Following 24 hours of non-stop rain, the prospects for the penultimate round of the 2020 AMCA British Motocross Championship actually taking place at Long Lane on Sunday appeared very slim!
Report and Images by Mike Wood
However throughout that period, the organising Wrekin MXC were always adamant that the event would definitely go ahead, a very bold statement to make considering the awful weather! To their ultimate credit though, the Club’s judgement proved to be spot on with track conditions totally raceable and the meeting able to be completed so well done to everyone involved. With the event done in this short series powered by Datatag and supported by Dunlop, its Luke Burton (Geartec Honda), Jamie Wainwright (Wainwright Plant and Haulage KTM), Shane Carless (FUS Marsh MX Husqvarna), James Lane (LRT Midwest Husqvarna) and Joel Fisher (MRS/Suomy KTM) leading the charge to the titles.
After the deluge of wet weather, the rain had thankfully ceased in the Telford area before the commencement of Sunday’s proceedings. Yes the going was naturally heavy early on but the sand-type prevailing soil had soaked up the water forming a whole host of ruts and line selection helping to produce some close, exciting racing as the day unfolded. In MX1, having already bagged a maximum at Long Lane earlier in the series, Luke Burton started the day with a classy gate to flag victory in the opening clash. Taking 2nd was a new boy to AMCA competition, James Mackrel from Northern Ireland who got home ahead of Tommy Alba, Neville Bradshaw, Ashley Greedy, Josh Waterman, Scooter Webster and Luke Hawkins. The day did not start too well though for expected front runner James Dodd who found himself a distant last in the early stages, eventually getting home in 16th.
Burton took victory again in moto two, moving up from 4th and passing the hard charging leading trio consisting of another AMCA debutant Luke Hawkins, Neville Bradshaw, racing his big Red CR500 Honda in its final event and Tommy Alba. With Burton taking control on lap five, early pace-setter Hawkins went down to 6th as Bradshaw got home in 2nd despite very close attention from Alba whilst Mackrel struggling with a reoccurring shoulder injury was 4th. On this occasion, Burton’s closest title rivals Greedy and Waterman had to settle for 5th and 7th places respectively.
What a great race the final MX1 moto of the day was to be as Mackrel led for eight laps. In the early exchanges, Hawkins and Greedy were putting the pressure on with Hawkins getting through but all eyes focussed on Burton as he was on a serious charge after gating in 8th. Gradually picking off his rivals, Luke moved into 2nd on the final lap and was just a couple of bike lengths down on winner Hawkins at the flag. So on the podium it was Burton taking the top step joined by Mackrel and Alba earning a richly deserved maiden AMCA podium. In the title chase, Burton leads the way on 553 points from Waterman 509, Greedy 502, Adam Chatfield 471 and Dodd 461.
Although Jamie Wainwright was to suffer his first defeat of the season in MX2, he still took the overall win on the day and thus extend his Championship advantage. Slipping off on the opening lap of moto one, Jamie was quickly back on-board his KTM, only losing a couple of places and dropping down to 7th spot. At the front, both Henry Williams and Ryan Crowder took turns to lead before Williams finally stamped his authority on proceedings. On a charge, Ray Rowson returning from injury then came through to move up into 2nd and insert heavy pressure on Williams in a scrap that raged all the way to the chequered flag. Following his rare, early slip, Wainwright took 3rd from Crowder, Luke Dean, Rory Jones and Jordan Eccles.
Unfortunately in the first attempt to run MX2 moto two, Rowson crashed heavily requiring medical attention, get well soon Ray! In the rerun, Jansen Day grabbed the holeshot before quickly being replaced by Jordan Eccles. Making no mistake on this occasion, Jordan sailed on to nail his first AMCA Championship moto win as Wainwright took 2nd after gating 5th. The super consistent Williams, Crowder, Josh Coleman, Lewis Dowdeswell and Day were next up.
Stretching that throttle wire to the max, Crowder on the 2T KTM grabbed a glorious last MX2 moto holeshot but before the completion of the opening lap that man Wainwright was on his tail. Quickly moving through, Jamie put the hammer down to then glide onto a big win as Crowder followed him home. Williams completed another good day earning 3rd just ahead of the FUS Marsh MX Husqvarna boy’s Eccles and Dowdeswell. That left the MX2 podium featuring some rather familiar faces as Wainwright, Willams and Crowder took home the honours. In the Championship table, Wainwright on 592 points looks on course to retain his title with Crowder 520, Williams 506, Coleman 482, Eccles 450 and Day 440 chasing.
One rider who would certainly not have been fazed by the wet, heavy track at Long Lane is Matt Ridgway. Using all of his top level Enduro experience to the max, Matt posted the fastest 125cc qualifying time and proved to be a major contender when the racing started, eventually taking the overall runners-up spot behind Shane Carless. In 125cc moto one, Matt grabbed the holeshot and led for seven laps before Carless came through for the win. Also in the mix during the opening clash were Travis Steels, Jimmy Margetson, Jonathan Roderick-Evans, Clinton Barrs and Aaron Colley. Indeed that 4th place earned by Championship contender Margetson was particularly impressive after initially gating down in 18th.
After that comeback, Jimmy was quickest away in moto two before being passed on lap one by both Carless and Ridgway. In this one, Steels took 4th from Damon Strydom who had gone out of the opening clash when in 8th place. With Matt Ridgway in 2nd, his brother Jordan was also right on it, taking 9th just behind Barrs, Roderick-Evans and Jordan Wright.
In the final 125cc moto it was Carless all the way from Matt Ridgway, Strydom, Margetson, Steels and Luke Newman. On the Long Lane podium that super maximum man Carless took top slot from Ridgway and Margetson. With that haul of another big 150 Championship points, Shane sits on a nice total of 582 from Margetson 515, Strydom 448 and Steels 435. Having bagged two successive podiums, Ridgway is in 8th and still in with a mathematical chance of earning a final medal position.
So far this campaign, the fast starting Paul Burn has provided the major threat to the dominance of the Lane Brothers in the AMCA Vets contest. But on Sunday, Paul was a non-starter as James and Simon again took the top two positions to thus almost guarantee that they will be earning the gold and silver medals in this class. Electing to ride a 250cc 2T Husqvarna instead of his trusty, big 4T mount, series leader James looked set to start round four with a win by coming through to pass his brother Simon with two laps remaining of moto one. However in a late twist, Simon fought back to retake the lead on the final circuit and with just one turn remaining. Taking 3rd was Kevin Rogers from Anthony Bennett, Brian Staples and Andrew Watkins.
In Vets moto two, the Lane boy’s again swapped positions before James claimed the win after Simon had suffered a late fall. Taking 3rd was Rogers with regular top ten finishers Bennett, Staples, Rich Tudor, Watkins and John Barnes in the mix. Kev Rogers then got the final Vets moto holeshot before being passed by Simon Lane and eventual winner James Lane. Having his best ride of the day, Barnes took a great 3rd in this one just ahead of early leader Rogers. On the podium it was James, Simon and Kev Rogers. That result means James tops the title table on 584 points just 15 ahead of Simon whilst Rogers has now leapfrogged Burn up into 3rd on 477.
Going into Sunday’s event, just 4 points separated Yarin Evans and Joel Fisher at the top of the Youth 85cc standings. In a dramatic moto one though that was to change as Evans found himself in a distant last place on the opening circuit. With a terrific ride though, Yarin got right back up to 4th behind winner Fisher, Lewis Roden and Caleb Greaves with Oakley Kettle, Oliver Rigby and Tyler Smith in the frame.
After that moto one effort, Evans then grabbed the holeshot in both moto’s two and three before Fisher came through for the wins. On each occasion, Roden got home in 3rd and Rigby 4th. On the podium it was Fisher, Evans and Roden who are also the title chasing top three. Going into this weekend’s final and deciding round, Fisher now tops the table 9 points clear of Evans with Roden a further 63 points in arrears.
Results
MX1
Pos Competitor Total Points r 1 r 2 r 3
1 14 Luke Burton 147 50 50 47
2 65 James Mackrel 135 47 43 45
3 681 Tommy Alba 131 45 45 41
4 272 Neville Bradshaw 129 43 47 39
5 33 Ashley Greedy 125 41 41 43
6 8 Luke Hawkins 124 35 39 50
7 19 Josh Waterman 109 39 37 33
8 407 Adam Chatfield 97 31 35 31
9 3 James Dodd 95 25 33 37
10 127 Scooter Webster 94 37 28 29
11 7 Will Hughes 90 30 25 35
12 44 Corie Southwood 89 33 29 27
13 46 Ben Knight 87 27 30 30
14 74 Sean Wainwright 82 28 26 28
15 118 Jaydon Murphy 76 24 27 25
16 77 James Bates 73 23 24 26
17 242 Ben Walker 68 22 23 23
18 48 Rhys Walker 65 21 22 22
19 219 Benjamin Nicholls 60 19 21 20
20 211 Jayden Ashwell 57 26 31 –
21 149 Jack Griffiths 53 16 18 19
22 101 Tye Barrs 53 18 19 16
23 39 Kyle Proctor 52 17 17 18
24 32 Matthew Chaplin 46 15 16 15
25 361 Pip Davies 44 – 20 24
26 47 Rory Merchant 41 20 – 21
27 288 Andrew Pemberton 41 13 14 14
28 547 Harry Greetham 31 14 – 17
29 100 Bradley Tranter 29 29 – –
30 111 Simon Aldridge 27 12 15 –
MX2
Pos Competitor Total Points r 1 r 2 r 3
1 40 James Wainwright 142 45 47 50
2 15 Henry Williams 140 50 45 45
3 146 Ryan Crowder 133 43 43 47
4 331 Jordan Eccles 130 37 50 43
5 661 Josh Coleman 115 35 41 39
6 21 Lewis Dowdeswell 110 30 39 41
7 6 Jansen Day 105 31 37 37
8 231 Rory Jones 105 39 33 33
9 220 Josh Canton 95 29 35 31
10 90 Cory Mcshane 93 27 31 35
11 8 Mark Young 81 33 24 24
12 54 James Smith 80 22 29 29
13 44 Keelan Southwood 80 26 27 27
14 46 Adam Hill 79 21 28 30
15 616 Troy Jones 78 25 25 28
16 130 Aaron Collins 75 23 26 26
17 51 Steffan Hooper 68 20 23 25
18 910 Harvey Tillotson 58 28 30 –
19 2 Ray Rowson 47 47 – –
20 52 Luke Dean 41 41 – –
21 93 Curtis Trimbell 24 24 – –
125’s
Pos Competitor Total Points r 1 r 2 r 3
1 68 Shane Carless 150 50 50 50
2 27 Matt Ridgway 141 47 47 47
3 119 Jimmy Margetson 131 43 45 43
4 22 Travis Steels 129 45 43 41
5 99 Clinton Barrs 108 39 39 30
6 101 Jonathan Roderick-Evans 107 41 37 29
7 33 Jordan Wright 105 33 35 37
8 117 Jordan Ridgway 103 35 33 35
9 7 Luke Newman 98 29 30 39
10 68* Nathan Bache 95 31 31 33
11 101* Luke Kennett 87 27 29 31
12 55 Damon Strydom 86 – 41 45
13 546 Max Lewis 81 30 25 26
14 111 Richy Roberts 80 26 27 27
15 90 Callum Baldwin 77 28 21 28
16 999 Conner Challinor 75 22 28 25
17 186 Olly Hathaway 71 24 24 23
18 277 Harry Ridgway 67 25 18 24
19 15 Joshua Fletcher-Williams 65 20 23 22
20 814 Jordan Meredith 63 21 22 20
21 502 Aaron Colley 63 37 26 –
22 122 Morgan Walters 56 15 20 21
23 40 Ezra Blackwell 54 19 16 19
24 283 Jack Jordan 53 18 17 18
25 75 Mitchell Hartill 47 17 15 15
26 16 Jake O Gorman 39 23 – 16
27 810 Oliver Barnes 36 – 19 17
28 853 Reece Leverton 16 16 – –
Vets
Pos Competitor Total Points r 1 r 2 r 3
1 781 James Lane 147 47 50 50
2 73 Simon Lane 144 50 47 47
3 144 Kevin Rogers 133 45 45 43
4 4 Anthony Bennett 125 43 43 39
5 22 Brian Staples 119 41 41 37
6 212 Andrew Watkins 117 39 37 41
7 38 Richard Tudor 109 35 39 35
8 3 Colin Conduit 99 33 33 33
9 14 Ryan Thomas 99 37 31 31
10 107 John Barnes 98 18 35 45
11 271 John Heath 90 31 29 30
12 167* Matthew Evans 89 30 30 29
13 125 Nigel Travis 84 29 28 27
14 888 Steve Ferney 82 27 27 28
15 711 Ian Jesson 80 28 26 26
16 45 Karl Kavanagh 74 26 25 23
17 268 Steven Gallagher 72 23 24 25
18 91 Graham Baddiley 72 25 23 24
19 531 Russell Hurst 64 20 22 22
20 167 David Bullock 61 19 21 21
21 135 Gary Hurst 44 24 20 –
22 74 John Harper 41 22 19 –
23 119 Russell Hartill 21 21 – –
Youth 85/150
Pos Competitor Total Points r 1 r 2 r 3
1 711 Joel Fisher 150 50 50 50
2 2 Yarin Evans 137 43 47 47
3 69 Lewis Roden 137 47 45 45
4 2* Oliver Rigby 125 39 43 43
5 907 Caleb Greaves 125 45 39 41
6 18 tyler smith 115 37 41 37
7 212 Harry Beach 103 31 37 35
8 22 Harley Prickett 92 29 35 28
9 830 Logan Jay Powell 91 22 30 39
10 22* Rheanna Morgan-Rogers 89 25 31 33
11 16 Cameron Chell 88 35 27 26
12 25 Harry Bebb 86 27 28 31
13 79 Wyatt McGregor 84 26 33 25
14 6 Solomon Levey 79 24 25 30
15 9 Oakley Kettle 79 41 20 18
16 121 Alfie Bebb 78 28 26 24
17 167 Jack Evans 76 33 24 19
18 52 Cameron Woodburn 75 30 22 23
19 295 Jonas Brown 74 23 29 22
20 129 Rylee Francis 71 21 23 27
21 35 Caiden Bailie 68 20 19 29
22 117 Tremaine Young 51 18 18 15
23 12 George Bromley 50 16 17 17
24 601 casey kennett 49 17 16 16
25 127 Lewis Cooper 48 19 15 14
26 50 Amber McGregor 42 – 21 21
27 51 Harley Kendrick jones 20 – – 20
28 14 George Clark 14 – 14 –
