Ryan runs riot! 2023 Acerbis Amateur Nationals Round 1 – Race Report & Results

.

And just like that winter is in the past and the season kickstarts once again. Fatcat Motoparc was the venue for the opening round of the 2023 Acerbis Amateur Nationals series and what a year it’s set out to be too with stacked classes and a perfectly groomed racetrack, all was set for an exciting opener.

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

First up was the Manchester Xtreme Junior Open category and with the top 5 from 2022 being moved up it was as wide open as ever. After the 4 motos were complete first and second overall still haven’t decided who wants to take control of the class as Riley Voase and Dan Nevitt finished the weekend tied on points with Voase taking the overall by way of the final race result. Nevitt gave Voase a run for it in the last encounter but it wasn’t to be and he had to settle for runner-up overall in the end while Kawasaki duo Stefan Robson and James Newby finished the weekend third and fourth respectively.

In the LS2 Helmets Vets Over 40 class, just like his son had done a mere 15 minutes prior, former GP rider Ryan Voase claimed the overall victory but the difference being with 4 moto wins over the weekend, starting his campaign off perfectly. Adam Wilkinson had two-second places on day one backed up by two-thirds on day two to give himself runner-up overall just four points ahead of defending series champ Lee Martin. Danny Tollett and Alan Pearce rounded out the top five.

Defending Motoverde Ladies Champion Grace Richards got her title defence off to the perfect start by claiming all four race victories and stood on the top step of the podium for her efforts. Nadiya Jones had a solid start to her campaign by taking home runner-up overall just a couple of points ahead of Grace Packman. Rebecca Newham was consistent with a 4-3-4-4 scorecard and took home fourth overall for her efforts while Taylor Scott took a third race second to help her to fifth overall.

In the Roberts Plant Engineers Vets Over 50 class Simon Bonsor took his 250 2 stroke to a maximum haul of points and the advantage into round two as he dominated on the rough sandy circuit. Richard Miller managed to pip Ady Bradley to runner-up overall after the pair had a titanic battle in the final moto to decide who stood on the middle and lower steps of the rostrum. Sean Smith led laps over the weekend and was always inside the top four even claiming a runner-up in race two to help him to fourth overall.

The Moto Connection 125 2-stroke class has always provided us with some brilliant racing and it was young Ryan Waggott on his Team Hutch racing KTM who was most consistent and took the honours with a 3-1-2-2 scorecard. Damon Strydom took two race wins over the weekend but a third race seventh ultimately put a spanner in the works and so had to settle for second overall. Harry Linton was also a race winner and took third overall while Troy Willerton finished in fourth. Former GP rider Nev Bradshaw was on for a podium until a final moto bike failure left him outside the top 6 in 8th overall.

The MX Dreams California Open 2 stroke class was hotly contested with EMX250 podium finisher Josh Spinks putting in a solid weekend of racing and went home with the top spot on the podium when all was said and done. Last year’s runner up James Dent pushed Spinks all the way however and was rewarded with second spot overall and a solid start to his championship aspirations. Flying scot Ryan McLean showed he still had speed after a few years off from racing and even claimed the final moto victory in convincing fashion helping him onto the podium in third tied with Rory Jones who had to settle for fourth.

In the Craig Motorcycles sponsored MX2 class it was Craigs Motorcycles pilot Mitchell Meadows who ended the weekend on top after the four races as he took two wins on Saturday followed up by a third and a fifth to stand on the top step ahead of Jake Winnard who, after a moto one spill, came back to win both of the races on Sunday and claw his way back to second overall. Zac Stealey also had misfortune in the second race of the weekend only managing a 13th but his three runner-up spots in the rest of the races gave him third overall ahead of Logan Wilcox and Jordan Hearn.

The heavily fought Acerbis MX1 category provided us with some frantic action in each race and it was Josh Bentley who came out on top with two runner-up spots followed by a pair of wins on Sunday to get himself onto the top step just ahead of reigning champion Jack Beniston who should take the series lead as Bentley was a wildcard for the weekend. Andy Wilson finished the weekend third overall just one point ahead of Seb Berthauime in fourth.

With round one in the history books, all attentions turn to round two where we head over the Scottish border to Duns in April.

Results

MX1

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	JOSH BENTLEY	156	38	38	40	40
2	JACK BENISTON	142	34	40	32	36
3	ANDY WILSON	129	29	36	36	28
4	SEB BERTHIAUME	128	30	30	34	34
5	WILL HUGHES	118	32	34	26	26
6	ED BRISCOE	117	27	32	28	30
7	JAMES HUTCHINSON	115	40	28	38	9
8	GEORGE SIMMUTCH	107	36	8	25	38
9	COREY HOCKEY	103	23	24	29	27
10	SCOTT HAMILTON	101	25	23	30	23
11	LUKE MERADITH	100	22	25	24	29
12	DAN PARRY	96	8	29	27	32
13	ADAM THIRLWELL	90	20	26	19	25
14	CORY NEMETH	90	26	22	22	20
15	KIA THIRLWELL	89	28	20	17	24
16	ARAI ELCOCK	84	18	27	23	16
17	SIMON BOOTH	83	21	21	20	21
18	GLEN PHILIPS	79	24	16	21	18
19	BEN MAGEE	75	19	18	16	22
20	PETE HAMLETT	63	16	15	13	19
21	JAMIE CLARKE	62	15	19	11	17
22	JAY LEWIS	58	12	17	14	15
23	HARVEY TILLOTSON	49	17	–	18	14
24	ASH COTTERELL	49	7	14	15	13
25	BRADLEY FLAGG	46	10	12	12	12
26	AARON COLLINS	39	9	10	9	11
27	JOSEPH DAVIES	35	6	9	10	10
28	PATRICK GILLIGAN	26	13	13	–	–
29	DAN WHITEHEAD	25	14	11	–	–
30	TOM HIRONS	11	11	–	–	–

MX2

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	MITCHELL MEADOWS	148	40	40	36	32
2	JAKE WINNARD	142	28	34	40	40
3	ZAC STEALEY	137	38	23	38	38
4	LOGAN WILCOX	128	22	36	34	36
5	JORDAN HEARN	122	36	32	26	28
6	ALFIE CALVERT	117	29	29	32	27
7	JACK AUTHER	106	24	19	29	34
8	LEE SEALEY	105	30	28	25	22
9	AYDEN SMITH	104	26	30	30	18
10	JAKE BAKER	103	32	38	3	30
11	JORDAN MARTIN	99	23	27	24	25
12	MYLES REID	88	21	20	23	24
13	JOEL FISHER	87	34	25	28	–
14	CALUM PRIDDLE	84	18	24	21	21
15	GREGOR CAMPBELL	80	16	26	15	23
16	ADAM NEVITT	80	17	21	22	20
17	RHYS WALKER	74	19	18	18	19
18	BEN ZEALE	71	20	22	–	29
19	LUKE TUNRER	67	15	15	20	17
20	LEWIS MEADOWS	61	25	16	13	7
21	PATRICK GILLIGAN	53	–	–	27	26
22	NATHAN HEATH	53	3	17	17	16
23	AIDEE SMITH	49	10	8	16	15
24	ARRAN MURPHY	49	12	13	11	13
25	JOSH WILLIAMS	48	11	11	12	14
26	RYAN MANLEY	44	13	12	8	11
27	GEORGE CLARKE	38	14	14	10	–
28	CONNER CHALLINOR	38	27	4	7	–
29	KYLE NOBLE	36	6	9	9	12
30	OLIVER BARNES	32	9	–	14	9
31	EWAN CAMPBELL	26	5	5	6	10
32	STANLEY NOBEL	22	4	6	4	8
33	TROY JONES	19	7	7	5	–
34	CORY McSHANE	19	–	–	19	–
35	SCOTT MERADITH	18	8	10	–	–

2 Stroke Open

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	JOSH SPINKS	158	40	40	40	38
2	JAMES DENT	146	36	38	36	36
3	RYAN McCLEAN	138	32	32	34	40
4	RORY JONES	138	30	36	38	34
5	DREW ROE	116	28	27	32	29
6	KEELAN HOPE	113	27	28	30	28
7	LIAM GALE	111	26	26	27	32
8	JAY CHEEL	101	25	23	29	24
9	MITCH ARMOUR	98	34	34	–	30
10	ALEX NEEDHAM	97	23	25	22	27
11	CUAN CONWAY	97	21	24	26	26
12	JAMES HANSCOMB	91	22	19	28	22
13	SAM COWIE	90	20	22	25	23
14	ROSS BENTON	82	18	20	23	21
15	REECE WAINE	82	17	21	24	20
16	LEWIS PETFIELD	77	19	18	21	19
17	DENNY RAPSON	68	38	30	–	–
18	CHAE JENKINSON	67	14	17	18	18
19	JASON MARTIN	59	11	12	20	16
20	TYLER WILCOX	58	13	13	17	15
21	JAMIE CASSIDY	57	10	14	16	17
22	LEE HARRISON	54	29	–	–	25
23	DYLAN SPENCER	53	24	29	–	–
24	JAMIE COX	43	9	15	19	–
25	JACK HAWKINS	38	12	11	15	–
26	MITCHELL PERRY	32	16	16	–	–
27	JACK GOTTS	15	15	–	–	–

125 2 Stroke

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	RYAN WAGGOTT	152	36	40	38	38
2	DAMON STRYDOM	143	40	34	29	40
3	HARRY LINTON	137	29	38	40	30
4	TROY WILLERTON	131	34	32	36	29
5	HARRY BARKER	128	32	28	32	36
6	CHRIS POVEY	124	30	30	30	34
7	STU OWEN	115	27	29	27	32
8	NEV BRADSHAW	108	38	36	34	–
9	LUKE NEWMAN	102	25	26	23	28
10	TIM GARDHAM	90	23	23	22	22
11	ASH CROSSLEY	86	22	21	19	24
12	ASH HARLAND	81	–	27	28	26
13	JORDAN WRIGHT	79	28	25	26	–
14	SEAN VENESS	75	21	18	13	23
15	CAMREN JACKSON	72	26	19	–	27
16	BENJAMIN SULLIVAN	64	18	22	24	–
17	JACK EVANS	62	12	17	18	15
18	ROS FEGAN	62	19	16	16	11
19	BILLY BAYLISS	61	–	15	21	25
20	LOUIS PERRIN’BROWN	60	15	20	25	–
21	GEORGE POOL	59	14	14	11	20
22	BENNY LEWIS	59	20	–	20	19
23	STEVE GARDHAM	56	16	11	15	14
24	JACK JORDAN	52	17	5	14	16
25	KEVIN RANTON	48	13	–	17	18
26	LEWIS PROUD	48	24	24	–	–
27	SONNY NOBLE	47	11	9	10	17
28	CRAIG REYNOLDS	35	10	12	–	13
29	BRYN BROOKES	35	7	8	8	12
30	WILL TURNER	33	–	–	12	21
31	JAMIE ARROWSMITH	33	9	13	3	8
32	TOMMY STONE	29	6	7	9	7
33	HAYDEN BROWN	24	2	6	6	10
34	JOSH NOON	21	8	–	7	6
35	ZAC CHEEL	18	3	4	2	9
36	KENZIE COLE	15	–	10	5	–
37	MITCHELL HARTILL	12	5	2	1	4
38	TOM BLACKWOOD	9	1	3	–	5
39	DYLAN DAVISON	9	4	1	4	–

Ladies

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	GRACE RICHARDS	160	40	40	40	40
2	NADIYA JONES	144	38	34	36	36
3	GRACE PACKMAN	142	36	38	30	38
4	REBECCA NEWHAM	138	34	36	34	34
5	TAYLOR SCOTT	127	32	32	38	25
6	CAITLIN NEWMAN	124	30	30	32	32
7	HANNAH JONES	116	29	28	29	30
8	LILLY MORELAND	114	28	29	28	29
9	EMILY NOON	107	26	27	26	28
10	SARA JOINER	107	27	26	27	27
11	AALIYAH HULBUERT	101	25	25	25	26

Vets Over 40

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	RYAN VOASE	160	40	40	40	40
2	ADAM WILKINSON	148	38	38	36	36
3	LEE MARTIN	144	34	34	38	38
4	DANNY TOLLET	136	36	36	30	34
5	ALAN PEARCE	128	30	32	34	32
6	DAVID EVANS	124	32	30	32	30
7	CHRIS HIND	114	29	29	29	27
8	DAVID WILCOX	109	27	28	25	29
9	CARL STANNARD	106	26	27	28	25
10	NEIL GRIFFTHS	100	20	25	27	28
11	MARK SUTHERLAND	96	25	26	21	24
12	LEE BUCK	93	22	22	23	26
13	JOHN CARRUTHERS	89	24	24	20	21
14	CRAIG CHAMBERLAINE	88	23	21	22	22
15	RUSSEL HARTILL	86	21	18	24	23
16	RICK DARLINGTON	77	28	23	26	–
17	JAMES ANDREW	74	17	19	19	19
18	DALE SILK	68	18	17	16	17
19	JAMIE MENZIES	58	–	20	18	20
20	RICHARD BRYCE	49	16	16	17	–
21	ANDY DUFFILED	45	15	15	15	–
22	MATTHEW MILLDELTON	31	–	–	13	18
23	MARK COLLINS	28	14	–	14	–
24	1090664	19	19	–	–	–
25	LUKE DESMOND	13	13	–	–	–

Vets Over 50

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	SIMON BONSER	160	40	40	40	40
2	RICHARD MILLER	146	38	36	34	38
3	ADY BRADLEY	144	36	34	38	36
4	SEAN SMITH	142	34	38	36	34
5	CHRIS ELCOCK	115	30	30	27	28
6	EWAN JOHNSTON	114	29	28	25	32
7	ROB LEWIS	112	26	27	30	29
8	ADRIAN LEWIS	109	28	29	22	30
9	IAN WILSON	102	24	23	29	26
10	KEVIN COWIE	101	25	24	28	24
11	BRIAN FRASER	100	22	25	26	27
12	RICHARD TIMMS	95	27	11	32	25
13	STEPHEN POLLOCK	85	20	21	21	23
14	PAUL WIECZOREK	81	18	22	23	18
15	LEE DAVIES	80	19	20	19	22
16	DAVID HOPKINS	74	21	16	24	13
17	STAN MORPHET	73	17	15	20	21
18	MICHALE JOHNSTON	68	16	18	18	16
19	ADRIAN JESSOP	67	15	17	16	19
20	DANNY	64	32	32	–	–
21	STEPHEN HUMPHIRES	63	12	19	15	17
22	JOHN GAUNTLETT	49	23	26	–	–
23	NEIL PRINGEL	47	14	–	13	20
24	GARY MASON	44	13	–	17	14
25	NEIL JENKINSON	37	4	10	12	11
26	DAVID CLAYBORN	32	3	8	9	12
27	STEVE HOWES	29	–	–	14	15
28	JOHN CARD	29	6	13	10	–
29	COLIN BERRY	25	5	9	11	–
30	STEPHEN THORNTON	24	10	14	–	–
31	NICK BOOT	19	7	12	–	–
32	TONY PRIESTLEY	11	11	–	–	–
33	IAN POSS	9	2	7	–	–
34	JOHN PRIESTLEY	9	9	–	–	–
35	ALAN REECE	8	8	–	–

Junior Open

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	RILEY VOASE	154	38	40	36	40
2	DAN NEVITT	154	40	38	38	38
3	STEFAN ROBSON	133	32	36	29	36
4	JAMES NEWBY	122	28	34	28	32
5	SHEA RYAN	122	30	30	32	30
6	JOE WINNARD	121	36	26	30	29
7	ALEXANDER WILLIAMS	105	19	32	26	28
8	MITCH BROOKS	101	27	28	23	23
9	ANTONIO SOUZE	98	23	29	20	26
10	BILLY WIECZOREK	95	24	20	27	24
11	BEN HUGHES	93	34	–	25	34
12	RYAN LOWES	93	16	22	34	21
13	TAYLOR MISSELBROOK	87	26	17	17	27
14	SAMUEL RAYNER	82	9	27	21	25
15	FIN ABBOTT	72	15	13	22	22
16	AUSTIN MOWBRY	72	14	19	19	20
17	THOMAS CARRUTHERS	70	22	24	24	–
18	DAN EVANS	66	21	14	14	17
19	AIDEN MURPHY	65	17	18	12	18
20	KANE RUMBLE	64	3	21	40	–
21	LLOYD CLARKE	58	10	11	18	19
22	KIERAN MULLOY-CARD	56	29	–	16	11
23	JOSH OATES	54	13	16	10	15
24	LOUIE BRUCE	50	12	23	15	–
25	DANIEL JONES	48	11	8	13	16
26	BRADLEY OWENS	45	20	25	–	–
27	HARRY WIECZOREK	43	8	12	11	12
28	ADRIAN WHITCOME	39	6	10	9	14
29	RYAN NEALE	34	5	9	7	13
30	TOM CARD	33	18	15	–	–
31	SAM HAMER	25	25	–	–	–
32	TOM BERRY	13	7	–	6	–
33	BEN LOCKLY	12	4	–	8	–