The epic Monster Mountain venue held the second of the three rounds of its new Midweek Race Series on Wednesday the 23rd of July, and even though star turns like Jeffrey Herlings and Tommy Searle were not able to race due to injury, the word had spread among riders and fans, as more people either signed up to ride or attended to watch the action around the spectacular circuit.
In the Pro class, many expected the dominant British Championship leader Conrad Mewse to run away with the spoils, but he just had one of those nights as the fast-gating Josh Gilbert put his Lexa MX Honda at the sharp end in every race he started, and nobody was able to pass him all night! Bike It Kawasaki’s Taylor Hammal and Apico Honda’s Tom Grimshaw gave it everything in their pursuit to keep the crowd on tenterhooks, and the results were as thrilling as they were unexpected!
Qualifying
Gilbert set out his stall by laying down a good early marker on just his second full lap, although Hammal was close, as were the Apico Honda pairing of Grimshaw and Martin Barr. Mewse showed his pace to take the pole time, however, on lap three, putting Gilbert down to second, and Rizzi got the Welsh crowd cheering with the third best time on his very last effort! This nudged Hammal into fourth ahead of Barr, Grimshaw, and leading MX2 Pro man Ben Mustoe.
Also coming out to play on the Welsh Mountain was Enduro Pro rider Dan Mundell, fresh from the announcement that he would be part of Britain’s ISDE Trophy team in August! He was a creditable ninth fastest, while Ollie Bubb was the leading MX2 Expert in 12th, just ahead of leading MX1 Expert Josh Taylor. There was no doubt about it, the line-up was going to be fuller than the opening round and the racing was set to reflect that!
Mini Rippers
The 65cc class terrors got things going for each racing block, and just as in the opening round it was the #94 of Ronnie Morgan who took two clear race wins! Not by leading from the start every time but by patiently working his way to the front, past the challenge of Dirt Days Festival winner Preston Killoran and that weekend’s runner-up Jeston Hillman. Those two would take second and third overall, in favour of Hillman this time, while Jaxson Hooper recovered from a poor start to sixth in race one, before claiming a good third in race two for fourth overall. McKenzie Allen showed an instant liking for the course with solid 4-5 finishes to take fifth on the night.
The 85cc classes, Big-Wheel and Small-Wheel, raced together but were scored separately, and the Big-Wheel class was owned by Charlie Mitchell, who very nearly missed the first practice session due to issues with the family camper on the way in! He made all the hassle worthwhile with two clear victories ahead of Ollie Williams and Leon Wheeler, who took second and third both times.
The Small-Wheel class was equally dominated by Rafe Symons, who used great starts to break clear of the chasing pack. Mylie Evans had good pace and looked to be catching Symons in race two, but fell as she closed in and had to fight back to second place, which she took overall. Rhys Jones went one better than the previous round to climb the podium with two third positions and a cheeky leg wave over the finish line to celebrate!
Up to Full Size
On this occasion, the 125 & 250 Youth classes were scored separately, but that didn’t stop the same leading pair as the last round tearing lumps out of each other to win the races overall! It ended one-all in that contest, as Christopher Brindley on the top 125cc machine caught and passed 250cc winner Logan Powell when the Kawasaki man stumbled out of the first corner after the finish line with two laps to go! Brindley was well ahead of second 125 man Kian John both times, although Kian got as high as fourth on-track in race two. The two Fantic riders Harley Roberts and Jack Bullock shared third and fourth places, with Roberts taking the final step of the podium on the second race tiebreak.
Behind Powell in the 250F class, Harley O’Callaghan just fell short of catching Estyn Rowsell in race one, but managed to make an early lead for second in race two to take that position overall. Rowsell just managed to hold off a charging Lewys Morgan to keep third overall, as a battle with Cody Williams and Romeo Mead got heated in race two!
Carnage
The mixed Steady/Clubmen/Vets Adult classes, which made up a full start gate that was awesome to behold, sadly saw the worst accident of the night as Jack Peacey swept into the lead in race one before disastrously sliding to the floor on the exit of the first turn, causing multiple riders to hit both him and his bike and go over the bars! The race was instantly stopped and a couple of riders taken to hospital. We wish them all the best for a speedy recovery.
On the restart, Kawasaki-mounted Rhys Davies was the class of the field as he powered to two clear race wins in the Clubman category, chased all the way by the Sherco Enduro machine of Sam Roberts. The 125cc machine of Jayden Roberts screamed into second in race one but didn’t complete a lap in race two. Jamie Aitken inherited third overall behind Roberts, although they all had their hands full with Vets 35+ winner Nicky Jones!
Just behind the leading four riders on track, the Vets battle between Chris Marvin and Adam Uka was enthralling, as they finished in that order, second and third behind Nicky Jones, after a fair bit of scrapping! Neil Thomas was also involved, taking the overall win in the 45+ Vets category after all of his opposition was taken out by crashes.
The Steady class was won by Honda rider Chris Mae, with a big battle behind him that eventually went the way of Yamaha man Carl Thomas for second overall, with Tyler Kelly always in the mix to take third.
The Fast Men
The Pro/Expert races featured a much larger entry than the previous round, and one of those new riders to the series, Josh Gilbert, rocketed out of the gate to lead race one ahead of an astonishing Charlie Putnam, who got the start of his life ahead of Taylor Hammal, Jayden Ashwell, and Martin Barr. Mewse was mired outside the top 15 initially, and working through Expert class riders as well as fellow Pros. Gilbert made hay to stretch out a lead as Hammal took a lap and a half to get around Putnam.
Meanwhile, Mewse struggled with Rizzi, as he got stuck behind MX1 Expert leader Josh Taylor just after passing the Triumph rider, allowing Joel to blast around the outside of both of them! A clearly frustrated Mewse did all that he could, but only managed sixth by the flag after a last lap pass on Barr. Grimshaw had also passed his teammate to claim fifth, unable to quite get around Ashwell and a delighted Putnam, who celebrated his third place with all the joy of a new father needing vital nappy cash!
Hammal had closed up on Gilbert on several occasions, but was just unable to pull the pin on the Cornishman, and finished just 1.6 seconds behind. With Josh still not 100% following his recent return from a bout of Epstein-Barr virus, the question for race two would be how much he had in the tank for a repeat performance, and how would Mewse react to his worst finish in the UK for some time?
Shocker
It looked like Conrad’s reaction was to simply Holeshot and hide, but he reckoned without an inside move from Gilbert in turn one that once more put the Lexa rider in front of the Crendon Tru7 Honda man! As they came to within sight of the end of the first lap, Mewse again snapped at Gilbert’s heels, but got a right hander badly wrong and clattered to the ground! It soon became evident that recovery would not be swift, and after slowly getting back on the bike he rode it slowly back to the paddock, obviously in pain. Conrad’s night was done as he took himself to hospital. Although he said he would see us at the next round, only time will tell, and we wish Conrad the best for a quick comeback.
This left Hammal and Grimshaw in second and third, attempting to close down Gilbert. Josh gritted his teeth and held on with the sort of disciplined, accurate riding that has seen him at the top of British Motocross for so long. Hammal got close again but took a tumble on the corner by the start line, allowing Grimshaw to close and nab second on the final lap! This put Tom third overall behind Taylor, with Gilbert winning by just over four seconds for a perfect 1-1 victory!
Behind the leading three and fourth-placed Martin Barr, the Pro MX2 combatants Ben Mustoe and Glenn McCormick went at it for the class win, both passing Putnam who took a happy seventh at the finish! Mustoe eventually got the better of the Northern Irishman to take his own 1-1 score, ahead of McCormick and Josh Coleman both times.
Josh Taylor was top MX1 Expert in each race as he battled with some of the pro riders, while Ben White took second overall with 2-3 finishes, and Jordan Gosling’s 5-4 results were enough for the third step on the podium! Josh Canton and Shane Carless each got into the top three in one race but suffered problems in the other.
The MX2 Experts was won by Ben’s younger brother Gus Mustoe, although Ollie Bubb had won race one, they each took a first and fourth so Gus took the overall on the second race tie-break. Rhys Walker was consistent with 3-2 scores in class to take third overall.
The Super Final
Josh Gilbert made it a stunning three holeshots out of three with another amazing jump from a more central gate than most of his competitors, and it was Tom Grimshaw with him this time in a fine second ahead of Rizzi, Hammal, Barr, and the amazing Ben Mustoe. Mundell passed his buddy Putnam for seventh after Charlie had thrown an amazing Nac Nac over the finish jump at the end of lap one! Ashwell and McCormick eventually relegated the SC Sporthomes Husqvarna man to the last prize money spot of tenth by the close.
Hammal took until halfway around the second lap to pass Rizzi for third, and although he hunted down Grimshaw slightly, the tall Honda man was doing all he could to reel in Gilbert, aware that he might have the physical edge towards the end of the longer race. Gilbert admitted to backing off slightly to bring it home, but was surprised at how close Grimshaw was, while Hammal had made a slight mistake to drop back to a lonely third. Grimshaw closed to within 1.7 seconds at the finish line, but after a difficult few months it was a great boost for the Cornishman to take home a maximum score and the best of the prize fund!
The Pro and Expert classes should continue to grow by the time we get to the final round on the 13th of August, and this popular series will hopefully sign out with a bang in just three weeks’ time!
