Shipton storms the 2024 Weymouth Beach Race – Race Report & Results

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Normally, the AMCA Weymouth Beach Motocross goes hand in hand with dry, fine weather, but for the 40th Anniversary event on Sunday, it was to be a totally different story as ‘Ashley, ’ the first named storm of the season, did its very best to wreak havoc! Gale-force winds and heavy rain meant a very high tide that simply refused to retreat, making the completion of the track building on Sunday morning just about impossible!

Race Report and Images by Mike Wood

Weymouth 2024 was the maiden event for the new Purbeck MXC Chairman Mike Humphries, having replaced outgoing leader Alf Stearn, who had been at the helm for some 30 years. Naturally, Mike was very keen to make a good impression on his debut and whilst some riders were starting to raise concerns as to whether the event would even go ahead, the new Chairman, along with his Purbeck MXC members, were in no doubt that they would indeed produce the goods and that’s just what they did and in some style! Although practice got underway 90 minutes late, the 300-strong entry did still have their promised two motos.

With the awful early weather gradually improving, the Esplanade was again lined with thousands of loyal Weymouth Beach Motocross fans, and they impeccably observed the two-minute silence held before racing started in memory of commentator Paul Hardy and past Weymouth and Portland Lions Club District Governor Mark Lockie. So, it was now time for Jim Shipton (Mr Starter) to get the first Juniors moto of the day sponsored by Caroline Racing underway, with Curtis Roberts leading the way, followed by Lewis Scarlett, Joe Workman, Tom Ayres, Joshua Ian Lacey and Max Luckes. Whilst Roberts led the packed field from start to finish, Francis Heather moved up from 7th to take 2nd. In this opener, Ayres, Tommy Hobday, who had gated 8th, Lacey, Adam Gustafsson and Workman all finished in the frame and on the same lap total as the winner.

Having spent all of the previous day helping construct the circuit with the Purbeck MXC members, local Weymouth resident Hobday then went out and won Juniors’ Moto Two. After gating in 3rd, he then quickly passed Danny Morris SNR before going after leader Scarlett, eventually taking control two laps from home. In this one, Ryan Mabey took 3rd from Ayres, Curtis Wright, Charlie Blake, Jamie Aitken and Gustafsson. After having took top honours in moto one, Roberts was a non-starter for the second clash of the day. So, in the overall verdict, it was Hobday who, much to the delight of his Weymouth supporters who took home the first-place trophy with Ayres runner-up and Heather in 3rd.

Jake Carey was fastest away in the opening Seniors moto sponsored by Dirtworx Motocross and Enduro before being passed early on by Alex Harvey. Despite doing very little racing these day’s and having downgraded from Experts to Seniors status, Harvey looked extremely sharp and fast as he took control before going onto claim the win. Moving from an early 18th, Riley Saunders was to take a great 2nd in this one as Carl Luke matched Riley’s efforts with a stormer of his own going from 19th to bag 3rd. In Seniors moto one, Ben Payne was 4th with Marcus Clare 5th. In a race which featured outstanding comebacks, how about the ride by new Midwest Racing Husqvarna team member Romeo Mead who after being 32nd on completion of lap one eventually got home in a fantastic 6th!

Seniors winner Alex Harvey in moto one action

Kenzie Cole was certainly the boss in moto two of the Seniors, as he led the contest all the way to the chequered flag. Behind him though it was all going on as Payne, Jake Carey, Harvey and Saunders hotly disputed 2nd spot. On the final lap, Harvey made that position his own, with Saunders having to settle for 3rd and Carey eventually finishing 6th as Payne in 4th, and Connor Warren having a great ride in 5th provided the filling. After his moto One heroics, Mead didn’t have to work quite so hard this time, starting 14th and moving up to 7th. The top five overall trophies in the Seniors going to winner Harvey from Saunders, Payne, Cole and Mead.

New for 2024 and to coincide with this being the 40th Anniversary event, there was for the first time a Weymouth Veterans Over 40’s class sponsored by Kenny Clothing, BRP Imports and what a super scrap the opening moto was to produce as Phil Mercer and Jim Davies continually swapped positions at the front. Eventually it was ‘Factory Phil’ taking the win as Casey Jones was a steaming and a rolling for 3rd with Leigh Williams, Daniel Saunders and Richard Meakin next up. Arguably in taking that 6th Meakin had produced one of the rides of the day! Falling on the opening lap his bike became hooked up with another rider’s machine. Eventually freeing his Honda mount, Meakin was in last place before getting all the way back up the leaderboard, what an effort that was! For Brian Wheeler though making his Weymouth debut and being one of the expected favourites, this opening Vets clash was a disaster! Falling early on when holding 3rd, his KTM Enduro bike eventually expired two laps from home and at the furthest point away from the pits area, meaning a very long pushback and also signalling the end of his day’s racing.

Vets Over 40’s start action with Brian Wheeler closest to camera

After their head-to-head in Moto One, Mercer and Davies were at it again in the second clash but with a dramatic conclusion. As Phil edged ahead on the final lap, Davies, in a big attempt to fight back and repass, collided with his rival. With Mercer losing momentum following the contact, Davies took the win and with it the overall, although a disillusioned Phil did still bring it home in 2nd. After his amazing comeback in the opener, Meakin had a less energetic ride, this time bagging 3rd from Saunders, Williams, Jones and Mark Morris SNR. Later in the day, Purbeck Chairman Mike Humphries declared himself very happy with the added Veterans class and stated that he definitely wants to include them again at next year’s event.

What a very special occasion Weymouth 2024 was to be for the Shipton generations. Jim, as per the previous 40 years, was on starters duty whilst his son David, winner of the very first Weymouth Beach race Juniors class back in 1984, rode in Sunday’s Vet’s class, and Grandson Jake competed in the Experts class, which was sponsored by Midwest Racing. And, writing the script with just about a perfect conclusion, Jake was to then go on to earn the Expert’s overall win aboard a 2008 Yamaha YZ250cc singing two-stroke in the process, beating a whole array of big 450F, 350F and 250F four. Despite only having had a couple of outings in 2024 at Farleigh and Foxhills, Shipton still looked very sharp passing leader Charlie Putman after just a couple of laps in moto one. On the Weymouth podium for the last couple of years, Henry Siddiqui started with a 3rd on Sunday ahead of Alfie Calvert, Aaron Coupland, Bradley Powell and Jamie Smith. Early on, Josh Waterman had also been in contention until disappearing from proceedings on lap nine.

Charlie Putman leading Jake Shipton in Experts moto two

Moto Two and looking for revenge, Putman led Moto Two just about all the way, and although Shipton managed to get alongside his rival and even just about nudge ahead on a couple of occasions, it looked like Putman had the victory sealed. However, Shipton produced a stunning pass with the chequered flag just about insight! Entering a corner and with four backmarkers ahead, Putman hesitated whilst Shipton kept the power on, went round the outside and just about slammed the door as they dropped into the turn; what a move! Unable to respond, a shocked Putman had to settle for another second place as Shipton brought the curtain down on the 40th Anniversary event in style, later dedicating the win to his Grandad Jim. Once again, Calvert was right in the mix, getting home in 3rd from Siddiqui, Charlie Griffiths, Rowland and Syd Putman.

Ryan Allen making a splash in the Experts contest.

With this being a charity event, at the presentation of awards, Purbeck MXC then handed a cheque over for £1,800 to Weymouth and Portland Lions Club. So, it’s massive congratulations to everyone for sticking two fingers up to storm ‘Ashley’ and getting the 40th Anniversary event done and, in some style, here’s to the next one in October 2025!

ResultsExpert – Overall

Pos	Competitor	Total Points	r 1	r 2
1	Jake Shipton	100	50	50
2	Charlie Putnam	94	47	47
3	Alfie Calvert	88	43	45
4	Henry Siddiqui	88	45	43
5	Bradley Rowland	78	39	39
6	Syd Putnam	72	35	37
7	Luke Oldfield	66	33	33
8	Jamie Smith	66	37	29
9	William Saunders	63	28	35
10	Bradley King	62	31	31
11	Jed Stockham	57	29	28
12	Jack Dando	56	30	26
13	Aaron Coupland	51	41	10
14	Travis Reynolds	50	25	25
15	Leighton Holmes	49	22	27
16	Olly Jones	48	26	22
17	Jack Alderton	46	23	23
18	Tom Moore	45	24	21
19	Charlie Griffiths	41	–	41
20	Rodney Jones	40	20	20
21	Jack Hooper	37	21	16
22	Jamie Watts	33	14	19
23	Tallon veale	33	15	18
24	Billy Wieczorek	33	19	14
25	Dean Clark	32	17	15
26	Ryan Allen	30	–	30
27	Joshua Senter	30	18	12
28	Sam Bailey	29	12	17
29		29	16	13
30	Brett Moore	27	27	–
31	Daniel Hartley	24	–	24
32	Harry Wieczorek	22	11	11
33	Tom Weston	13	13	–
34	Daniel Timbrell	10	10	–

Richard Meakin, 3rd in the Vets Over 40’s

Vets Over 40 – Overall

Pos	Competitor	Total Points	r 1	r 2
1	Jim Davies	97	47	50
2	Phil Mercer	97	50	47
3	Richard Meakin	84	39	45
4	Daniel Saunders	84	41	43
5	Leigh Williams	84	43	41
6	Casey Jones	84	45	39
7	Mark Morris SNR	74	37	37
8	Chris Toulson	68	33	35
9	Anthony Doughty	63	30	33
10	Peter Skevington	60	29	31
11	Shaun Brooker	58	31	27
12	Luke Dewey	57	27	30
13	Mark Gale	57	28	29
14	Ryan Thomas	51	25	26
15	Paul Wieczorek	50	22	28
16	Lewis Scard	50	26	24
17	James Webber	49	24	25
18	Dave Nuttall	46	23	23
19	Andrew Bowles	42	21	21
20	Stuart Leicester	39	17	22
21	Jon Jones	39	19	20
22	Leonard Paget	35	16	19
23	Sam Wilson	35	35	–
24	Alex Luckes	33	15	18
25	Steve Palmer	30	13	17
26	Liam Abdullah	26	11	15
27	Tim Murray	24	10	14
28	Robert Nash	21	9	12
29	Ben Hickman	20	20	–
30	Ste Marlow	18	18	–
31	Andy Biles	16	–	16
32	Rob Hayden	14	14	–
33	Jason Jenner	13	–	13
34	Andrew Reno	12	12	–
35	Peter Coles	8	8	–

Mark Morris SNR, 7th overall in the Vets Over 40’s

Seniors – Overall

Pos	Competitor	Total Points	r 1	r 2
1	Alex Harvey	97	50	47
2	Riley Saunders	92	47	45
3	Ben Payne	86	43	43
4	Kenzie Cole	85	35	50
5	Romeo Mead	76	39	37
6	Carl Luke	73	45	28
7	Jake Carey	70	31	39
8	Ross Walter	65	30	35
9	Connor Warren	63	22	41
10	Joe Beaumont	61	37	24
11	Marcus Clare	59	41	18
12	Henry Hearn	58	28	30
13	Marcus Alba	58	33	25
14	Cameron Doleman	55	24	31
15	Ben Boare	54	27	27
16	Bradley Hicks	51	25	26
17	Harry Titcombe	46	29	17
18	Ross Curtis	45	26	19
19	Todd Liell	44	21	23
20	Elliot Reeves	40	18	22
21	Liam Brown	35	6	29
22	James Cole	35	23	12
23	Oliver Wickers	33	–	33
24	Oliver Hurst	32	11	21
25	Joe Rowe	30	14	16
26	Josh Wilson	30	15	15
27	Oliver Coate	30	17	13
28	Will Haysham	30	20	10
29	Connor Tingle	29	9	20
30	Jamie Wilson	24	10	14
31	Adam Dear	24	16	8
32	Mark Wyatt	19	19	–
33	Sam Hooper	17	13	4
34	Adam Dixon	14	12	2
35	Andrew Hollingsworth	12	7	5
36	Lee Johnson	11	–	11
37	Jason Morgan	11	2	9
38	Simon Marston	11	4	7
39	Mike Bailey	8	8	–
40	David Thomas	6	–	6
41	Kieran Payne	5	5	–
42	Jack Allen	4	3	1
43	Matthew Close	3	–	3
44	Oliver Crowden	1	1	–

Juniors – Overall

Pos	Competitor	Total Points	r 1	r 2
1	Tommy Hobday	93	43	50
2	Tom Ayres	88	45	43
3	Francis Heather	75	47	28
4	Curtis Wright	74	33	41
5	Adam Gustafson	74	39	35
6	Lewis Scarlett	69	22	47
7	Ryan Mabey	66	21	45
8	Charlie Blake	66	27	39
9	Noah Pocock	66	35	31
10	Max Luckes	63	30	33
11	Paul Palmer	61	31	30
12	Jamie Aitken	60	23	37
13	Joshua Ian Lacey	59	41	18
14	Mel Williams	56	29	27
15	Mark Richmond	51	25	26
16	Curtis Roberts	50	50	–
17	Toni Burrows	47	26	21
18	Danny Morris SNR	43	18	25
19	Joe Workman	43	37	6
20	Tom Hobbs	40	17	23
21	Jack Wajtknecht	40	20	20
22	James Harris	38	9	29
23	Freddie Lenihan	38	14	24
24	Richie Robins	38	24	14
25	Lewis Cornwall	35	13	22
26	Myles Wall	30	19	11
27	Joseph Osborne	29	12	17
28	Luke Pritchard	28	28	–
29	Nathan Wells	25	16	9
30	Greg Brice	23	15	8
31	Joshua Morris	21	2	19
32	Guy Pirate Turton	20	4	16
33	Tyler Jefferies	20	8	12
34	Allen Garrett	17	10	7
35	Jamie Goddard	16	3	13
36	Mark Disney	15	–	15
37	Charles Blundell	11	7	4
38	Linus Ayres	11	11	–
39	Jack Harris	10	–	10
40	Alex Chalmers	10	5	5
41	Ross Gould	6	6	–
42	Ricky Hunt	3	–	3
43	Zak Whitehouse	2	–	2
44	Adam Harvey	1	–	1
45	Lee Peck	1	1	–