Williams wins big at Hawkstone! 2023 AMCA British Motocross Championship Round 5 – Race Report & Results

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Again, proving its immense popularity, the iconic Hawkstone Park attracted a deluge of wildcard entries as the AMCA staged round 5 of their 2023 British Motocross Championship on Sunday.

Race Report, Images and Interview by Mike Wood

Not only did those riders boost the start line numbers but also add plenty of extra spice to the racing on offer. However, those wildcards did not have it all their own way with some of the AMCA classes producing a story of very much ‘as you were’ and similar finishing positions to the already completed rounds!

On a track which was in absolute prime condition, one of the classes which did run to form was the Vets Championship as the Gloucester based Lane brothers continued their family battle at the head of the title race. Both Simon and James are former AMCA Champions with a total of 5 between them and it already looks like that total could well be extended in 2023! At Hawkstone, Simon made a trio of lightning starts to initially lead the pack but it was James (2) and Simon Bonser who took the moto wins. In the first one in which Bonser proved victorious, James Lane came through from an early 8th to then snatch 2nd place right on the line from his brother with Adam Wilkinson, Jamie Powell, Mark Swift, Sean Smith and Matt Ryder also in the frame.

After that excitement, James passed Simon Lane just two laps from home in the second moto then took just six laps to get past his sibling in the last one. So that means in a very tight Championship battle, Simon is still on top but his advantage is now just 3 points with James in 2nd, Wilkinson 3rd, Ryder 4th, Rich Meakin 5th and Matt Chaplin 6th. 2012 AMCA Vets Champion Ryder also tops the Over 50’s class and is 60 points clear of Brian Staples.

James Dodd (292) leads the Open class pack into turn one

Also going pretty much as expected was the AMCA Open class although the day did end with a rather dramatic final clash! Having filled the top two placings in all 11 moto’s so far, James Dodd and Henry Williams looked to be at it again in the opening Hawkstone clash. Doddy controlled all the way with Henry on his tail but on the last lap the Apex GasGas UK youngster then took a nasty excursion over the bars, banging his shoulder in the process. Shaken but not stirred, Henry still got home in 3rd just behind Will Hughes as Max Lewis, Adam Wells, Josh Waterman and Aaron Patstone were next to finish.

Despite his fall, Henry then passed Dodd and Hughes to lead moto two until the closing stages before Dodd cleverly found a way through. In the last one, Williams was fastest away but on the opening lap the first drama occurred as Dodd’s Husqvarna ground to a halt in a corner due to an electrical fault. Although quickly restarting, Doddy was down in 7th before fighting back up to 3rd. However, on lap six, the gremlins struck again with the frustrated FUS Marsh Geartec star now dropping down to 12th. So, yet another recovery ride was required but with time running out he could only get back to 8th as Williams took the win from Hughes, Lewis, Wells, Patstone and Mark Roberts. On the podium Williams was a worthy winner from the very consistent Hughes with Dodd in 3rd. Those results mean that Dodd still leads the Championship but his advantage as been reduced to 14 points with Williams in 2nd and Hughes a further 51 in arrears but still very much in the title race.

There was to be a fantastic 39 riders on the start line for the opening Youth 85cc contest which is combined with the BWMA Girls 85cc series. Wildcard rider Mason Jones was to be in simply irresistible form in this one, winning all three motos in style. Twice fellow wildcard Ollie Jewitt chased him home whilst making it a truly ‘Wild’ day, another card rider Halim Own completed the podium. After missing the last round at Warmingham, Mason Care was the best series rider in 4th with Oliver Bebb in 6th and George Clark 7th. With a moto two DNF, Youth 85cc series leader Oakley Kettle was down in 13th overall and although he still tops the standings, his advantage as been cut down to just 6 points with Clark closing in. In the separately scored SW85cc competition, Ryan Jackson continues to lead the way after bagging another overall win.

Start action from the Youth 85cc and BWMA Girls

Going into Hawkstone, just 3 points separated the top two girls of Holly Williams and Checoby Rainey and they were at it again, right in the mix as they disputed the right to be best girl! Rainey was first girl home in the opening moto with a 12th spot as Leah Rees-Evans took 15th and Holly Williams 21st. Rees-Evans then topped the girls placing with a super 10th and 13th in the remaining moto’s to deservedly claim first overall in the BWMA class. In the title race, it’s still Williams leading on a 663 score with Rainey 661, Erin Howes 578, Cameron Mansbridge 564, Sophie Jones 552, Poppy Banning 550 and Rees-Evans 521 next best.

Matching the superb Youth 85cc entry there was also a full line-up in the 125cc Youth/BWMA Women’s class. Continuing his truly incredible run of results, Shane Jones won all three moto’s with only Travis James and Grace Packman briefly getting ahead of him. Indeed, what a performance Packman, Grace Richards and Libby Chatburn, all wildcard entries in the BWMA class at Hawkstone were to produce. Eventual winner of the BWMA, Richards started with a 6th in moto one before finishing with an 8th then a truly fantastic 3rd in the last clash. For Packman it was 9/15/12 and Chatburn 11/18/14. After topping the opening three rounds of the BWMA, series leader Marni Saunders went 21/20/17 and 4th overall in the Women’s class. Although that may not have been the results Marni was looking for, she has however extended her Championship lead to a 53 point advantage over Caitlin Newman with Hannah Jones, Hollie Roberts, Grace Bates and Amber McGregor next best.

Grace Richards the BWMA Womems overall winner

Going back to the Youth 125cc lads and with super Jones in control, the equally fast Wyatt McGregor took a quality hat-trick of runner-up placings. Starting with a 3rd and 6th placing, Kenzie Cole was well in contention for a podium spot until a last moto DNF ruined his march. So that left Travis James, Phillip Tchorek, Will Turner, Jack Evans and Logan Jay-Powell to battle it out for 3rd overall.

Wyatt McGregor the Youth 125cc runner up

With Turner’s hopes being severely hampered by a moto one fall which left him trapped under his bike, the bronze medal spot eventually went to James. In the Youth 125cc title race, Jones 650, McGregor 638, Evans 596, Turner 580, Tchorek 540 and Rees Jones 425 make up the top six.
Despite openly admitting that he was not a fan of the Hawkstone sand, 125cc series leader Luke Dean would have been very pleased with his efforts come Sunday evening. Going 3/2/5, that was enough to take the final podium place behind runner-up Jack Cox and the very fast wildcard winner Jimmy Margetson.

In what is an always exciting contest, Margetson was under intense pressure and had to work overtime in moto one and see off Hawkstone expert Cox. Whilst the front two produced a classic scrap, Dean took a strong 3rd despite the very close attention of Damon Strydom, Corey Hockey, Harry Linton and youngster Freddie Gardiner. Going into this event, Chris Povey had held 2nd in the title race but a crash early in moto one was to finish his Hawkstone participation for the day, suffering from a head injury.

With Margetson stylishly controlling the second 125cc contest from the front, Cox held 2nd spot early on before dropping back to 5th as Dean, Strydom and Hockey who has recently switched from the MX2 class over to 125cc, all overhauled him. The last 125cc contest was then arguably the best although there was no disputing the winner as Margetson stormed to another victory, this time 11 seconds clear of a hungry chasing pack. In a battle for 2nd which raged for just about the entire duration, Hockey, Cox, Gardiner, Dean and Strydom continually swapped positions. Eventually, Hockey stamped his authority on that tussle as Linton, Jayden Jones, Charlie Palmer and Luke Newman rounded off the top ten. Following the frantic Hawkstone action, it’s still the Meredith MX Fantic of Dean sitting at the top of the standings on 643 points ahead of Cox 582, Linton 563, Strydom 539, Palmer 503 and Newman 469.

After wildcard Ashley Greedy had posted the quickest MX2 qualifying time, the Welshman’s opening moto did certainly not go quite to plan! Crashing early on lap one, Ashley found himself in a distant last place as upfront series leader Shane Carless quickly took control after passing Rory Jones who was being hindered by an intermittent loss of speed due to a broken powerband valve. Whilst Shane, in his usual cool, composed manner cruised to a smooth win, Greedy was simply storming through the 33-rider strong field. Eventually he somehow got right back to a superb 8th behind Matt Bayliss, Lewis Hall, Jones, Josh Coleman, Liam Gale and Jake Preston.

Following that first race drama, from here onwards Greedy was wheel perfect winning both of the remaining two moto’s in super style. With Greedy clear at the front, the action behind him though was superb with Hall, Bayliss, Jones, Coleman, Gale and Carless continually changing positions. Backing up his opening moto 3rd with a very strong 2/3 scorecard, it was Hall though on his Meredith MX Fantic who deservedly took the overall win, joined on the box by the Welsh boys Carless and Greedy.

Shane Carless hits the front in a MX2 moto

Those earlier mentioned problems in the opener for Rory Jones was to actually cost him dearly in the race for the podium placings after finishing the meeting on a total of 135 points which was the same score achieved by Greedy! Despite that disappointment though, Rory is still holding 2nd in the Championship table, 42 behind leader Carless with Lee Truman in 3rd.

Ryan Jackson leading a Youth 85cc battle

Results

Open

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Henry Williams	142	45	47	50
2	Will Hughes	139	47	45	47
3	James Dodd	135	50	50	35
4	Max Lewis	131	43	43	45
5	Adam Wells	125	41	41	43
6	Aaron Patstone	117	37	39	41
7	Mark Roberts	111	35	37	39
8	Cory Mcshane	99	31	31	37
9	Bradley Whatlins	90	30	30	30
10	Lee Clarkson	86	27	28	31
11	Aaron Collins	79	23	27	29
12	Jake Marsh	78	24	26	28
13	Josh Waterman	72	39	33	–
14	Matt Burrows	68	33	35	–
15	Tom Higgins	67	19	21	27
16	Thomas Yates	66	20	20	26
17	Adam Reeve	61	28	–	33
18	Kian Bown	60	17	18	25
19	Peter Hamlett	58	29	29	–
20	Luke Woodland	50	25	25	–
21	Conor Ellingworth	45	26	19	–
22	Matthew Jones	44	22	22	–
23	Sam Gabriel	39	16	23	–
24	Daniel Nevitt	39	15	24	–
25	Louis Jones	35	18	17	–
26	Robbie Parker	21	21	–	–

MX2

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Lewis Hall	137	45	47	45
2	Shane Carless	136	50	43	43
3	Ashley Greedy	135	35	50	50
4	Rory Jones	135	43	45	47
5	Matt Bayliss	129	47	41	41
6	Josh Coleman	119	41	39	39
7	Liam Gale	113	39	37	37
8	Jake Preston	105	37	33	35
9	Lee Truman	101	33	35	33
10	Daniel Brough	93	31	31	31
11	Patrick Gilligan	86	29	29	28
12	Alfie Calvert	84	25	30	29
13	Matt Tolley	84	30	27	27
14	Logan Wilcox	82	26	26	30
15	Jonathan Roderick-Evans	82	28	28	26
16	Tom Hughes	70	23	22	25
17	Lewis Glynn	67	27	19	21
18	Sam Cowie	62	18	20	24
19	Adam Nevitt	62	14	25	23
20	Martin Jones	58	17	21	20
21	Rhys Walker	58	22	17	19
22	Ben White	58	24	18	16
23	Jamie Comley	55	13	24	18
24	Harry Bebb	48	21	12	15
25	Ben Walker	47	19	11	17
26	Richy Roberts	46	20	15	11
27	Mitchell Perry	45	–	23	22
28	Troy Jones	43	16	14	13
29	Jordan Meredith	42	15	13	14
30	Jack Griffiths	39	11	16	12
31	Jonas Brown	32	12	10	10
32	Oliver Abbott	28	10	9	9

125’s

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Jimmy Margetson	150	50	50	50
2	Jack Cox	133	47	41	45
3	Luke Dean	133	45	47	41
4	Corey Hockey	131	41	43	47
5	Damon Strydom	127	43	45	39
6	Freddie Gardiner	117	37	37	43
7	Harry Linton	115	39	39	37
8	Luke Newman	99	33	35	31
9	Charlie Palmer	94	28	33	33
10	Jayden Jones	93	31	27	35
11	Stuart Owen	93	35	29	29
12	Sean Veness	91	30	31	30
13	Lewis Proud	84	29	28	27
14	Yarin Evans	77	19	30	28
15	Cameron Jackson	77	25	26	26
16	Olly Hathaway	71	22	25	24
17	Joe Wright	68	24	24	20
18	Rylee Francis	62	20	20	22
19	Jack Davis	61	21	17	23
20	Oliver Davis	57	17	19	21
21	Benedict Lewis	48	27	21	–
22	Sion Wright	48	26	22	–
23	Mitch Evans	47	13	15	19
24	Scott Corfield	47	15	14	18
25	Finlay James	46	23	23	–
26	Joshua Barnett	32	16	16	–
27	Mitchell Hartill	27	14	13	–
28	Billy Bayliss	25	–	–	25
29	Benjamin Sullivan	18	–	18	–
30	Joe Jordan	18	18	–	–
31	Jamie Arrowsmith	12	–	12	–
32	Jamie Johnson	12	12	–	–

Youth 125

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Shane Jones	150	50	50	50
2	Wyatt McGregor	141	47	47	47
3	Travis James	129	43	45	41
4	Phillip Tchorek	119	39	37	43
5	Will Turner	117	29	43	45
6	Jack Evans	113	41	35	37
7	Logan Jay Powell	109	37	33	39
8	Tom Goodfellow	109	35	41	33
9	Rees Jones	99	33	31	35
10	Troy Weaver	89	31	29	29
11	Liam Morrod	88	30	28	30
12	George Bromley	86	28	30	28
13	Kenzie Cole	84	45	39	–
14	Lewis Roberts	82	25	26	31
15	Alfie Lewis	78	26	25	27
16	Jed Reeson	74	24	24	26
17	Jack Hoare	70	22	23	25
18	Max Brick	69	23	22	24
19	Tyler Lane	63	21	20	22
20	Finley Goodyear	62	18	21	23
21	Zane Sibley-Deakin	54	27	27	–
22	Leo Rixon	20	20	–	–
23	Ricky Ryder	19	19	–	–

Vets Over 40

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	James Lane	147	47	50	50
2	Simon Lane	139	45	47	47
3	Adam Wilkinson	133	43	45	45
4	Jamie Powell	125	41	41	43
5	Mark Swift	113	39	39	35
6	Richard Meakin	107	31	37	39
7	David Wilcox	100	30	33	37
8	Matthew Chaplin	96	33	30	33
9	Russell Hartill	80	24	28	28
10	Richard Tudor	80	28	25	27
11	Russell Grove	67	19	23	25
12	Nicholas Pawson	65	21	20	24
13	Guy Langmead	61	16	22	23
14	Aidan Wright	59	18	19	22
15	Ste Marlow	51	27	24	–
16	Anthony Bennett	50	23	27	–
17	James Kay	29	29	–	–
18	Simon Moore	26	11	15	–

Vets Over 50

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Simon Bonser	123	50	43	30
2	Matt Ryder	111	35	35	41
3	Brian Staples	82	22	29	31
4	John Littler	80	25	26	29
5	Sean Smith	68	37	31	–
6	David Edge	67	20	21	26
7	Stuart Kilmarten	53	15	18	20
8	Paul Woodland	52	14	17	21
9	Andrew Reno	33	17	16	–
10	Stephen Smith	32	13	–	19
11	Paul Croxon	26	26	–	–
12	Sean Crowley	12	12	–	–

BWMA Womens

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Grace Richards	150	50	50	50
2	Grace Packman	141	47	47	47
3	Libby Chatburn	135	45	45	45
4	Marni Saunders	123	41	41	41
5	Hannah Jones	121	39	43	39
6	Nadiya Jones	117	43	31	43
7	Grace Bates	111	35	39	37
8	Caitlin Newman	105	37	33	35
9	Hollie Roberts	101	33	37	31
10	Amber McGregor	99	31	35	33
11	Autumn Jenkinson	85	30	30	25
12	Daisy Blackwell	84	27	27	30
13	India Hodgkinson	83	25	29	29
14	Abbie Piggott	83	29	26	28
15	Izzi Wright	83	28	28	27
16	Lucy Fearn	77	26	25	26

Big Wheel 85

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Mason Jones	150	50	50	50
2	Ollie Jewitt	133	47	39	47
3	Halim Own	129	39	45	45
4	Mason Care	123	45	41	37
5	Elvis Totney	123	43	47	33
6	Oliver Bebb	117	35	43	39
7	George Clark	108	30	35	43
8	Archie Edwards	105	37	37	31
9	Bobby Watson	91	28	33	30
10	Ted Bullen	87	31	29	27
11	Oakley Kettle	76	41	–	35
12	Ashton Somerville	74	33	–	41
13	Igor Zelezik	74	22	26	26
14	Jack Bullock	72	23	24	25
15	Louis Tilley	69	18	28	23
16	Cameron Gerrard	35	5	14	16
17	Charlie Walker	27	11	8	8
18	Rylie Hubble	12	6	6	–

Small Wheel 85

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Ryan Jackson	86	27	30	29
2	Aston Whitehead	72	25	23	24
3	Jacob Ince	60	17	22	21
4	Archie Humphrey	60	21	21	18
5	Talan Harbour	57	24	16	17
6	Alfie Pincher	46	19	20	7
7	Lewis Day	38	4	19	15
8	Terry Challinor	34	12	12	10
9	Harry Jones	33	8	13	12
10	Jack Masters	31	10	10	11
11	Ryan Tilley	20	7	7	6

BWMA Girls

Pos	Competitor	Points	R1	R2	R3
1	Leah Rees-Evans	85	26	31	28
2	Checoby Rainey	74	29	25	20
3	Holly Williams	69	20	27	22
4	Erin Howes	50	14	17	19
5	Cameron Mansbridge	47	16	18	13
6	Lilie Eastlake	38	15	9	14
7	Sophie Jones	37	13	15	9
8	Poppy Banning	25	9	11	5