Wildcard Hammal shares the Blaxhall spoils with Grimshaw – 2024 ACU Eastern Centre Motocross Championship Round 2 – Report, Highlights and Results

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On Sunday the 14th of April, the Woodbridge & DMCC hosted round 2 of the ACU eastern centre motocross championship, sponsored by Stebbings Car Superstore and the Norton Way Group. A stacked Expert rider list, mixed with the bright Suffolk sunshine, had all the makings of a classic days racing Infront of a bumper crowd at Blaxhall.

Race Report by Stefan Hicks – Images and Highlights edit by Max Leveridge – Narna Media

The mornings qualifying session for the Experts threw up no real surprises as Tom Grimshaw (Apico Honda) led the way from Sam Nunn (John Banks Honda) and Max Broadbelt making his first appearance in the Eastern Centre this season.

In race 1 of the Expert class, the spectators were treated with a contender for ‘race of the season’, as Nunn and Grimshaw traded blows at the front of the pack from the first lap to the last. With these two only split by one single point in the championship after round 1, both were keen to send a message to one another and it was Nunn that made the move stick on the last few laps to take the race win. Grimshaw had to settle for second, while Lewis Tombs carried on his good start to the season with third place. Wildcard Taylor Hammal (Tru7 Honda 250) battled to the finish line for fourth place while his team-mate, Suffolk’s Jake Nicholls unfortunately had mechanical issues meaning he didn’t finish the race.

Race 2 in the Experts was once again great viewing, as Luke Parker (MPM Kawasaki) pulled the holeshot, but was unable to hold off the Crendon Fastrack Tru7 Honda team-mates of Nicholls and Hammal, who both stormed to the front early on. With team boss Dave Thorpe watching on, these two went bar-to-bar in the fight for the race 2 honours. Sam Nunn made a costly error on the opening lap, falling out of the top 5 and by the time he retrieved his bike from the middle of the track, found himself in dead last with a lot of work to do. He did a fantastic job, by clawing his way back to finish in 10th. Home-town hero Jake Nicholls, however, gave what his fans craved for as he held off Hammal to take the race 2 win ahead of his team-mate. Grimshaw came home third and Luke Parker was fourth.

The 3rd and final Expert Race Max Broadbelt powered his Honda to an early lead. Nunn was pressuring behind in second and would’ve had the best seat in the house to watch Broadbelt make a heroic save when it looked like he was all but certainly going down. Nunn’s pressure was rewarded as he took the lead and never looked back, securing his second win of the day. Hammal once again, battled through the top 5 and finished second, holding off Grimshaw and Nicholls, while in fifth was wildcard Dan Thornhill who had a solid last race of the day.

Taylor Hammal took 1st overall in the Experts, joint on 62 points for the afternoon with Tom Grimshaw taking 2nd. Sam Nunn was a point further back in 3rd but will be happy with the speed he showed all day long.

In the Junior Championship class (Support A), it was Chester Hyde that dominated the day with three race wins to take the top step on the podium. Aaron Framingham took second overall with a 3-2-2 for his afternoon of results, and finally in third was Matthew Pope, as he rode consistently well for results of 4-3-4.

The Support B class honours were taken by Scott Claydon with a 2nd place, sandwiched between 2 race wins for the overall. Will Jurgens was second overall with a 2-1-2 and John Hilton third with a trio of 3rd place finishes.

#57 Chester-Hyde battles with #428 Teddy Howard

Support C class was won by Shawn Graham with a 3-1-1 ahead of Finlay Woods in second with results of 5-2-3, and finally Henry Crawford in third with a 4-3-4 finish.

The Support D class was won by Luke Reeve with results of 5-1-1. Second overall was Ben Carey, level on points with Reeve but with results of 2-2-3. Finally in third was Trevor Buckley with a 3-4-4.

The next event at Blaxhall is the fourth round of the Dirt Store ACU British Motocross Championship on Sunday 23rd June.

Results

Experts

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Taylor Hammal	62	18	22	22
2	Tom Grimshaw	62	22	20	20
3	Sam Nunn	61	25	11	25
4	Jake Nicholls	43	–	25	18
5	Luke Parker	43	16	18	9
6	Shaun Southgate	40	13	12	15
7	Lewis Tombs	40	20	8	12
8	Ben Mustoe	38	12	13	13
9	Declan Whittle	37	10	16	11
10	Bayliss Utting	35	11	10	14
11	Luke Benstead	32	15	7	10
12	Max Broadbelt	29	14	15	–
13	Daniel Thornhill	25	–	9	16
14	Callum Green	22	–	14	8
15	Jake Rackham	19	8	4	7
16	Tyla Hooley	16	5	6	5
17	Aston Bird	16	7	5	4
18	Thomas Murphy	12	9	–	3
19	Joseph Leeks	9	6	3	–
20	Liam Bennett	8	–	2	6
21	Brad Woodroffe	6	4	–	2
22	Shane Lock	4	3	–	1
23	Callum McCaul	2	2	–	–
24	William Farrow	1	–	1	–
25	Kieran Clarke	1	1	–	–

Juniors

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Chester Hyde	75	25	25	25
2	Aaron Framingham	64	20	22	22
3	Matthew Pope	56	18	20	18
4	Timothy Warnes	54	16	18	20
5	Jordan Andrews	44	15	14	15
6	Harry George	40	22	2	16
7	George Foames	39	10	15	14
8	James Rowsell	33	13	8	12
9	Kai Brown	30	11	13	6
10	John Hinz	30	14	16	–
11	Noah Wathen	22	3	11	8
12	Teddy Howard	21	12	9	–
13	Gareth Lane	20	4	6	10
14	Jae Jeffries	19	2	4	13
15	Joe Phillips	19	–	10	9
16	Shane Brown	18	9	5	4
17	Teddy Hyde	17	5	12	–
18	Mason Miller	11	–	–	11
19	Oliver Gaut	9	–	7	2
20	Barnaby Knight	8	1	–	7
21	Charlie Roper	8	8	–	–
22	Lee Butson	7	7	–	–
23	Mark Hunt	6	–	1	5
24	Sam Rogers	6	6	–	–
25	Jamie Cox	4	–	3	1
26	Jack Whitlam	3	–	–	3

Support B

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Scott Claydon	133	45	43	45
2	Will Jurgens	131	43	45	43
3	John Hilton	123	41	41	41
4	Joshua Deadman	115	39	39	37
5	Vinnie Snell	101	29	33	39
6	Charlie Baker	101	33	34	34
7	Cole Taylor	95	28	32	35
8	Aaron Smith	88	26	29	33
9	Cameron Parrish	88	37	30	21
10	Ben Last	83	34	22	27
11	Kieran Jessett	76	18	26	32
12	Alfie Self	76	25	25	26
13	Paul Hubbard	74	27	24	23
14	Robert Bond	70	31	14	25
15	Mark Goodson	70	35	35	–
16	Ethan Hayward	69	24	21	24
17	Robbie Pearmain	68	–	37	31
18	Alex Truslow	66	6	31	29
19	Brad Watts	62	21	11	30
20	Taylor Saunders	62	23	17	22
21	Aaron Saunders	62	20	27	15
22	George Ray	52	19	20	13
23	Harry Sobkowiak	50	22	–	28
24	Joseph Henthorn	49	17	15	17
25	Max Hale	46	12	16	18
26	Edward Pegram	45	13	12	20
27	James Gadd	45	7	19	19
28	Alexander Dutton	39	10	18	11
29	Daniel Cole	39	16	23	–
30	Aidan Weston	37	8	13	16
31	Henry Cox	32	32	–	–
32	Joshua Andrews	30	30	–	–
33	Lee Kirkpatrick	28	–	28	–
34	Lewis Saunders	27	4	9	14
35	Ty Atkins	27	5	10	12
36	Zack Carter	22	15	7	–
37	Sebastian Millbank	17	9	8	–
38	Noah Waterfield	14	14	–	–
39	Paul Aldridge	11	11	–	–
40	Ryan Whitehead	3	3	–	–

Support C

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Shawn Graham	131	41	45	45
2	Finlay Woods	121	37	43	41
3	Henry Crawford	119	39	41	39
4	Cory Smith	112	43	34	35
5	Aaron Minter	104	45	16	43
6	Lee Keyton	102	32	39	31
7	Stephen Atkins	98	35	31	32
8	Russell Snowling	94	24	37	33
9	Jake Cazey	88	30	24	34
10	Christopher Keeble	87	33	26	28
11	Craig Page-Baker	86	26	33	27
12	Joel Doncaster	82	21	32	29
13	Joshua Parker	81	29	15	37
14	Alfie Hunt	67	16	25	26
15	Charlie Starsmoore	64	34	–	30
16	Katie Stock	64	17	29	18
17	Rudi Carter	62	12	27	23
18	Sam Pudney	62	27	35	–
19	Sam Whittred	59	31	28	–
20	Marcus Smith	58	28	30	–
21	Ewan Niblock	56	20	17	19
22	Lee Faulkner	55	14	19	22
23	Jak Young	53	8	21	24
24	Steven East	47	–	22	25
25	Teddy Clark	47	9	18	20
26	Jack Williams	46	22	11	13
27	Matthew Turner	45	10	14	21
28	Jake Lane	42	25	–	17
29	Andrew Webster	42	7	20	15
30	Troy Brumpton	38	15	23	–
31	Casey Carter	35	23	–	12
32	Nathan Gotts	32	6	10	16
33	Kieran Dawson	31	18	13	–
34	Jake Faulkner	26	4	8	14
35	Aaron Holden	23	11	12	–
36	Kevin Rossiter	19	19	–	–
37	Jake Lawrence	14	5	9	–
38	George Reeves Furness	13	13	–	–

Support D

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Luke Reeve	127	37	45	45
2	Ben Carey	127	43	43	41
3	Trevor Buckley	119	41	39	39
4	Sam Philpott	113	35	35	43
5	William Mcrae	106	34	37	35
6	Zack Kingshott	106	39	33	34
7	Lewis Wells	99	33	29	37
8	Josh Faulkner	90	32	34	24
9	Daniel Elsey	89	27	31	31
10	Shaun Tacey	86	45	41	–
11	Daniel Allen	83	30	25	28
12	Shaun King	80	25	23	32
13	Hector Storey	80	26	28	26
14	Damian Flack	78	23	22	33
15	Haydn Martin	78	19	30	29
16	Toby Henderson	76	22	24	30
17	Joshua Chappell	67	13	27	27
18	Darren Watts	64	24	18	22
19	Joshua Middleton	56	31	–	25
20	Jason Turner	55	29	26	–
21	Robert Green	53	21	32	–
22	Colin Booker	44	11	12	21
23	Guy Fleming	40	20	20	–
24	Finlay Whitlam	38	17	21	–
25	Henry Fox	37	–	14	23
26	Charlie Mallett	37	18	19	–
27	Adam Baker	30	14	16	–
28	Michael Blaxell	30	15	15	–
29	Thomas Harrington	28	28	–	–
30	Lee Butcher	25	12	13	–
31	Jonathan Boreham	17	–	17	–
32	Gene Barfield	16	16	–	–