This weekend the Chambers Racing team headed to Hawkstone Park for the penultimate round of the Michelin MX National Championship.
Report by Image Rich Media – Images courtesy of Elliott Spencer and Mark Lee-Sing
In the lead-up, to the event, the famous Hawkstone Park circuit had received a few changes to the layout with several jumps being changed to give the track a new feel. Coming into the event Tom Grimshaw continued to lead the Pro MX2 championship and was looking to extend the lead ahead of the final round.
The track had been well watered in preparation for the racing and in the qualifying session, the riders quickly got a feel for the new features. In the Pro MX2 class, Tom Grimshaw went 4th fastest with Alfie Jones 9th and Ben Franklin 12th, while in the Pro MX1 class Glenn McCormick went 12th fastest. In the MXY2 class, Harvey Cashmore went 6th fastest.
When the gate dropped for the opening Fastest 40 race, there was a lot of drama on the opening lap that saw Grimshaw collide with another rider and remount at the back of the field. Alfie quickly started the move forward after going down on the start and got into the top 6 when his rear shock collapsed and forced him out of the race. After recovering from his early race crash, Tom suffered heartbreak as the bike developed a problem and stopped causing a DNF. Meanwhile, Ben Franklin moved forward to claim a solid 7th place finish while Glenn McCormick finished the moto in 11th place after coming back from a crash on the first lap.
After the troublesome opening race, the team were hoping for better results in the second moto. Unfortunately, Alfie suffered a problem with his spare bike and was forced to pull out of the race before it started. When the gate dropped Glenn was just outside the top 10 and Ben Franklin was one of the leading MX2 riders. Grimshaw again suffered a first-lap crash and had to push hard all race long to recover to finish in 6th place at the finish ahead of teammate Franklin who rode a solid race to finish 7th. In the MX1 class, McCormick finished the moto in 12th place.
Following the motos, Ben Franklin finished the weekend 6th overall, while Tom Grimshaw finished 10th overall with one point scoring result. As a result, Grimshaw lost the championship lead and now sits in second place in the championship and trails the lead by 10 points going into the final round. In the MX1 class, Glenn McCormick finished 13th overall.
Over the weekend Harvey Cashmore was competing in the MXY2 class and after qualifying in 6th fastest, Harvey went on to claim 6th place in the opening moto. Harvey then followed this up with 8th place in the second moto of the Saturday. On Sunday morning Harvey started the day with a 7th place finish and then went on to take his best result of the weekend with a 5th place in the final moto. Harvey finished the weekend with 7th overall and 6th in the championship standings.
Glenn McCormick – Hawkstone was not the day I was hoping for, in qualifying I never really got a clear lap in and ended up 12th which I was annoyed with, but I tried to put it behind me. In the first race I made a good start but on the first lap I hit a fallen rider and was stuck under the bike so was a long way back and finished down in 11th. I tried to give it everything in the second race and got a good start but struggled all race and only managed to finish in 12th which I am disappointed in as I’ve been struggling the last few weeks and will be working hard to finish the season off strong.
Tom Grimshaw – It has been a really bad day, to be honest. I had a coming together with another rider in the first few laps of the opening race, but I was putting in a good charge when the bike, unfortunately, stopped on me and we DNF’d the race. Then in the second race, I got a good start, but I left the door open in a corner on the first lap and got taken down so came from the back to finish 6th. It’s not been a great day as I lost the championship lead and now sit 10 points down going into the last round, but we will see what happens.
Ben Franklin – This weekend was ok, but my qualifying was not the best and is something to work on now. In the first race I ended up going 7th in MX2 and then in the second race I had a better start and was in 3rd or 4th but had a small crash in the opening laps and managed to finish the race in 7th for 6th overall which is ok, but it is going to be a long process of getting back to where I want to be.
Alfie Jones – The weekend started off good for me after going 9th in qualifying. In race one I had a coming together at the start and made my way back up to 6th, but bike problems ended my race and day early as I could not line up for race 2.
Harvey Cashmore – It was a good weekend, but I did not have the best of starts this weekend which made it hard for me. In the first race, I had a 6th which was good then the second race had a small crash with another rider so came from last to 8th. Then the third race had a bad start but pulled through to 6th and the last race had another bad start but pulled through to 5th which was good, but I just need to work on the starts.
