On Sunday the 28th of July, the Woodbridge DMCC hosted their third motocross event of the year, with an open motocross meeting including Round 5 of the popular NGR championship. A strong lineup of expert and fast junior riders were ready to battle it out in the Suffolk sunshine, on one of the countries most fierce and spectacular circuits.
Race Report by Stefan Hicks – Images courtesy of Dean Warner
In group A race 1, Luke Parker (MPM Kawasaki) was quick out of the gate alongside fellow Eastern Centre regulars Sam Nunn (John Banks Honda), Tom Grimshaw (Apico Honda) and Shaun Southgate (GH Motorcycles Yamaha). Top national 250cc riders Ben Mustoe (ASA Gas Gas) and Taylor Hammal (Crendon TRU7 Honda) were fighting for places in the top 10, while the super talented youngster Josh Vail (SJP/RFX KTM) was flying on his 125cc machine through traffic, after a less-than-ideal start. Parker looked confident in the early stages and even started to pull away from Nunn as the top 5 all bunched up together, meaning some very close action on track. After multiple laps in the lead, Parker had to watch Nunn and then Grimshaw go through as they both reignited their rivalry for 2024. Hammal started to crank the pressure up on Mustoe and found his way past into 4th and onto the rear wheel of Parker. The battle for the lead intensified during the last half of the 18-minute plus one-lap race, but Sam Nunn held off Grimshaw for the win as Hammal made his way into third past Parker. Ben Mustoe crossed the line in fifth, while Josh Vail came home in a very respectable ninth.
Group A race 2 saw a fast and frantic start as 40 riders came charging into the first few turns, and Ben Mustoe powered his 250 to the front early on. With Nunn and Grimshaw ready to trade blows behind him, Mustoe was laying it all on the line in the hope of a race win. He would lead for a handful of laps before the inevitable happened, and the ever-smooth Nunn came to the front of the pack. Grimshaw would follow him through into second, and Hammal also made a move past Mustoe as he, unfortunately, started to drop down the order with bike issues. Nunn would then lead for the remainder of the race, holding off Grimshaw and Hammal, while Parker and Tom Murphy rounded out the top 5. The top 3 in the overall were Nunn, Grimshaw and Hammal.
In the NGR championship opening race, there was a nasty incident during the first half of the race, causing the red flag to appear and bring proceedings to a lengthy pause, while the injured rider gained much-needed medical assistance. Everybody at the Woodbridge DMCC would like to wish the injured rider a speedy and full recovery. Unfortunately, with the stoppage being a significant period of time the racing was cut short by one full block, meaning 8 races instead of 12.
A full race restart got underway for the NGR group, and Arran Powley fired his 2-stroke to the lead and would control from the front for the remainder of the race. John Hinz was consistent as ever and came home second ahead of Lee Kirkpatrick in third.
Race 2 for the NGR group seemed to be going the same way as the first with Powley leading Hinz before the leader Powley, would fall in the shade of the woods and lose the lead. Hinz would take the race win ahead of championship leader Aaron Hopkins in second, while Shane Brown came home in third.
The Group B honours were taken by Scott Claydon with a 1-1 ahead of Joshua Andrews with a 4-2. Third was John Hilton with a 2-6 finish.
In Group C the overall winner was Luke Clifton with a 1-1 ahead of Luke Reeve with a 2-3. In third was Marcus Becque with a 4-2 finish.
The next meeting at Blaxhall will be on the 15th of September for the Eastern Centre Championship.
Results
Group A
Pos | Competitor | Class | Total | r 1 | r 2 |
1 | Sam Nunn | Expert | 90 | 45 | 45 |
2 | Tom Grimshaw | Expert | 86 | 43 | 43 |
3 | Taylor Hammal | Expert | 82 | 41 | 41 |
4 | Luke Parker | Expert | 78 | 39 | 39 |
5 | Thomas Murphy | Expert | 71 | 34 | 37 |
6 | Bayliss Utting | Expert | 70 | 35 | 35 |
7 | Ben Mustoe | Expert | 69 | 37 | 32 |
8 | Benjamin Cole | Expert | 67 | 33 | 34 |
9 | Josh Vail | Expert | 63 | 30 | 33 |
10 | Callum McCaul | Expert | 62 | 31 | 31 |
11 | Liam Bennett | Expert | 62 | 32 | 30 |
12 | Benjamin Hayward | Expert | 56 | 29 | 27 |
13 | Ryan Nock | Expert | 54 | 26 | 28 |
14 | Kai Thorpe | Expert | 54 | 28 | 26 |
15 | Oliver Brader | Expert | 51 | 27 | 24 |
16 | Benjamin Parry | Expert | 48 | 19 | 29 |
17 | Connor Bunkle | Expert | 46 | 23 | 23 |
18 | Harrison Forde | Expert | 45 | 25 | 20 |
19 | James Wadsworth | Junior | 41 | 22 | 19 |
20 | Teddy Hyde | Junior | 39 | 21 | 18 |
21 | Charlie Nudds | Expert | 38 | 24 | 14 |
22 | Noah Wathen | Junior | 34 | 17 | 17 |
23 | Timothy Warnes | Expert | 33 | 18 | 15 |
24 | Mason Miller | Junior | 27 | 11 | 16 |
25 | Kieran Clarke | Expert | 25 | – | 25 |
26 | Oscar Knights | Junior | 25 | 13 | 12 |
27 | Jae Jeffries | Junior | 25 | 15 | 10 |
28 | Shane Lock | Expert | 22 | – | 22 |
29 | Joe Hall | Expert | 22 | 9 | 13 |
30 | Finley Jarvis | Expert | 21 | – | 21 |
31 | Oliver Brinkley | Junior | 21 | 10 | 11 |
32 | Ellis Atkins | Junior | 21 | 12 | 9 |
33 | Harry George | Junior | 20 | 20 | – |
34 | Teddy Howard | Junior | 16 | 16 | – |
35 | Benjamin Arthurton | Junior | 14 | 14 | – |
36 | Jack Whitlam | Junior | 8 | – | 8 |
Group B
Pos | Competitor | Total Points | r 1 | r 2 |
1 | Scott Claydon | 90 | 45 | 45 |
2 | Joshua Andrews | 82 | 39 | 43 |
3 | John Hilton | 78 | 43 | 35 |
4 | Lewis Holmes | 76 | 35 | 41 |
5 | Max Hale | 76 | 37 | 39 |
6 | Bailey Jackson | 74 | 41 | 33 |
7 | Lee Butson | 68 | 31 | 37 |
8 | Robert Bond | 65 | 33 | 32 |
9 | Cameron Parrish | 62 | 28 | 34 |
10 | Finlay Woods | 57 | 27 | 30 |
11 | Joe Scillitoe | 56 | 25 | 31 |
12 | Ty Atkins | 54 | 29 | 25 |
13 | Sidney Dawson | 54 | 34 | 20 |
14 | Aaron Saunders | 53 | 30 | 23 |
15 | James Colclough | 51 | 22 | 29 |
16 | Nathan Lock | 48 | 21 | 27 |
17 | Aidan Weston | 46 | 20 | 26 |
18 | Ethan Hayward | 45 | 23 | 22 |
19 | Henry Crawford | 44 | 16 | 28 |
20 | Oliver Champness | 44 | 26 | 18 |
21 | Ben Last | 43 | 19 | 24 |
22 | George Stark | 34 | 17 | 17 |
23 | Sam Hilton | 32 | 32 | – |
24 | Tavis Coulson | 29 | 15 | 14 |
25 | Marcus Cooper | 29 | 18 | 11 |
26 | Troy Brumpton | 28 | 12 | 16 |
27 | Craig Page-Baker | 24 | 14 | 10 |
28 | Charlie Starsmoore | 24 | 24 | – |
29 | William Mcrae | 23 | 11 | 12 |
30 | Haydn Martin | 22 | 7 | 15 |
31 | Lewis Wells | 22 | 9 | 13 |
32 | Zack Carter | 21 | – | 21 |
33 | Harry Sobkowiak | 19 | – | 19 |
34 | Zac Bowden | 18 | 10 | 8 |
35 | Shaun Tacey | 15 | 6 | 9 |
36 | Joel Doncaster | 13 | 13 | – |
37 | Zachary Kneller | 12 | 5 | 7 |
38 | Ben Carey | 8 | 8 | – |
Group C
Pos | Competitor | Total Points | r 1 | r 2 |
1 | Luke Clifton | 90 | 45 | 45 |
2 | Luke Reeve | 84 | 43 | 41 |
3 | Marcus Becque | 82 | 39 | 43 |
4 | Sam Whittred | 80 | 41 | 39 |
5 | Zack Kingshott | 70 | 35 | 35 |
6 | Ben Cook | 68 | 37 | 31 |
7 | Samuel Cook | 67 | 33 | 34 |
8 | Jack Williams | 66 | 34 | 32 |
9 | Sam Philpott | 65 | 32 | 33 |
10 | Finlay Whitlam | 63 | 26 | 37 |
11 | Josh Faulkner | 60 | 30 | 30 |
12 | Perry Fiddy | 60 | 31 | 29 |
13 | Shane Edwards | 57 | 29 | 28 |
14 | Peter Andrews | 51 | 24 | 27 |
15 | Hector Storey | 48 | 27 | 21 |
16 | Henry Fox | 47 | 25 | 22 |
17 | Ryan Christmas | 46 | 22 | 24 |
18 | Ky Rolfe | 46 | 23 | 23 |
19 | Darren Watts | 45 | 20 | 25 |
20 | Andrew Rooke | 41 | 21 | 20 |
21 | Ben Lamb | 36 | 17 | 19 |
22 | Tony Rooke | 36 | 19 | 17 |
23 | Benjamin Wigger | 29 | 11 | 18 |
24 | Tyreece Wells | 28 | 28 | – |
25 | Jake Faulkner | 26 | – | 26 |
26 | Nick Hunton | 25 | 10 | 15 |
27 | Jason Eaves | 18 | 18 | – |
28 | Scott Ramsey | 16 | – | 16 |
29 | Joseph Ripken | 16 | 16 | – |
30 | Matthew Goodger | 15 | 15 | – |
31 | Joel Parkin | 14 | 14 | – |
32 | Stuart Martin | 13 | 13 | – |
33 | Jack Hunton | 12 | 12 | – |
34 | Ryan Crump | 9 | 9 | – |