Slade stars at Cusses Farewell! BSMA Apico Nationals Round 6 – Race Report & Results

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The BSMA Apico national visited the long-standing popular circuit of Cusses Gorse situated between Salisbury and Amesbury in Wiltshire for the very last time for the penultimate round of the 2023 championship with double points up for the taking!

Race Report and Images by Ady Cowshall – Images of Speed

Thankfully, after weeks of bad weather, the days leading up to the weekend were dry with a heavy shower on Friday replacing the need for the bowser and creating perfect track conditions, apart from mother nature throwing a few gusts of wind about on Saturday.

The future of the sport were the first groups out, starting with a crushing show of speed and dominance from John Slade taking all 4 wins. The racing was a lot closer behind him, with Tyler Peaty hanging with Slade initially and Callum Harper on the blucru Yam showing that they are just as competitive only losing 3rd on the final lap to a hard charging Oscar Bird. Rhys Jones started the weekend well inside the top 5 until a slip up dropped him down to an eventual 8th in the first race. Mason Staddon looked to tire as the race went on, slipping back to 7th. Marc Bonnefin and Harper Powell both lost out to the trio of bad starters as these lad seared through the pack, led by Bird, Ronnie ‘Mac’ Morgan was hot on Bird’s exhaust and for the most part so was Francis Nellist as they went 3rd, 5th and 6th respectively.

Race 2 saw Slade again run off and hide while Bird started better and was hassling Peaty for the runner up spot – at half way he’d made the pass and held to the flag. Peaty got the hurry up as Nellist was coming on strong towards the end, and responded with his fastest lap on the 4th penultimate lap. Thomas Bailey got out of the gate well and held 3rd for a few laps crossing the line 6th. Morgan was the last to pass him with 2 laps to go.

Sunday saw very slippery conditions with the water that had been put down to combat any dust with the sun shining. Bird looked to have the jump on the pack as they came into the first turn but washed out the front almost collecting Slade in the process! Peaty came past the lap van behind Slade, but Nellist was relishing the conditions and powered by to hold onto 2nd over the line. A lot of fallers saw a lot of place changing throughout. Peaty, Jones and Staddon all tasted the Wiltshire soil. Peaty reclaimed 3rd by the flag and Jones 4th while Thomas Bailey was riding a steady race for 5th. The final race was a bit of a procession with the #288 taking another win from Nellist, Peaty, and Harper just holding off Staddon. Shout out to the Ronnie Mac, done more times than anyone coming back with the second fastest lap time in the final moto for 6th.

The Auto riders came to the line second, still with a relatively smooth track. Two riders stood out from the rest here; championship leader Mason Foreman and his closest rival Blake Bracey. Neither can afford a major slip up or the championship will be lost. Foreman took both races Saturday then on the slick Sunday conditions landed off the finish line table to lose both wheels from under him allowing the never far behind Bracey an opening to take the win. Foreman redeemed himself in the final encounter to go 3 out of 4 but everything is to play for in the final round. Roy Townley headed the rest of the field with Sam McEvoy and Freddie Dennis crossing the line seconds apart. Louise Pengelly and Hugo Jackson traded places all race with Jackson finally getting the upper hand. Race two saw Townley with work to do as he crossed the line in 8th on the opening lap. It wasn’t until over half distance before he’d caught Jackson and the final lap he managed to outdo Dennis leaving McEvoy with a fine 3rd.

Moto 3 had Townley too far adrift to make up a place with Foreman going down, but he had a safe distance over the rest. Dennis had to push hard in tracky conditions finally moving into 4th in the final lap at the expense of Jackson who was the first rider to pass the fast starting young lady Pengelly, who unfortunately fell foul to conditions a lap later dropping out of the top 10. Last moto was another “start where you finish” kind of affair with Townley getting a bit of a closer run thing this time from McEvoy in 4th. The romance between Jackson and Pengelly was struck up again as they took 6th and 7th. Well done to Oscar Morris on possibly the oldest bike in the class just missing out on a top 10 finish in 11th just a second behind that illusive 10th held by Leo Edwards.

The Small wheel 85’s saw championship leader Jack Brown have to battle hard in moto 1 with Lewis Jenks as he tried to claw back some points, but Brown found a line past at half distance to hold on for the win, with Jenks less than 2 seconds out over the line. Aiden Burke and Charlie Ward went at it hammer and tongs as Burke didn’t want to lose valuable ground on the lead duo with double points. Arthur Pozzoli lost out to Trent Walkley on the 4th lap as did Theo Stead to Edward Luker as the latter fought through from a poor start.

Race 2 saw Burke with the early lead but Brown was in contention and again at the halfway point moved to the front. Jenks seemingly had nothing to respond to the pair in front taking the flag 3rd. Walkley and Stead chucked away chances of a top 5 finish in the slick conditions both going down in the early going. Pozzoli looked a top 5 but faded back to 7th in the last couple of laps allowing Rylea Tilbury to take 5th with a safe 4th for Ward. Sunday morning saw Jenks hounding Brown all the way from start to finish but with no way past. Walkley held 3rd until the final lap allowing Burke past and nearly getting caught by Ward. Timmy Pengelly took 6th with Luker passing Bixby with a lap to go to re-gain 7th. The final showdown saw a rejuvenated Jenks lead from the gate to flag with Burke in pursuit while Brown and Walkley passed each other 3 times before Brown took the flag 3rd. Ward and Luker swopped places a couple of times under the watching eye of Stead as all 3 crossed the line in close proximity.

The Big wheel 85’s are always good to watch and with some wildcards in the mix all the better. The duo of Ryan Clift and Chris Brindley had the edge on the rest of the pack as this pair dominated. However both riders made mistakes proving you need to keep trying even when your rivals are quicker. Clift and Brindley took the 1-2 with a big margin in race 1. Local rider and regular to Cusses, Fabian’Bubba’ Junior Morrison charged hard from a poor start to get to 3rd by the halfway mark with championship contenders Finlay Stead and Ashton Soerville following each other until Alfie Vevers split the pair putting Somerville down to 6th. Clift led them away in moto 2 with Brindley tucked in behind, but on lap 5 Brindley got his chance and while Clift took his time to re-compose himself Brindley was gone and away to the black and white flag. Stead got passed for 3rd a few laps in by Vevers but was a few places to the good of Somerville again. Morrison needs a tyre sponsor as again a poor gate left him with an uphill struggle, eventually claiming 4th at the expense of Stead. Sundays slippery conditions did nothing to slow Clift as he went untroubled for another win. Somerville made a late charge passing Stead early in the race then claiming Brindley and Vevers to grab a fantastic 2nd, with Brindley slipping off back to 4th. Stead was too far back to capitalise in 5th. Clift was back to the front in the last with Morrison hanging in initially before Brindley passed and tried to stay in contact with Clift. Somerville again beat rival Stead to basically keep them in the same position they started the weekend! All to play for!

Seniors as usual mixed 125 and 250f scored separately. With Harry Ridgway 250f and Max Corke 125 taking 2 wins each. With less than 10 seconds covering the top 4 crossing the line this looked to be the races not to miss. Ridgway led from the gate and stayed out front despite intense pressure from behind. Travis Laughton, Harry Lee and George Corke all kept the pressure on. Max Corke had been in the mix, but in the dying laps made a mistake to put him back to 6th behind series leader Kai Thorpe. At the second time of asking Ridgway again hit the front, but Max Corke had a mistake to make up for and the pair started trading places half way through, with Corke coming out on top to make amends for race 1. George Corke was up there in 3rd until Tom Goodfellow got by on the third time round only to lose another place to Thorpe as he then took off after Goodfellow passing him a lap later. Harry Lee again struggled out of the blocks but somehow charged through to 4th.

Race 3 saw Laughton take the lead, but it was short lived as Ridgway wanted it bad. By the second time round he had it, but couldn’t shake Laughton off. Harry Lee was actually inside the top 5 by lap 2 this time but could only manage to get within 6 seconds of race leader and ended up 3rd, 3 seconds down on Laughton. Max Corke slugged it out with Goodfellow for 4th with Thorpe a distant 6th.

The final Senior race saw Max ‘Cork’ it with a gate to flag win. Lee got his bast start of the weekend and then lost a place to Jamie Kuehn taking another 3 laps to get into his groove before re-taking the position and holding 2nd to cross the line a comfortable distance ahead of 3rd placed Laughton who in turn had a sizeable margin over Ridgway who didn’t seem to find his flow from a mediocre start. Noel Brooks took his weekends best result clear of 7th placed Goodfellow with Thorpe Bell and Alfie Smith rounding out the top 10. Smith clinched the senior 250f title despite being sick.

Vets was another mixed class scored separately, and saw both groups have a rider take a maximum, Mark Morris in the over 45’s and Luke Spence in the over 35’s. Spence cleaned up in the joint racing pretty much un-challenged after a couple of laps in. Dain Traylor looking a lot more feisty with a weekend’s sleep in him, gave Sam Callow a lot to think about all weekend up until the final moto when the strain became evident. Morris started off right in the mix with his younger rivals, losing out to Steve Martin early on, but then using his pace to keep up the sharp end with a 5th at the flag. Ian James got a good start and battled in the early going with Lee Baggs and later with Roy Towney before finishing 8th. Richard Green stunned everyone with one of, if not the first Stark Varg to race the UK scene, starting off well he’s quoted as saying’ “I didn’t know what to do on the start!” not knowing how to get it off the line. But boy it certainly flew up the straight but spat him off on the increasing rough track having not been able to ‘set up’ the suspension in time to go race.

Race 2 Spence was out the gate and gone again Morris followed him then settled into 4th after the dicing pair of Traylor and Callow came by. Callow finally found his way into 2nd with just over 2 laps to go. Towney held Martin at bay for a lap before he set off after Morris to again finish just in front of the team doughnut rider. Green had elected to go back to his 450 and park the Varg up until it was set up properly and managed a better result of 8th after Baggs pipped him with a lap to go. Race 3 was almost a carbon copy of the second but for the gaps being a lot closer as Spence noticeably took it steady with the slick track conditions. The same could be said for the final moto with everyone well spaced out and looking to go home in one piece such is the thinking of the vet rider.

The most entertaining racing came from the MX1 and 2 combined race with showman Ash Greedy busting moves most wannabe freestylers dream about. Greedy threw down a massive whip over the finish line on lap 1 showing his intentions to the following field. Greedy went unchallenged to take the first win. Behind him Louis Vincent and Josh Taylor both passed quick starting Sion Talbot with Taylor holding 2nd until the last but one lap when Vincent took over and held on by less than a second over the finish. Josh Greedy came through next with Sam Winterburn on an old evo Honda in close company. Race 2 and Talbot again got his machine moving quickest for another great start but Greedy was not to be held up and was soon into a commanding lead. Reagan Skinner started well but Taylor passed him and Talbot but had no answer for Greedy out front. Ben Zeale got his mojo flowing as he powered up the leaderboard coming to a stop behind Vincent and Josh Greedy in 7th before that old Honda of Winterburn caught him on the last but one!

Race 3 saw Talbot gate yet again. Vincent was 2nd, Taylor was 3rd and Greedy was down in 6th behind his brother. Josh Taylor saw his chance and moved into 2nd while Greedy was still dealing with traffic. Taylor was in front by lap 4 but Greedy was with him. Greedy passed him but Taylor immediately responded to re-take the lead. Again Greedy lunged to the front only for the lead to be regained. You had to be a nervous leader with ‘AnimalAsh’ behind you. All eyes were on the long whoop run up to the finish line as Greedy threw everything at Taylor crossing the line 3 tenths off the win! Last race of the day had the large crowd lined up along the fencing overlooking the track. Greedy was not to be outdone, he wanted the prize money most and he proved it with another faultless ride to take the win from Taylor who put up a good fight with Talbot getting his second podium ahead of Vincent, Greedy and Steve Bixby and Ben Zeale 6th and 7th.

Results

Auto’s

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	MASON FOREMAN	356	90	90	86	90
2	BLAKE MARK BRACEY	348	86	86	90	86
3	ROY TOWNLEY	324	82	78	82	82
4	SAMUEL MCEVOY	306	78	82	68	78
5	FREDDIE DENNIS	300	74	74	78	74
6	HUGO JACKSON	282	68	70	74	70
7	FRAZER WHITE	264	67	66	70	61
8	LOUIE JARRETT	263	66	67	63	67
9	LEO EDWARDS	259	62	65	67	65
10	GEORGE WHITE	257	65	64	62	66
11	BAILEY CARTWRIGHT	254	64	62	65	63
12	OSCAR MORRIS	251	63	63	61	64
13	REED MOITIE	250	61	61	66	62

Junior 65’s

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	JOHN SLADE	360	90	90	90	90
2	TYLER PEATY	332	86	82	82	82
3	FRANCIS NELLIST	320	70	78	86	86
4	OSCAR BIRD	302	82	86	66	68
5	CALLUM HARPER	293	78	67	70	78
6	RONNIE MORGAN	280	74	74	62	70
7	MASON STADDON	278	68	68	68	74
8	RHYS JONES	276	67	66	78	65
9	THOMAS BAILEY	274	64	70	74	66
10	HARPER POWELL	264	66	64	67	67
11	CHARLIE PARK	254	62	63	65	64
12	REX THORPE	248	63	61	63	61
13	LEWIS HAYWOOD	188	–	62	64	62
14	MARC BONNEFIN	130	65	65	–	–
15	COLE TEAGER	124	–	–	61	63

Small Wheel 85’s

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	JACK BROWN	352	90	90	90	82
2	LEWIS JENKS	344	86	82	86	90
3	AIDEN BURKE	336	82	86	82	86
4	CHARLIE WARD	304	78	78	74	74
5	EDWARD LUKER	273	68	67	68	70
6	ARTHUR POZZOLI	269	70	68	65	66
7	THEO STEAD	266	67	65	66	68
8	SONNY BIXBY	264	66	66	67	65
9	MAX GREENWELL	257	65	64	64	64
10	RUBEN JENKINS	188	62	–	63	63

Big Wheel 85’s

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	RYAN CLIFT	356	90	86	90	90
2	CHRIS BRINDLEY	340	86	90	78	86
3	ALFIE VEVERS	316	78	82	82	74
4	ASHTON SOMERVILLE	308	74	70	86	78
5	FINLAY STEAD	308	90	74	74	70
6	RYLEE MORTIMER	290	86	68	70	66
7	HARLEY QUINN	282	82	67	66	67
8	JAYDEN WILLIAMS	264	67	66	67	64
9	LEWYS MORGAN	258	70	58	65	65
10	MAX BEAUMONT	258	70	63	62	63
11	OAKLEY SKINNER	258	68	65	64	61
12	FREDDY RICHARDS	253	68	60	63	62
13	ETHIN MORGAN	244	66	59	60	59
14	FABIAN-JUNIOR MORRISON	242	82	78	–	82
15	ELLIOTT MASON	241	63	61	57	60
16	FREDDIE RANDELL	238	66	57	58	57
17	IOLO EVENS	237	65	55	59	58
18	DANIEL WARREN	227	62	54	56	55
19	OLIVER LOWE	225	61	53	55	56
20	JACOB LUKER	210	74	–	68	68
21	ISAAC PENGELLY	192	67	64	61	–
22	CHARLIE JAMES	140	78	62	–	–
23	JACK SEBO	120	64	56	–	–

Senior Open

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	HARRY RIDGWAY	360	90	90	90	90
2	ALFIE SMITH	344	86	86	86	86
3	JAMES ROWSELL	324	82	78	82	82
4	CHARLIE GUTTRIDGE	308	78	74	78	78
5	JONAS BROWN	288	74	70	74	70
6	LOUIE HUTCHINS	273	68	68	70	67
7	OSCAR KNIGHTS	267	66	66	67	68
8	JOE BEAUMONT	220	70	82	68	–
9	CHARLIE WOODS	195	65	65	65	–
10	PIRAN GWENNAP	190	64	–	62	64
11	LEWIS BAILEY	140	–	–	66	74
12	KIERAN OAKES	134	67	67	–	–
13	MAX STANDFIELD	130	–	–	64	66
14	NOAH POCOCK NOAH POCOCK	128	–	–	63	65
15	max bailey	124	–	–	61	63

Senior 125

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	HARRY LEE	340	86	82	86	86
2	MAX CORKE	336	74	90	82	90
3	TRAVIS LAUGHTON	332	90	70	90	82
4	KAI THORPE	306	78	86	74	68
5	TOM GOODFELLOW	290	68	74	78	70
6	JAMIE KUEHN	284	70	68	68	78
7	NOEL BROOKS	273	66	66	67	74
8	CONNOR WILLIAMS	270	67	67	70	66
9	WILLIAM BELL	262	65	64	66	67
10	JACK RANNER	251	59	63	64	65
11	HARRY JOHNSON	250	63	61	63	63
12	ASTON OVER	248	62	62	62	62
13	MAX BRICK	243	61	60	61	61
14	DANIEL CHARMAN	239	60	59	60	60
15	GEORGE CORKE	160	82	78	–	–

Vets Over 35

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	LUKE SPENCE	360	90	90	90	90
2	SAM CALLOW	344	86	86	86	86
3	DAIN TRAYLOR	328	82	82	82	82
4	STEVE MARTIN	312	78	78	78	78
5	LEE BAGGS	292	74	70	74	74
6	KRISTIAN GIBBONS	270	67	67	68	68
7	JAMIE EPPLESTONE	263	66	66	65	66
8	JAMES WHITE	257	65	63	64	65
9	SCOTT EATON	247	62	62	61	62
10	IAN JAMES	208	–	68	70	70
11	JASON FISHER	195	64	65	66	–
12	ROY TOWNEY	144	70	74	–	–
13	RYAN ROLAND	134	–	–	67	67
14	GARY JONES	127	63	64	–	–
15	nat walls	125	–	–	62	63
16	BEN CANNINGS	123	60	–	63	–
17	CAI NICKSON	122	61	61	–	–
18	IAN JAMES	68	68	–	–	–
19	jody crawforth	64	–	–	–	64
20	ASHLEY MAIR	59	59	–	–	–

Vets over 45

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	MARK MORRIS	360	90	90	90	90
2	SCOTTY WILLIAMSON	324	82	78	82	82
3	EDDIE CHARMAN	316	78	82	78	78
4	IAN LEGG	296	74	74	74	74
5	PETER MILLER	276	70	70	68	68
6	KEVIN MCCARTHY	265	67	67	66	65
7	RICHARD GREEN	172	86	86	–	–
8	RICHARD GREEN	172	–	–	86	86
9	ANDREW RENO	140	–	–	70	70
10	EDDIE MCCARTHY	136	68	68	–	–
11	richard teager	134	–	–	67	67
12	rob dudman	131	–	–	65	66

MX1

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	JOSH TAYLOR	360	90	90	90	90
2	SION TALBOT	344	86	86	86	86
3	JOSH GREEDY	328	82	82	82	82
4	STEVEN BIXBY	308	78	74	78	78
5	BEN ZEALE	300	74	78	74	74
6	JAKE STRANGE	280	70	70	70	70
7	DANNY MORRIS JR	136	68	68	–	–

MX2

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	ASHLEY GREEDY	360	90	90	90	90
2	LOUIS VINCENT	340	86	82	86	86
3	LEON WILLIAMS	306	68	74	82	82
4	TOMMI DAVIES	282	74	65	78	65
5	BEN WHITE	279	67	68	70	74
6	JAMIE RICHMOND	275	64	67	66	78
7	RICKY CARTER	265	66	62	67	70
8	KIERAN GREGORY	265	65	64	68	68
9	SAM BISHOP	260	63	66	64	67
10	CONNOR JAGO	256	62	63	65	66
11	JORDAN EDWARDS	247	61	60	62	64
12	LIAM JOHNSTON	243	60	59	61	63
13	GREG THYNNE	238	58	58	60	62
14	REAGEN SKINNER	238	78	86	74	–
15	CHARLIE CANNON	230	56	57	56	61
16	BRAD MORGAN	228	54	56	59	59
17	DALE REES	226	55	54	57	60
18	PAUL OHAGAN	218	53	53	54	58
19	MARK MORRIS	214	52	52	53	57
20	JAY PLATT	183	59	61	63	–
21	SHANE CAMPION	170	57	55	58	–
22	SAM WINTERBURN	160	82	78	–	–
23	MATT TOLLELY	140	70	70	–	–
24	jody crawforth	55	–	–	55	–