Malpas was the venue for the opening round of the H & N Supplies Ltd FGA 2022 championship. Despite the cold temperatures and the odd rain shower, riders and officials braved the elements to put on a fantastic day of racing.
Report by Ross Wharton – Images courtesy of Nigel Torrens
Jessica Cox was the 1st ever winner of the inaugural E-bike class. The Youngster from Runcorn was the only rider to compete after Eric Derrick was unable to come to the start for race 1.
In the Cub category for 9–12-year-olds, Ollie Binns continued his dominance of the class. The 2021 champion rode to a faultless 7 ride maximum. The battle for 2nd was closer, With the Wirrals Logan Price and Winsford’s Naythan Kukla taking it in turns to finish 2nd to Binns in the first 3 heats. Price would eventually claim 2nd by 2 points over Kukla. Spare a thought for young Archie Whitelam, making his debut in the class. He had an engine issue in Warm up and Dad was unable to rectify the issue and so the decision was made to swap engines. Whitelam was able to make the last heat and final to finish 4th overall and put vital championship points on the board.
Joe Crewe made the start to 2022 he wanted by taking victory in the Junior class, the teenager from Brierley Hill took 4 race wins to rack up 45 points in the heats to take top spot. FGA debutant Jack Baker had an eventful day, Electrical issues on his own machine meant he had to borrow Andrew Binns spare bike after installing a front brake. Baker started off cautiously but went on to take 2 impressive race wins before winning the final. An impressive start for the teenager from Somerset. The smooth-riding Max Derrick rode consistently to take 3rd overall, this may have been 2nd had it not been for cut out issues in his final point scoring ride. Birmingham’s Dylan Wassall also had bike issues with a misfire but still took 4th place overall with Jack Crewe taking 5th on his return to Grasstrack racing.
In the Senior Class, it was a case of as you were! Wayne Broadhurst continued his winning ways by taking 7 wins despite having to make some passes against fast gating riders like Colin How and David Binns. Kevin Gwillam continued his impressive return to racing; The veteran only dropped a single point in the heats to Broadhurst senior after making alterations to his chassis during the offseason. David Binns rounded out the top 3 only dropping 3 points to Broadhurst senior and Gwillam twice. Minsterley’s Colin How made a consistent return to FGA racing with 4th place but the rider of the day must go to Max Broadhurst.
The son of Champion Wayne was only competing in his 3rd ever race meeting, His 1st in the Senior FGA ranks finished 5th overall. The 17 year old made some brilliant passes in the heats to take 2 race wins before finishing 5th in the final beating some extremely experienced riders along the way. Crewe’s Andrew Binns was as consistent as always, not finishing outside the top 3 in each of his rides to take 6th. Jake Breeze finished 7th overall. After a promising start with 2 race wins, the Minsterley man was in the wrong place at the wrong time in his 3rd heat when the impressive debutant Kacper Oszczepalski fell in front of him leaving breeze nowhere to go. Breeze hit the stricken Oszczepalski leaving both riders and machines on the track coming off turn 4. Both riders got to their feet and continued in the meeting but Breeze was unable to take to the re-run, dropping vital points despite going on to take 2 second places and another win. The final rider to make the Senior A final was Andrew Rowson whose 2 second places and 4 3rds was enough to qualify.
Newcomers Johnny Childs and Kacper Oszczepalski both had eventful days. Childs pulled off a surprise race win in his opening heat beating Colin How and Andrew Binns but would suffer a fall and a breakdown in his later heats, which probably cost him a place in the top 10, finishing 13th overall. Oszczepalski finished 15th despite his 3rd rider incident with Breeze.
Spare a thought for the hard charging multi-FGA champion Sam Hall, who was in the mix all day until a coming together in his 5th ride causing him to suffer a knee injury. Hopefully, the teenager from Whitchurch will be fit for round 2 and can continue his impressive form.
H & N Supplies ltd Round 2 takes place on Saturday 23rd April at the same venue, The Rally Site, Malpas SY14 8JG. First race 1pm with Free Admission to Spectators.
Results
Ebike -1st J. Cox 48
Cub – 1st O.Binns 48, 2nd L. Price 34, 3rd N. Kukla 32
Junior – 1st Joe Crewe 45, 2nd J. Baker 39, 3rd M. Derrick 34
Senior – 1st W. Broadhurst 48, 2nd K. Gwillam 47, 3rd D. Binns 45, 4th C. How 43, 5th M. Broadhurst 41, 6th A. Binns 39. 7th J. Breeze 38, 8th Andrew Rowson 38
