Wiley Whatley triumphs at Culham! 2022 AMCA British Motocross Championship Round 1 – Race Report & Results

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With the eagerly anticipated 2022 AMCA British Motocross Championship sponsored by Dunlop and now also supported with extra prizes from Planetmoto, Race Wear X, Muscle Doctor and Donjoy, it was time for the talking to stop and gate to drop!

Report and Images by Mike Wood

Two very experienced campaigners, Nev Bradshaw and Kristian Whatley bagged the overall wins in the respective MX2 and 125 classes with Bradshaw remaining unbeaten. Matching that with star performances of their own was the Youth 85cc victor Ollie Bubb and Vets ace Phil Mercer, both taking victory with maximum points. In the remaining MX1 class, six times AMCA Champion Luke Burton started 2022 in style with the top slot.

With the popularity of the series clearly in evidence and both the MX2 and 125cc classes oversubscribed, it meant that qualification was required to decide who would take the 40 spaces available on the start line. When the gate finally dropped for moto one in MX2, Bradshaw was stretching that throttle wire of his Yamaha 250cc 2T to the max, getting an absolute flyer, generating terrific speed and hitting the front. And that’s just where he stayed, leading the contest all the way to the flag ahead of defending AMCA MX2 Champion Shane Carless. One of several riders to drop down from MX1 to MX2, Tommy Alba looked very comfortable aboard the 250F in this moto, eventually taking 3^rd after seeing off the very impressive Kacey Hird. Also in the mix in this frantic scrap were Henry Williams, Ray Rowson, Jimmy Margetson, Rory Jones and Kieran Banks, making his MX2 Championship debut after winning the 125cc title last year. Also new to this AMCA class was Jake Preston, but for him, it was not to be such a happy start. Being involved with several others in a collision early on lap one, Jake had to work very hard for a 16^th place finish.

Shane Carless(68) grabs the opening MX2 holeshot ahead of Nev Bradshaw

In the second MX2 clash, Jack Timms, Corey Hockey and finally Nev Bradshaw took turns to lead. Initially, Nev had gated in 6^th, two places ahead of Carless. Both lads then got on a serious charge with Shane eventually taking a strong 2^nd and closing hard on Nev the leader. The spectacular Jones was to be the 3^rd place finisher as early leader Hockey took 4^th. Williams, Preston, Alba, Hird, Banks, Josh Peters and the other early leader Timms filled the next seven placings.

Tommy Alba leading Henry Williams in MX2

Showing that he was dialled into his 250F after racing the Fantic 125cc in 2021, Banks grabbed the moto three holeshot before quickly being passed by Bradshaw and that’s the way it stayed. With another great ride, Alba took 3^rd as Carless again worked hard to move through and follow him home after earlier gating in 8th. After finishing 3^rd in the 2021 MX2 title race, Williams fell on lap one in this moto. Right down in 36^th place, Henry charged back to eventually take 16^th spot.

After safely negotiating qualifying, Kristian Whatley got his 125cc campaign off to a flyer with victory, but boy was he made to work hard! In a classic encounter, young Joel Fisher, Matt Bayliss and Matt Ridgway kept Mr Whatley honest all the way to the chequered flag. Eventually, Kristian took the win less than a second clear of Bayliss with Fisher 3^rd. Having his first ride since 2019, Chris Povey started strongly taking 5^th just behind Danny Lanfear. In this all-action moto one, Luke Dean, Harrison McCann, Kieran Cooke and Liam Gale were also right in the mix and at the top end of proceedings.

Whatley, Fisher and Bayliss were at it again in 125cc moto two. For six pulsating laps, Fisher led the way until Whatley dug deep, used that vast racing experience and found the route to pass first Bayliss then fast Fisher to thus record another win. Most of the above-mentioned names were also right on the gas and again inside the top ten, joined on this occasion by Louis Vincent.

Joel Fisher(711) just gets the advantage into turn one of a 125cc battle

Proving that he certainly had the speed and the fast lines around the Culham circuit, Fisher then led moto three of the 125cc class for seven laps, resisting some close attention from the hard-charging Bayliss. Although the talented Joel was finally relegated down to 2^nd, he did still get the better of Whatley who had to settle for 3^rd in this moto. Having an impressive weekend, Lanfear got home 5^th with Dean enjoying his AMCA 125cc debut after dropping down from the MX1 class having another strong ride. For Povey though, this moto was not to be quite so productive, relegated down to 16^th after a big crash when earlier holding 4^th spot.

There was no doubt about the winner of the Youth 85cc class as Ollie Bubb won all three moto’s in super style. This talented youngster was never headed and his smooth, classy style was certainly a joy to watch! In the first 85cc moto of the weekend, Oakley Kettle, Wyatt McGregor and finally Sebby Moore all took up the challenge to be the flying Bubb’s closest chaser. On completion of the contest, it was Moore who crossed the line in 2^nd as Jack Evans was next best from McGregor and Kettle who was the 2021 AMCA SW85cc Champion.

In the remaining two clashes, McGregor was to take the runners-up position with all of the above lads plus Harrison Davies always in the mix. This contest also included a separate class for the SW85cc pilots with Oliver Bebb taking top slot from Harley Piper and Lewis Day.

With Phil ‘Factory’ Mercer set to defend his AMCA Vets title, the main challenge to his supremacy was again expected to be provided by Gary Davies, now a fully-fledged member of Lee Jones Apex GasGas UK team. Unfortunately though, just a couple of days before the Culham event, Gary was to suffer a devastating blow, suffering major knee ligament damage whilst out practising ironically at Apex! Undeterred though and with his painful injury heavily strapped, Gary still contested round one taking 3^rd overall behind the unbeaten winner Mercer and fast Shane Holmes on his tiny 125cc KTM. Indeed Holmes, a former AMCA 125cc Champion really mixed it at the front ensuring that Mercer and co had to be at their very best in the race for glory! Throughout the weekend, Holmes, Davies and the fast-starting Simon Lane all took turns to get ahead of Mercer. However, the classy ‘Factory Phil’ always appeared to have that little extra speed in reserve, timing his passes to perfection.

In this class, Jamie Powell was making his debut after recently turning the age of 40. Vastly experienced and a top AMCA Championship rider for many years, Jamie was expected to be a likely contender for honours at Culham but it just did not happen for him! Falling very early in moto one he had to fight from a distant last back to 18^th. After taking 4^th in the second clash, Jamie did not compete on day two. So in the overall stakes, it was instead those ever-reliable and consistent brothers, James and Simon Lane who threatened the top three as Marc Roe, Sean Smith, Matt Chaplin, Alan Jones and Brian Staples completed the top ten.

Unfortunately, this class was marred on day two by a horrific crash involving Andy Marchant. With the Midlands-based rider requiring urgent, critical care, the meeting at this point was then rightly abandoned. Since that accident, Andy has now tragically lost his brave battle to survive, rest in peace #800. Our thoughts are with all of your family!

Although the MX1 class was to provide the smallest entry of the weekend, the racing was simply red-hot! In the opener, Josh Waterman grabbed the holeshot before new boy on the AMCA scene, Jake Shipton slipped through to take control. By the completion of lap one, Luke Burton and Tony Craig had also passed Waterman. From here onwards that’s pretty much how it remained with Shipton earning his maiden AMCA moto win. Gating 7^th, James Dodd got up to 5^th with defending Champion Ashley Greedy, Mark Young and Josh Taylor next up.

Josh Waterman on his way to a MX1 moto win

Moto two and Burton hit the front ahead of his FUS Marsh Geartec Husqvarna teammate Shipton, Waterman, Greedy and Dodd. Seven laps in and Shipton was suffering from severe arm pump and having hardly had no race action for the last two years he dropped down to 4^th. Meanwhile at the front, Waterman was rapidly reducing the deficit on leader Burton before making his move with just three circuits remaining. So at the flag, Josh was the victor from Burton with Dodd, Shipton, Greedy, Craig , Taylor and Adam Wells next home.

In Sunday’s opener, Waterman grabbed the holeshot only to slip off midway on lap one and thus drop down to 6^th. So it was Shipton leading from Burton, Craig and Dodd but once again that dreaded arm pump was to set in and spoil his race. Gradually going backwards to an eventual 5^th, Jake lost two places in the final couple of laps as a great battle between Waterman and Dodd helped haul them up the leaderboard. Josh was to eventually earn 3^rd with James 4^th as Burton took the win and the round one overall verdict.

Adding extra spice to the competition this year, all groups now include classes within a class thus ensuring that every rider regardless of where they are placed has something to really race for. This new ruling incorporates any rider who finished outside the overall top 20 places in 2021 for MX1 and MX2, riders under 18 in 125cc and pilots over 50 in the Vets. Next up it’s a visit to the Gloucestershire venue of Brookthorpe, it’s going to be good!

Results

MX1

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Luke Burton	144	47	47	50
2	Josh Waterman	138	43	50	45
3	Jake Shipton	134	50	43	41
4	Tony Craig	131	45	39	47
5	James Dodd	129	41	45	43
6	Ashley Greedy	119	39	41	39
7	Josh Taylor	109	35	37	37
8	Mark Young	103	37	35	31
9	Adam Wells	97	29	33	35
10	Luke Hawkins	97	33	31	33
11	George Clarke	91	31	30	30
12	Mark Roberts	88	30	29	29
13	Josh Canton	81	26	28	27
14	Bradley Wheeler	80	25	27	28
15	Sion Talbot	79	27	26	26
16	Jack Griffiths	72	23	25	24
17	Rory Merchant	71	24	24	23
18	Joshua Scott	67	22	23	22
19	Sunny Thompson	53	28	–	25

MX2

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Neville Bradshaw	150	50	50	50
2	Shane Carless	137	47	47	43
3	Tommy Alba	127	45	37	45
4	Rory Jones	121	35	45	41
5	Kacey Hird	115	43	35	37
6	Kieran Banks	113	33	33	47
7	Henry Williams	107	41	41	25
8	Jake Preston	103	25	39	39
9	Corey Hockey	103	27	43	33
10	Josh Peters	90	28	31	31
11	Matt Burrows	87	29	28	30
12	Jack Timms	87	30	30	27
13	Harry Linton	84	26	29	29
14	Zac Stealey	76	22	26	28
15	McKenzie Marshall	74	31	23	20
16	Jimmy Margetson	72	37	–	35
17	Lee Truman	71	20	25	26
18	James Hanscomb	67	24	24	19
19	Ray Rowson	66	39	27	–
20	Luke Newman	65	21	20	24
21	Callum McCaul	60	18	19	23
22	Brooklyn Evans	59	16	22	21
23	Jaydon Murphy	57	23	12	22
24	Daniel Preston	54	19	21	14
25	Rhys Walker	48	14	17	17
26	Tomos Wright	43	13	15	15
27	Callum Baldwin	40	12	16	12
28	Joe Russell	34	10	13	11
29	Tim Burrows	31	3	18	10
30	Billy Duke	29	–	11	18
31	Macauley Davies	26	7	10	9
32	Ben White	26	11	7	8
33	Martin Jones	23	9	14	–
34	Logan Wilcox	21	–	5	16
35	Adam Hill	21	6	8	7
36	Keelan Southwood	20	5	9	6
37	Adam Cook	17	17	–	–
38	Cory Mcshane	15	15	–	–
39	Aaron Collins	14	4	6	4
40	Taylor Johnson	13	–	–	13
41	Mitchell Perry	8	8	–	–
42	Joshua Fletcher-Williams	5	–	–	5

125’s

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Kristian Whatley	145	50	50	45
2	Matthew Bayliss	144	47	47	50
3	Joel Fisher	137	45	45	47
4	Luke Dean	119	37	41	41
5	Danny Lanfear	117	43	31	43
6	Chris Povey	108	41	43	24
7	Kieron Cooke	105	33	35	37
8	Louis Vincent	99	23	37	39
9	Harrison Mccann	98	35	33	30
10	Jordan Ridgway	93	29	29	35
11	Billy Bayliss	87	24	30	33
12	Liam Gale	85	31	23	31
13	Cameron Jackson	81	25	27	29
14	Troy Jones	81	28	26	27
15	Matt Ridgway	78	39	39	–
16	Wesley McGavin	77	27	25	25
17	Olly Hathaway	72	18	28	26
18	Jack Wankling	67	21	24	22
19	George Pool	63	20	20	23
20	Dylan Williams	60	22	17	21
21	Jordan Wright	58	30	–	28
22	Oliver Rigby	57	16	22	19
23	Joshua Barnett	56	17	21	18
24	Yarin Evans	54	19	18	17
25	Ezra Blackwell	46	14	16	16
26	Sion Wright	46	13	19	14
27	Benjamin Sullivan	44	12	12	20
28	Aaron Colley	35	26	9	–
29	Toby English	33	15	3	15
30	Logan Jay Powell	32	10	10	12
31	Mitchell Gregory	28	6	15	7
32	Joe Jordan	26	8	5	13
33	Jack Davis	26	3	13	10
34	Harry Bebb	21	4	8	9
35	Alfie Crealock-Lovell	21	11	4	6
36	Tyler Smith	21	7	14	–
37	Alfie Bebb	20	9	11	–
38	Zachary Church	19	5	6	8
39	Owen Pitts	14	2	7	5
40	Joe Wright	11	–	–	11

Vets

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3	R4
1	Phil Mercer	200	50	50	50	50
2	Shane Holmes	186	47	47	45	47
3	Gary Davies	182	45	45	47	45
4	James Lane	168	43	39	43	43
5	Simon Lane	158	37	41	39	41
6	Marc Roe	152	41	35	37	39
7	Sean Smith	152	39	37	41	35
8	Matthew Chaplin	131	31	30	33	37
9	Alan Jones	122	29	29	31	33
10	Brian Staples	121	30	31	29	31
11	Richard Tudor	115	28	27	30	30
12	Russell Hartill	111	26	28	28	29
13	Andrew Marchant	103	35	33	35	–
14	Gareth Dunsford	102	27	25	25	25
15	Shaun Brooker	101	21	26	27	27
16	Gary Hurst	100	25	23	26	26
17	Russell Grove	98	24	22	24	28
18	Stephen Hurst	92	22	24	23	23
19	Stephen Sankey	87	20	21	22	24
20	Alan Reese	80	18	19	21	22
21	David Bullock	73	17	16	19	21
22	Stuart Kilmarten	72	15	18	20	19
23	Shaun Willis	71	16	17	18	20
24	Jamie Powell	66	23	43	–	–
25	Matthew Evans	39	19	20	–	–
26	Casey Jones	33	33	–	–	–

85’s

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Ollie Bubb	150	50	50	50
2	Wyatt McGregor	137	43	47	47
3	Sebby Moore	133	47	45	41
4	Jack Evans	127	45	37	45
5	Oakley Kettle	127	41	43	43
6	Harrison Davies	117	37	41	39
7	Rylee Francis	107	35	35	37
8	Will Turner	105	39	31	35
9	Tallis Price	102	30	39	33
10	Jonas Brown	93	31	33	29
11	Braedon McGinn	90	33	27	30
12	Logan Chinnock	86	29	29	28
13	Oliver Bebb	82	28	28	26
14	Ellie Allsopp	80	27	26	27
15	Harley Piper	74	26	23	25
16	Taylor Collins	74	25	25	24
17	George Bromley	71	24	24	23
18	Freddie Nutt	65	22	22	21
19	Lewis Couzens	61	–	30	31
20	Tyler Lane	61	21	21	19
21	Lewis Day	60	20	20	20
22	Jack Couzens	45	23	–	22
23	Shaun Willis	71	16	17	18