Weekends are made for Wheeldon! 2024 EXGB British Indoor EX Championship Round 1 – Race Report

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EXGB rolled into the Wheeldon Off-Road Centre in Devon at the end of February for round 1 of their 2024 EXGB British Indoor EX Championship.

Report by EXGB – Images courtesy of @rox_shotx

As always the track was in prime condition, and even though the weather wasn’t too great outside the on track action inside in the Arena was enough to warm the cockles of anyone.

In a stacked Oset 12.5 class the battle for the number one spot was between Tommy Ashmore and Presley Purchase but with 4 race wins to 2 the Round 1 victory would go the way of Tommy with Presley in second.

Rounding out the top three after some great battles was Reuben Scrivens who made an impressive debut in this class, edging out Bear Todd who had some superb races finishing fourth.

Eden Davies was consistent throughout the weekend and finished just one point down from Bear in fifth. Walter Shingler Hulme had a cracking second race on Saturday and would end the weekend with P6, while Harry Corps and Vinnie Legg duked it out with some superb riding for seventh and eighth. Teddy Roberts joined the party on Sunday and improved as the day went on for ninth.

Last year’s EXGP Oset 12.5 champion Oakley Jones was on fire in the Mini E class, winning all of his heat races and the finals on both days to triumph in Round 1. Stanley Scott showed he could ride any bike; after notching up countless victories on a Revvi, he made sure that Oakley couldn’t knock off the gas and onboard his Oset MX10. He finished second overall after two runner-up results in the finals.

Grayson-Blake Martin was super fast on his Mini E debut and came away with third overall with double P3’s in the finals. Albie Dallas put in a great shift and rode a stormer to hammer home two fourths for fourth overall, with Nancy Good picking herself up from a big crash on Sunday to push her bike over the line and claim fifth over the weekend. Parker Herbert showed good pace to end the Round with sixth, making it through to both A Finals.

Acey Topliss on the new KTM E2 battled hard to finish seventh with a good pair of A Final results, while Aliya John Westwick edged into eighth by making it to Sunday’s A Final with some great heat races.

Louis Good had a superb Saturday making it into the top 8, but had a tougher Sunday but rode well for ninth on the weekend, Cooper Dunstan with a B Final win and a second would claim a nice tenth, Charlie Needs who take the chequers in Sunday’s B Final would finish the round in eleventh.

Nina Davis had some super rides and took twelfth, Zara Jackson continued to smile and ride well for thirteenth, Ruby Keenan, on her trick-looking Husqvarna E2, claimed fourteenth, and Louie Smith powered to a good fifteenth.

The Auto E3 class threw up plenty of drama with some action-packed racing throughout the field. The number one spot would go the way of Harley Patel though, with four wins from the six races, battling through the pack in the final race on Sunday to pip Kaylum Clark at the post. Kaylum showed fantastic speed all weekend long and was rewarded for this pace with two race wins and second overall. With the speed of the bikes all set the same to make it an even playing field all of the seven riders were in the mix at some point or another and coming through these epic tussles with enough points to claim third was Hunter Dunstan who chalked up two seconds on Saturday with some great riding. Louie Bryant showed great style to round out his weekend with a superb fourth overall.

Oliver Harrington gave his family plenty to cheer about in the final race on Saturday, where he led the race until the final lap with three riders snapping at his heels he kept his cool until he crashed out on the home straight. Oliver would end the weekend with fifth overall. Jonah Barks was right in the mix finishing sixth just four points off of Louie in fourth. Harri Fisher picked himself up from a nasty crash but finished every race and had some super tussles, taking seventh for the weekend.

2023 EXGP Auto E5 Champion Kolbe Red Sole is going all out to complete the set of titles by winning the Indoor EX Championship, and he did it by getting off to the best possible start with victory in Saturday’s final and second on Sunday behind the impressive Raife Western who had nerves of steel to hold off Kolbe who was on his back wheel the whole race long. So it was Kolbe with the overall win, Raife was second with hard charging Channel Islander Joel Leonard in third after finishing a great second in Saturday’s final.

Arthur Hitchcock pitched in with two super final results to take fourth overall for the round ahead of 2023 Mini E champion Ethan Kentch who rode well all weekend long. In sixth was Mr Entertainment Jake Leonard who made some cracking starts and was always in the mix with his all action style.

Archie Gomes would end the round with a fantastic seventh, winning Sunday’s B Final for good measure, Rupert Foden rode well for a great eighth overall and Blake Benson made an awesome E5 debut with a B Final win on Saturday and ninth overall. Ortus Simons had an awesome two days and finished tenth, Darcie Crane looked good on her E5 debut in twelfth, fresh from Arenacross in Wembley on Saturday night George Hutchings would finish third in Sunday’s A Final in typical all action George style for thirteenth overall while Teddy Franklin battled hard and rode well for fourteenth.

As always, we would like to thank Andrew and the team at the Wheeldon Off-Road Centre for welcoming us to their fantastic venue and, of course, our super team for all of their hard work over the weekend. Well done to all of our racers for all of their great efforts over the weekend.

The second and final round takes place at Wheeldon on the 11th and 12th May. For more info go to >> https://www.exgb.co.uk/