Walterstone Warriors! 2023 Nora MX Quad and Sidecarcross Championship Round 7 – Race Report & Results

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The NORA MX Club hosted the seventh round of the NORA MX championships of 2023 at Walterstone MX Park in Hereford, just on the English side of the Wales border. It was part of another fantastic event which incorporated the fifth round of the NORA sidecar Championship.

Report and Images by Tracy Thacker

The track was a new experience for most riders, but absolutely brilliant and almost completely natural (apart for a jump or two), stretching across a sloping field with long sweeping bends and plenty of width for passing.

Unfortunately, the weather was unpredictable. There were showers forecast which should have kept the dust down, but the sun was bright and the wind breezy which dried the track out and left it dry and dusty and needed watering in places. When the rain did arrive, it wasn’t showers, it was thunder and lightning, then the skies opened with several downpours which made the track slippery. Whilst the bikes did get round, racing each other was more difficult, after the third massive down pour there was a riders meeting and a vote, which led to the decision to stop racing after two races each.

The sidecar supporters were in for a treat with two GP teams present, Jake Brown with Josh Chamberlain, and Dan Foden with stand in passenger Lewis Grey. They raced with the Nora Championship crews but didn’t qualify for championship points.

Race one got underway with an early lead for Tony and Scott Grahame with Lee Foyle and Dan Phelps second. They stayed ahead until Jake Brown and Josh Chamberlain blasted past to move into the lead. Tony and Scott Grahame held second, with Dan Foden and Lewis Grey fighting through to third. Lee Foyle and Dan Phelps held fourth, and behind Ashley Williams and Jon Hunt moved ahead of Jack Roger and Ryan Beavis.

In race two Tony and Scott Grahame took an initial lead, but Dan Foden and Lewis Grey were determined and moved ahead to take the lead with Jake Brown and Josh Chamberlain tucking into second and pushing hard to take the lead, but they were distracted by a massive downpour which left the track so slippery the bikes were going backwards, sidewards, but going forward was a struggle. Jake Brown and Josh Chamberlain weren’t racing for points and made the sensible decision to return to the pits. Dan Foden and Lewis Grey kept the lead and were putting on a great corner drifting spectacle for the very wet crowd. Lee Foyle and Dan Phelps seemed to get grip from somewhere and moved into second, Jack Roger and Ryan Beavis held third with Tony and Scott Grahame just behind. Enduro experience helped the next few teams with Paul Pelling and Mike Curnow taking fifth, just ahead of Luke Peters and Thomas Mackay.

Tony and Scott Grahame had gained enough points at the last round to move into the championship lead, held their advantage and are now leading Lee Foyle and Dan Phelps by just eight points, the battle goes to the final round.

In the Pro / Pro-am class, Simon Hammersley took and early lead in Race one, but behind Dafydd Davies was pushing hard and blasted ahead going into lap two, Harry Walker fought through to tuck into third with Jamie Morgan just behind, but Chad Beevers was on top form and fought through and took fourth.

In race two the track was very wet after a downpour during the previous race, and only ten riders made it to the line. It was Dafydd Davies who took an early advantage, but with the sploshy mud running in a river down the track, the riders were hardly recognisable. Simon Hammersley held second with Jamie Morgan behind, but he went missing, leaving Tom Day in third, ahead of Marcus Sprason and Craig Fisher.

The Masters A and B class had two races, and all in the dry. In race one it was a battle between Johnathan Mcknight and Paul Winrow, they stayed very close throughout with Paul Winrow holding the advantage and took his first win of the day. Greg Fisher held third from Chris Keitch, with Jason Wildman taking fifth.

In race two it was Paul Winrow who led from the start with Jason Wildman behind, Johnathan Mcknight fought past to take second but with Jason missing on the next lap, Greg Fisher took third with Chris Keitch fourth.

In the Masters B class James Lees battled all day with Jason Hall, just managing to hold the overall win by two points.

In the Clubman Elite and Clubman classes there were some great battles with Aled Davies taking two brilliant wins. In race one Josh McKnight pushed through to take second, and in race two Catrin Davies had a brilliant start holding a great second throughout, this was enough to give her second overall on the day, with Lewis Humphris finishing two consistent races and taking third overall.

In the 150 / 250 races it was Frank Marston who took overall win in the 250 open class, taking the win in one race with Louie Holt close behind. Louie Holt won the second race and took second overall on equal points. Seth Terrell had a couple of great wins in the 250 Air cooled class with Jay Sams taking second overall. Brodie North did a great job to win the 150 Open class.

In the Intermediates Charlie Eaton had a great weekend and was awarded with two wins, although Josh Morris did win race one but was disqualified. Brooke Bunce was again on top form and won the ladies class.

Finally, the 50 / 100 class was well supported Kayla George took two hard fought for wins in the 100 Autos after battles all day with Owain Lewis who led each race after some brilliant starts. Beatrix Drinkwater took the overall win in the 100 Geared class, and Macson Lorton had a consistent day to take the overall in the 50s class.

We look forward to round eight on Aug 6th – Little Silver – EX6 8BB with the final sidecar round on Oct 1st – Culham – OX14 3DA.

Results

Sidecars

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2
1	Lee Foyle/ Daniel Phelps	77	37	40
2	Tony Graemme/ Scott Graeme	75	40	35
3	Jack Roger/ Ryan Beavis	70	33	37
4	Paul Pelling/ Mike Curnow	62	29	33
5	Ashley Williams/ Jon Hunt	60	35	25
6	Thomas Mackay/ Luke Peters	59	28	31
7	Taylor Whitt/ Jake Grahame	56	27	29
8	Luke Banks/ Daniel Spencer	53	25	28
9	Richard Gillham/ Miles Gillham	53	26	27
10	Olly Peters/ Elliot Brown	48	24	24
11	Sam Osbaldoston/ Harley Lloyd	31	31	–
12	Toby Mann/ Neil Burke	26	–	26
13	Neil Warrington/ Cameron Winfield	23	23	–
14	Brian Turner/ Kelly Higgins	22	22	–

Quads

Pro

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2
1	Dafydd Davies	80	40	40
2	Simon Hammersley	74	37	37
3	Chad Beevers U21	66	33	33
4	Tom Day	63	28	35
5	Jamie Morgan	62	31	31
6	Harry Walker	35	35	–
7	Jack Naylor	29	29	–
8	Zak Orchard (U21)	27	27	–
9	James Bevan	26	26	–
10	Paul Winrow	25	25	–

Pro Am

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2
1	Marcus Sprason U21	80	40	40
2	Dylan Mckenna U21	70	35	35
3	Craig Fisher	68	31	37
4	Zak Beevers U21	68	37	31
5	Scott Berlyn U21	66	33	33
6	Ryan Walters (Rookie)	29	29	–

Masters A

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2
1	Paul Winrow	80	40	40
2	Johnathan Mcknight	74	37	37
3	Greg Fisher	70	35	35
4	Chris Keitch	66	33	33
5	Keith Harden	60	29	31
6	Geoff Otway	56	28	28
7	Darren Bridge	52	26	26
8	Gary Jones	52	27	25
9	Richard Clark	51	22	29
10	Paul McConway	51	24	27
11	Jason Wildman	50	31	19
12	Aaron Herbert	49	25	24
13	David Hull	44	23	21
14	Matthew Kirk	43	20	23
15	John Hall	43	21	22
16	Clint Eagle	20	–	20

Masters B

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2
1	James Lees	77	37	40
2	Jason Hall	75	40	35
3	Gareth Walters	72	35	37
4	Rob Summers	62	29	33
5	Danny Gilligan	62	31	31
6	Mark Moseley (V)	61	33	28
7	Christopher Gyles (V)	57	28	29
8	Simon Prichard	54	27	27
9	Karl Pilcher	52	26	26
10	Russ Wells	49	24	25
11	Phillip Hammersley (V)	25	25	–
12	Rick Jones (V)	23	23	–
13	Nik Blythe(V)	22	22	–

Clubman Elite

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2
1	Aled Davies	80	40	40
2	Catrin Davies	68	31	37
3	Lewis Humphris	68	33	35
4	Harry Koller	68	35	33
5	Josh McKnight	66	37	29
6	Harry Grant	59	28	31
7	Iestyn Rees	56	29	27
8	Dan Shellard	55	27	28
9	Luke Brown	51	25	26
10	Alfie Pennington	51	26	25
11	Jack Evans	47	23	24
12	Ryan Hickman	24	24	–

Clubman

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2
1	Charlie Wheatley	77	40	37
2	Elliot Downes	75	35	40
3	Charlie Enticknap	72	37	35
4	Sam Bevan	64	31	33
5	Iwan Jones	60	29	31
6	Zac Hull	60	33	27
7	Lance Hand	57	28	29
8	Tom Miller	55	27	28
9	Bleddyn Jones	52	26	26
10	James Walker	49	24	25
11	Kieren Johnson	25	25	–

Intermediates

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2
1	Charlie Eaton	80	40	40
2	Ethan Williams	68	35	33
3	Christian Brandon	64	33	31
4	Harry Terrell	60	37	23
5	Gary Piper	58	31	27
6	Liam Davies	57	22	35
7	Ewan Packman	57	28	29
8	James Scott	57	29	28
9	Bailey Stoker	51	25	26
10	Hayden Stanton	49	24	25
11	Richard Murphy	47	23	24
12	Josh Morris	37	–	37
13	Bradley Stanton	27	27	–
14	Paul Needham	26	26	–

Intermediates

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2
1	Brooke Bunce (L)	80	40	40
2	Chloe Keitch (L)	74	37	37
3	Amelia Mead (L)	68	33	35
4	Vasna Wilcock	66	35	31
5	Carly Sewell (L)	64	31	33
6	Grace Keitch	58	29	29
7	Amy Naylor (L)	56	28	28

250 Open

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2
1	Frank Marston (O)	77	37	40
2	Louie Holt (O)	77	40	37
3	Connor Yates (O)	66	31	35
4	Reggie Binskin (O)	64	33	31
5	Lara Logan (O)	62	29	33
6	Ellie Stott (O)	35	35	–

250 Air Cooled

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2
1	Seth Terrell (A)	80	40	40
2	Jay Sams (A)	74	37	37
3	Shane Havard Evans (A)	70	35	35
4	Samuel-James Tatler (A)	64	33	31
5	Georgia Binskin (A)	62	29	33
6	Ella Walters (A)	60	31	29
7	Osian Phillips	56	28	28
8	Josh Smart (A)	53	26	27
9	Mili Rees	53	27	26
10	Abbie Eaton (A)	50	25	25
11	Lennie Bevan	24	24	–

150 Open

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2
1	Brodie North	80	40	40
2	Amelia Talent	72	37	35
3	Seth Balaam	70	33	37
4	Malachy McKenna	68	35	33
5	Luca Shaw	62	31	31
6	Ethan Legg	57	28	29
7	Keian Willis	57	29	28

100cc Auto

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2
1	Kayla George (A)	80	40	40
2	Owain Lewis (A)	74	37	37
3	Bentley Don Garrett (A)	70	35	35
4	Dexter Griffin (A)	66	33	33
5	Keyano Jones	59	31	28
6	Jac Davies	56	25	31
7	Peggy-anne Hammersley	56	29	27
8	Louie Garrett (A)	55	26	29
9	Archie Hammersley	54	28	26
10	Poppy Hammersley	52	27	25
11	Danny Harper (A)	48	24	24
12	Sion Jones (A)	45	22	23
13	Poppy Davies (A)	45	23	22
14	Cameron Lees (A)	21	–	21

1oocc Geared

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2
1	Beatrix Drinkwater (G)	77	37	40
2	Shay McKenna (G)	75	40	35
3	Beau Terrell (G)	72	35	37

50cc

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2
1	Macson Lorton (50)	75	35	40
2	Erin Mansell (50)	74	37	37
3	Tyler Willcock bLU cRU(50)	66	33	33
4	Jayden Garrett (50)	66	40	26
5	Gracie-Anne Blythe (50)	63	28	35
6	Harry Barker bLU cRU(50)	62	31	31
7	Hugo Griffin bLU cRU(50)	58	29	29
8	Hunter Griffin bLU cRU(50)	55	27	28
9	Oliver Willsher bLU cRU(50)	53	26	27
10	Jack Needham (50)	50	25	25