PREVIEW: Final Showdown for Revo British MX titles at Monster Mountain!

After a break of over two months, the Revo ACU British Motocross Championships come to their conclusion this weekend at the new circuit of Monster Mountain near Merthy Tydfil in South Wales.

Words: Ben Rumbold | Featured Image: Crendon Fastrack Honda

If you haven’t been to Monster Mountain already for the Michelin MX Nationals or the Bridgestone Masters, then it is well worth the visit if you consider yourself local enough. It is a man-made facility at the top of a massive slagheap, true, but the track is huge, the bikes get some serious speed up, and the layout and sporadic massive jumps make for great racing.  The rhythm section next to the spectator area on one side, and the fast waves just after the start on the other, both make for great viewing points. And there is talk of extended spectator areas to get fans deeper into the circuit than for previous meetings.

It’s being billed as “The Decider” for the Championships and they are still up for being won, with the closest of the adult classes being the MX1 Championship, still open for either member of the Crendon Fastrack Honda team and maybe even Cab Screens Crescent Yamaha’s Harri Kullas, although the ball is firmly in Conrad Mewse’s court as he holds a 25-point lead over teammate Josh Gilbert.

For those without knowledge of the points system, that’s a race win’s difference, so Josh needs to finish ahead of Conrad in race one to take the title to the final moto. Harri is 8 points further back than Josh, so he needs to make 9 on the Mewse Missile to still be in with a chance in the second race.  Any tie-break goes on race wins, which Mewse has comfortably with 6 to Kullas’ 3 and Gilbert’s 1.  It tells you everything about the season that Kullas won the first three motos and not one since, Gilbert took a moto at round two, then a virtual win with 2^nd behind wildcard Jeffrey Herlings at Foxhill’s third round.

Since then, however, it has been all Mewse, taking the last six motos at Blaxhall, Hawkstone, and School House with some devastating speed. His ability to pick off riders at the North-Eastern circuit was impressive, making multiple passes for the win on a track where Kullas was stuck behind reigning champ Tommy Searle for the entire second moto.

It’s not a total foregone conclusion, because Josh won the Michelin MX Nationals round there in May, and Conrad has admitted that he will be “riding in pain” due to a coccyx injury and painful ribs that were aggravated in a crash at Hawkstone last weekend. The West Country boy is no stranger to riding up on the pegs which will be a further treat for fans of seeing some glorious riding technique.

If Josh wins both motos, then the worst Conrad can suffer is a 25-point haul, which can be achieved in these ways:

If Harri wins both motos, then Conrad only needs 17 points, so these scores, to hold him off:

The supporting cast in MX1 are 75 points further back, headed by Evgeny Bobryshev, who climbed the podium at School House to break the top three’s monopoly on the trophies. After a fun weekend at VMXdN Foxhill, he might even wheel out a 500! Although a social media pic this morning suggests he might be out with injury.

South African Tristan Purdon has been impressive on the Gabriel SS24 KTM, and is 16 points back from Bobby in 5^th, 12 ahead of Scottish charger John Adamson, who like Kullas is fresh from a great trip to the USA for a bunch of AMA Nationals rides. Brad Todd and Jamie Carpenter will look to move up the order at the expense of 7^th-placed Tommy Searle, who goes to play with the MX2 boys this weekend.

Others to watch include Tom Grimshaw for Chambers Racing, who rode well at the Nationals at Monster Mountain, plus Ivo Monticelli who won a moto at Hawkstone on the ASA United GASGAS and has been improving from his injury-enforced lay-off. He also likes it hot, which it could be up there with no shade available on-track!

MX2 is a little easier to resolve for super Swede Isak Gifting. Racing the Stebbings Car Superstore Powered by Bikesure and 426 Motorsports GASGAS, Isak has won 6 motos and seen his main competition for the title, Bobby Bruce, eliminated with yet another injury. He holds a 42-point gap over Gabriel SS24 KTM’s Taylor Hammal, who kept the series alive with his first moto win and overall victory at School House. Gifting could have sewn up the Championship in the North-East but had an absolute shocker. He needs just 8 points, one 13^th-place moto, if Hammal wins them both.

There is probably more interest in MX2 behind the series leaders, however, as a follow-up to the dramatic MX2 battles at Hawkstone last weekend sees Dylan Walsh as contender for the race wins, although he’ll be keeping his eyes out for his old teammates in green as Tommy Searle steps down to MX2 – sadly for two-stroke fans he won’t be riding his Foxhill bike, but the injured Mel Pocock’s four-stroke. The big story from Hawkstone, almost more than the nail-biting championship win for  Carlton Husband, was the speed of Youth Champion Billy Askew.  In his first Pro championship race, he was all over Walsh in race two before the old pro on the EK Smith Electrical KTM showed him some old-fashioned brute force!  It’s debatable if Walsh would get away with a similar move in front of British Championship stewards – don’t forget Foxhill 2022 – but it will be incredible if the two get together again on-track, especially with Tommy and Isak in the mix as well!

The GTCI Revo Kawasaki team has said that if Billy seals the Youth Championship, which is highly possible, then he will tackle the Pro class on Sunday just like he did at Hawkstone. Besides all that, the MX2 class has provided some great racing this year, including the smooth, natural speed of Elliott Banks-Browne. The 2012 & ’13 champ in this class has been brilliant in 2023, winning two motos and being denied the double at School House with a broken chain whilst leading by a mile. He is capable of just clearing off on his SC Sporthomes Husqvarna, and might nick 2^nd in the series as he is only ten points behind Hammal, but mathematically unable to catch Gifting.

40 points back from Bruce in 4^th is Carlton Husband, fresh from claiming the MX Nationals title for Phoenix Tools / Even Strokes Kawasaki. He won the round of that series at Monster Mountain and is always a hard charger. Jorgen-Matthias Talviku has shown sporadic speed all year and is also back from the States, whilst Charlie Cole will be looking to put the disappointment of losing the title at Hawkstone behind him in his last race for Blades Bikes Kawasaki.

Joel Rizzi, Jamie Wainwright, and Sam Nunn could also be contenders, while rookies Charlie Heyman, Joe Brookes, and Ben Mustoe have been improving all year.  It’s gonna be a barn-burner!

The Youth

With three races on Saturday plus one for the little bikes on Sunday, titles are to be decided in all of the smaller classes at Monster Mountain.

The Junior 65cc class sees JMR Foundation-backed Harley Marczak with a 23-point gap ahead of a tie for 2^nd between TS Racing flyer Casey Lister and Fast Eddy rider Cohen Jagielski.  That gap can be caught up over the four motos!

Joel Winstanley-Dawson on the Castle Trucks / FXR sponsored KTM holds a 17-point lead from Jenson Severn in the Small-Wheel 85cc class, so Joel will be looking to seal the deal to add to his MX Nationals crown in his last year before moving up to a Big-Wheel.

The Big-Wheel 85cc class has been dominated by SJP Moto KTM’s Josh Vail, who certainly looks tall enough for a 125 and could make an impression in that class next year. If he doesn’t lose 26 points to 2^nd-placed Charlie Richmond on the K&A Construction / Super MX bike then he will be champion by Sunday.

If the 2022 Big-Wheel 85cc Champion Billy Askew is to race amongst the Pro class on Sunday, then he will need to gain 8 points over Mackenzie Marshall’s DK Off-Road KTM in the two races on Saturday. Marshall has finished 2^nd in 10 of the 15 motos this year, and if he does so in both races on Saturday then Billy will have to stay in that class for Sunday! Anything less for Marshall, and two more wins for Askew who has only dropped a single race all year, would mean that he can go and play with the Pros again. Liam Bennett has won the other moto and is in a solid 3^rd, and local boy Jak Taylor will look to put in a good showing before he too moves up to the adult ranks in 2024.

The 125cc class has seen a stunning scrap between Billy’s training partner Reece Jones on the SJP Moto KTM and the much-hyped Wal Beaney, racing for PP Sports. If it weren’t for a bizarre Beaney DNF at Hawkstone then the gap would be much tighter than the 34 points it actually is. Jones has finished on the fringe of the points in some EMX 125 races, but needs to improve his starts to really make an impression there. Any slip-up at Monster Mountain for Jones could let Beaney right in, but even without a championship battle, this scrap has been thoroughly entertaining all year!

The event will not be Livestreamed so ignore any scammers – there are no cameras up there – and come to Monster Mountain to check out one last battle of the class of 2023 – you won’t regret it!