The May Bank Holiday weekend saw the SJP Moto head to Canada Heights in Kent for the second Dirt Store ACU MXGB British Motocross Championship round. Following the wet opening round at Lyng, the team were looking for a dry event.
Canada Heights saw Josh Vail return to British Championship action and looking to close the points gap at the top of the standings, while he was joined by Harvey Collins who was contesting the first round of the Big Wheel 85cc Championship.
Harvey had been in good form recently at an event at Culham, with several second places and a win before a big crash left him with a groin injury. Harvey then contested the Bridgestone Championship in preparation but was still struggling with the injury and arrived at Canada Heights hoping for a good start to the championship.
Coming into the event, Josh Vail had been in good form after taking the overall at the recent Fastest 40, second round and took the Red Plate and Championship lead before heading to France for the European EMX125 round, where he qualified 11th before the conditions got worse with the heavy rain and Josh took 21st and 16th in the races to secure more points.
The qualifying session at Canada Heights for Josh and the 125cc class was first out on track following the overnight rain. the conditions were tricky and slippery, but Josh managed to put together some fast laps to finish 5th fastest. During the Big Wheel 85cc class, the rain returned for the riders suffered a heavy shower, and at the end of the session, Harvey finished 18th fastest.
The opening Youth125/250 race saw the first race start red-flagged after a rider crashed on the opening lap. In the restart, Josh made a good jump out of the gate but got outpowered by the four-strokes on the uphill start and at the end of the opening lap Josh had moved into fifth place. It wasn’t long before Josh made it into second place and tried to close the gap at the front but had to settle for second.
In Josh’s second race, he made a much better start and took the early race lead and quickly pulled a comfortable lead at the front of the field to take the race win and the overall victory for the day. Josh remains second in the championship standings, just 6 points behind the leader.
In the opening Big Wheel 85cc race, Harvey Collins made a good start but caught up on the second corner and lost several positions before ending the first lap in 15th place. He started moving towards the top 10 until a crash dropped him out of the top 20, and he had to push forward again to finish 17th. In the second race, Harvey made another good start but suffered a crash early in the race and then a small crash later that kept him out of the top 20, finishing 21st for 20th on the day and in the Championship.
The team now heads to Monster Mountain for the next round in two weeks, where the Small Wheel 85cc and 65cc classes will start their Championships.
Away for the British Championship – Team Round-up
Libby Chatburn – Over the last few weeks, Libby has been contesting the AMCA Ladies Championship at Warmingham Lane, where she went 2-2-3-1 for 2nd overall and then followed this up at the second round of the Acerbis Nationals at Hawkstone Park, where she went 2-2-3-2-2 for another 2nd overall finish.
Jayden Haigh – Jayden currently has a Labral tear to his shoulder muscle, but he had his pre-operation appointment for his Hand surgery, so the operation is imminent, and the plan is to rest and rehab the shoulder at the same time.
Jimmy Boxall—The team’s Small Wheel 85cc rider Jimmy Boxall has been concentrating and working hard on and off the track to qualify for the Dirt Store MXGB ACU British Youth Motocross Championship. At the last qualifying round, he was feeling strong and pulled out the gate with two fantastic holeshots. He got third overall at Arncott MX, securing a place to qualify and race at Monster Mountain in the first Youth Small Wheel Championship.
Leo Wilson – Leo recently raced in the second round of the Bridgestone British Masters at Schoolhouse MX. It was a tough weekend with bike issues in qualifying and the first race. In the Races, he battled hard all weekend, finishing 7–4–4-5. His race positions over the weekend should have put him in 4th overall, but with an issue in the first race with Leo’s transponder and the timing system, he was given zero points for race 1. Leo still managed to salvage 8th overall for the weekend. Leo is now training hard for the next few weeks in preparation for the first round of the Dirtstore MXGB ACU British Championship at Monster Mountain.
Words by SJP Moto – Images by Image Rich Media
