	29	28	38
6	MYLES REID	150	27	30	36	29	28
7	JAKE BAKER	138	34	24	32	30	18
8	PATRICK GILLIGAN	136	12	32	28	34	30
9	GEORGE CLARKE	129	30	22	26	27	24
10	AYDEN SMITH	123	20	27	21	26	29
11	JORDAN HEARN	123	28	16	27	25	27
12	ADAM NEVITT	122	26	25	24	21	26
13	CALUM PRIDDLE	119	23	28	19	24	25
14	CUAN CONWAY	112	21	23	22	23	23
15	AIDEE SMITH	106	25	21	20	19	21
16	ARRAN MURPHY	96	19	17	16	22	22
17	RYAN MANLEY	90	22	19	12	17	20
18	HATDEN STEPHENS	80	17	12	14	18	19
19	LEWIS RAYNE	78	16	13	17	15	17
20	JORDAN MARTIN	75	24	26	25	–	–
21	EWAN CAMPBELL	74	15	14	13	16	16
22	CHARLIE HENDERSON	74	18	18	18	20	–
23	KYLE NOBLE	58	14	15	15	14	–
24	TAYLOR ROBERTS	52	13	–	11	13	15
25	CONNER CHALLINOR	43	–	20	23	–	–

2 Stroke Open

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	JOSH SPINKS	194	40	40	34	40	40
2	LEWIS HALL	190	38	38	38	38	38
3	RORY JONES	176	36	36	32	36	36
4	JAKE PRESTON	174	32	34	40	34	34
5	JAMES DENT	166	34	32	36	32	32
6	DREW ROE	145	30	29	27	29	30
7	MITCH ARMOUR	142	27	28	30	28	29
8	JAY CHEEL	139	28	27	29	27	28
9	JAMES HANSCOMB	125	22	26	26	25	26
10	ALEX NEEDHAM	120	26	25	18	24	27
11	RYAN McCLEAN	117	29	30	28	30	–
12	REECE WAINE	114	21	23	24	23	23
13	BEN WALKEN	107	19	22	22	20	24
14	JASON MARTIN	101	18	21	21	19	22
15	CHAE JENKINSON	99	25	–	23	26	25
16	JAMIE CASSIDY	95	17	19	20	18	21
17	ROSS BENTON	93	23	24	25	21	–
18	MITCHELL PERRY	81	20	20	19	22	–
19	TOBY ENGLISH	24	24	–	–	–	–

125cc

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	DAMON STRYDOM	184	40	40	40	24	40
2	ASH HARLAND	180	34	36	34	40	36
3	RYAN WAGGOTT	178	38	34	30	38	38
4	CHRIS POVEY	171	36	38	38	27	32
5	HARRY BARKER	160	28	32	36	36	28
6	LUKE NEWMAN	152	26	29	29	34	34
7	LEWIS PROUD	145	32	30	24	29	30
8	SEAN VENESS	141	30	26	28	28	29
9	ASH CROSSLEY	128	22	27	27	25	27
10	CAMREN JACKSON	128	24	25	25	30	24
11	BENNY LEWIS	119	20	24	26	26	23
12	CONNOR SMITH	109	23	22	21	22	21
13	JACK JORDAN	100	19	21	20	20	20
14	BILLY BAYLISS	97	25	–	23	23	26
15	ROS FEGAN	95	18	23	22	15	17
16	GEORGE POOL	92	16	20	19	19	18
17	MATT RIDGWAY	84	27	–	–	32	25
18	DYLAN DAVISON	83	15	19	17	13	19
19	CRAIG REYNOLDS	82	13	18	18	17	16
20	JAMIE ARROWSMITH	76	17	14	16	16	13
21	TOM BLACKWOOD	70	12	16	14	14	14
22	TROY WILLERTON	70	29	28	13	–	–
23	ELLIS NELSON	63	–	15	15	18	15
24	RILEY GERRARD	57	10	12	12	11	12
25	RICHARD BRYCE	54	11	11	11	10	11
26	JASPER UPHILL	53	21	–	32	–	–
27	OLIVER CONSTINE	43	–	–	–	21	22
28	RYAN GERRARD	31	14	17	–	–	–
29	JAMIE ALLAN	25	–	13	–	12	–

Ladies

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	ELAINE MacEACHERN	196	40	38	40	40	38
2	GRACE RICHARDS	194	38	40	38	38	40
3	GRACE PACKMAN	174	36	36	36	30	36
4	REBECCA NEWHAM	168	34	32	34	36	32
5	NADIYA JONES	164	32	34	30	34	34
6	TAYLOR SCOTT	151	27	30	32	32	30
7	HANNAH JONES	143	30	29	26	29	29
8	EBONY BROWN	141	29	28	29	27	28
9	KADY MOORE	137	28	27	28	28	26
10	CATLEN NEWMAN	131	26	25	27	26	27
11	LILLY MORELAND	122	23	26	23	25	25
12	EMILY NOON	120	25	23	24	24	24
13	MOLLY TAYLOR	96	24	24	25	23	–

Vets Over 40

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	RYAN VOASE	200	40	40	40	40	40
2	LEE MARTIN	182	34	36	38	38	36
3	DANNY TOLLET	180	36	34	36	36	38
4	DAVID EVANS	161	29	32	34	32	34
5	RICK DARLINGTON	158	30	30	32	34	32
6	MICHAEL GRAHAM	147	32	28	27	30	30
7	DAVID WILCOX	141	27	27	29	29	29
8	KEVIN MCBRIDE	139	28	25	30	28	28
9	CRAIG CHAMBERLAINE	137	26	29	28	27	27
10	CARL STANARD	128	25	26	25	26	26
11	LEE LARKIN	122	24	24	26	24	24
12	MARK SUTHERLAND	116	22	23	23	23	25
13	JOHN CARRUTHERS	116	23	21	24	25	23
14	DALE SILK	105	20	19	22	22	22
15	ANDY DUFILED	97	17	17	21	21	21
16	PAOLO CUSATO	97	18	20	19	20	20
17	JAMES ANDREWS	80	21	22	18	19	–
18	JAIME MENZIES	76	19	18	20	–	19
19	PAUL JOHNSTON	76	38	38	–	–	–
20	IAN SUTHERLAND	16	–	16	–	–	–

Vets Over 50

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	SIMON BONSER	200	40	40	40	40	40
2	RICHARD MILLER	190	38	38	38	38	38
3	ADY BRADLEY	174	32	36	34	36	36
4	GEFFREY WHARTON	170	36	34	36	30	34
5	EWAN JOHNSTON	158	34	28	30	34	32
6	BRIAN FRASER	148	25	32	32	29	30
7	NIGEL SMORFITT	144	29	30	24	32	29
8	CHRIS ELCOCK	135	30	27	27	27	24
9	ADRIAN LEWIS	126	24	26	29	25	22
10	IAN WILSON	124	20	25	26	28	25
11	PAUL WIECZOREK	121	19	24	28	24	26
12	JOHN PRIESTLEY	119	27	21	22	26	23
13	STEPHEN HUMPHIRES	116	22	23	21	22	28
14	LEE DAVIES	110	23	20	17	23	27
15	MICHALE JOHNSTON	104	21	19	23	21	20
16	ADRIAN JESSOP	87	17	17	16	18	19
17	STEVE HOWES	87	16	18	18	20	15
18	DAVE DUNN	80	26	29	25	–	–
19	ALAN REECE	79	11	16	19	16	17
20	COLIN BERRY	76	12	15	15	13	21
21	PAUL SLEIGHT	76	15	12	14	19	16
22	BRIAN MUNDAY	74	14	13	12	17	18
23	NEIL JENKINSON	68	13	14	13	14	14
24	MARK TAYLOR	60	18	22	20	–	–
25	IAN POSS	56	8	10	10	15	13
26	STEVE THOMPSON	32	10	11	11	–	–
27	IAN JONES	29	9	9	–	11	–
28	JAMES WITLOW	28	28	–	–	–	–
29	ED BRISCOE	12	–	–	–	12	–

Junior Open

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5
1	DAN NEVITT	184	28	40	40	38	38
2	RILEY VOASE	178	24	36	38	40	40
3	LEWIS GRIFFIN	174	36	38	36	28	36
4	STEFAN ROBSON	158	26	34	30	36	32
5	RYAN LOWES	156	32	30	28	32	34
6	BILLY WIECZOREK	154	34	28	34	34	24
7	BEN WALSH	142	38	26	27	30	21
8	BEN HUGHES	141	29	29	25	29	29
9	JAMES NEWBY	139	30	27	32	20	30
10	JOE WINNARD	137	40	25	24	22	26
11	JAMES MILNE	117	25	21	21	25	25
12	KERR THOMPSON	106	–	32	29	17	28
13	MITCH BROOKS	105	22	20	19	21	23
14	SAMUEL RAYNER	104	19	23	17	26	19
15	SHEA RYAN	104	27	24	26	27	–
16	TAYLOR MISSELBROOK	90	17	13	14	19	27
17	ANTONIO SOUZE	89	20	17	23	9	20
18	HAYDEN BROWN	81	23	19	16	23	–
19	KERION DAVIES	78	15	22	15	12	14
20	ETHAN BRIERLY	77	12	16	11	16	22
21	SHAUN MURPHY	76	18	3	22	18	15
22	LLOYD CLARKE	72	16	15	12	13	16
23	BEN FLETCHER	71	14	18	18	11	10
24	SAM HAMER	62	21	10	13	1	17
25	THOMAS CARRUTHERS	51	9	–	20	4	18
26	ANDY CRGAIG	46	13	9	–	24	–
27	DAN TIMBRELL	45	4	14	–	14	13
28	HARRY WIECZOREK	44	8	7	2	15	12
29	LOUIE BRUCE	42	3	8	10	10	11
30	JOSH OATES	34	6	4	8	8	8
31	SCOTT WATKINSON	31	11	11	–	3	6
32	DAN EVANS	31	10	5	7	6	3
33	ETHAN DAVIES	30	–	12	6	5	7
34	ZAC CHEEL	24	2	1	5	7	9
35	DANIEL JONES	22	7	6	9	–	–
36	TOM BERRY	11	–	2	4	–	5
37	GAV LOWES	7	1	–	–	2	4
38	LOUIS SMITH	5	5	–	–	–	–
39	AIDEN MURPHY	3	–	–	3	–	–