This weekend the SJP Moto team headed to the seaside venue of Whitby for the next round of the Revo ACU British Motocross Championship fuelled by Gulf Race Fuels. The hard-pack venue was another of the local rounds for the team, who were looking for strong results from its riders Charlie Heyman and Josh Vail in the 125cc and Big Wheel 85cc classes.
Images courtesy of Image Rich Media
After weeks of hot and dry weather, the temperature had dropped for this weekend and saw rain showers happen across the Saturday.
In the morning Qualifying session, Charlie Heyman once again claimed Pole Position in the combined 125cc and 250cc class, by 0.2 seconds over the first 250cc rider. Josh once again rode a solid qualifying session to finish in 4th fastest, giving them both strong gate positions for the races.
In the 125cc class, Charlie had two races on Saturday and in the opening moto, Charlie started inside the top 5 but quickly moved into the lead on the opening lap and rode a great race to claim the victory by over 11 seconds.
In his second 125cc race of the day, Charlie had another great race to take a start to-finish victory, this time by over 12 seconds. Charlie was leading the overall by the end of Saturday night, with two more races on Sunday.
In the Big Wheel 85cc class, Josh Vail had a good start in the opening Moto and battled with the leading riders for the duration of the race as he crossed the finish line in third place.
The second Moto of the Saturday would see Josh improve on his first Moto result after getting a better start and charging at the front of the field as he went on to claim a solid second place finish.
Josh’s final Moto of the Saturday would once again see him claim a solid start and battle at the front of the pack, on route to claiming second at the finish and was sitting second overall going into the final race on Sunday.
Overnight rain on Saturday night left the Whitby track extremely muddy and tricky for the remaining races on Sunday. In the first of the two 125cc races, Heyman took a strong start and the early race lead on the second lap. After extending his lead at the front of the field he was forced to lose his goggles and made a quick stop to get new goggles and returned on track to claim victory by over 30 seconds.
The final race of the weekend saw the conditions improve slightly and after starting inside the top 5 Heyman once again moved into the lead on the opening laps and rode a steady race to claim the victory and clean sweep for the weekend.
In the final Big Wheel 85cc race, Josh made a top 5 start but on the second lap, he had quickly moved into second and was looking to push forward. As the race continued Josh settled for the second position and second overall on the weekend.
Leighton Haigh – Team Manager – This weekend has been another great weekend for the team at Whitby. The track conditions over the two days were very different following the overnight rain on Saturday which left the track very wet and muddy for Sunday. Josh continued his good form of recent weeks and rode consistently all weekend to bring it home in second overall and on the podium once again. Charlie was a cut above the rest in the 125 class taking four wins out of four and never put a wheel wrong.
Away from Whitby, both Reece Jones and Archie Jay Girdham have returned to riding in recent days and will be assessing their progress before planning their return to racing, while Jayden Haigh continues to work on his recovery both on and off the bike.
