The GTCI Revo Kawasaki team headed to the North-East for round six of the Revo ACU British Motocross Championships at School House MX, a new venue to the series. Tommy Searle, Mel Pocock, and 250cc Youth class series leader Billy Askew all enjoyed the circuit and came away with plenty of positives from a busy weekend of racing.
Images courtesy of Elliott Spencer
Once again, Billy had two races on Saturday and two on Sunday, and after once more dominating the class by over 25 seconds in Saturday’s races, he came unstuck half-way around the second lap of race three over one of the biggest jumps on the circuit that only he was clearing. “I jumped off the side, thought it was going to hurt but I was OK, the bike was mangled with a squashed exhaust and it wouldn’t re-start”, said Billy. After some hasty repairs by the team he was able to restore normal order in the final moto with another commanding win, and even with one no-score he was still able to climb the podium in 2nd overall and carries a 42-point lead into the final round.
The MX1 class was first of the two adult classes to run, and after qualifying in 7th, Tommy gated well in the first moto, running 4th early on. Looking right back on form after his recovery from injuries, he was only overtaken by the top two riders in the series and brought it home in 6th.
Race two saw the defending Champion grab a stunning holeshot, leading for the first half-lap before championship battlers Josh Gilbert & Conrad Mewse nipped past, followed on lap 4 by Evgeny Bobryshev. Harri Kullas was next along but Tommy dug in, holding last year’s runner-up behind him for the last ten laps in determined style to take 4th spot, ending the day in 5th overall. “It was a really good weekend, a step in the right direction because I haven’t rode that pace, pain-free, for a long time. It’s nice to be enjoying racing again!”
Pocock, standing-in for the injured Dylan Walsh in MX2 for the rest of the year, also qualified in 7th, and despite starting outside of the top ten in race one put in an incredible early charge, passing many riders over a decade younger! Up to 4th by half-distance, he held off an attack by Jorgen-Matthias Talviku and finished 3rd after old rival Elliott Banks-Browne dropped from the lead with a broken chain!
Mel started much better in race two, up into 2nd behind EBB like it was 2013 all over again! Only Talviku and eventual overall winner Taylor Hammal got past through the race, and Mel took a fine 4th to climb the podium for the first time since 2018 with 3rd overall. “I might cancel my 31st birthday next week and call it my 21st! I thought beforehand that the track had too many jumps for me to do well but with good starts it went so well. Massive thanks to the team, it was really good to be on the podium again.”
Team Manager Sam Yates revealed that they had “a disastrous day on Friday with a tree stump putting a hole in a tyre on the truck, but we got setup and had a real good weekend, Billy again excellent although his huge crash badly damaged the bike. Tommy was solid, we were pleased that he held Kullas off all race, and Mel had a real good ride for the podium. Thanks to all our staff, we pulled together through a few challenges, and Chef Harry was great in keeping all the boys fed!”
Billy and Tommy will race at Oxford this weekend for the Michelin MX Nationals, with the final round of the Revo Championships also being run there in September.
