Sunday saw the second round of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship powered by Skye Energy head to the Cadders Hill circuit at Lyng in Norfolk. The warm spring sunshine and large crowd produce the perfect backdrop for some exciting racing on Easter Sunday.
The day started with the practice and qualifying sessions which saw Wilvo Forkrent KTM’s MX2 rider Adam Sterry put in a storming initial lap of the session to head the standings whilst Bryan MacKenzie on Pendrich Height Kawasaki overcome a rock to the hand early on to take second with Hitachi Construction Machinery Revo KTM’s Petar Petrov waited until the end of the session when the track was rougher to snatch third place ahead of Max Anstie on Monster Energy DRT Yamaha and Frenchman Steven Lenoir on the Dyer and Butler KTM.
In the MX1 session Kristian Whatley took his Buildbase Honda Racing Team machine to the top of the timing sheets by nearly a full second ahead of sand specialist Tanel Leok on the LPE Kawasaki, whilst reigning champion Shaun Simpson struggled to get a clear lap on his Hitachi Construction Machinery Revo KTM until the fourth lap but even then the likeable Scotsman was 1.7 seconds off the pace.
Lyng also marked the opening round of the MXY2 championship and it was Ollie Osmaston on the MXW Racing Chichester Honda who continued his form from last season by taking pole ahead of Jay Hague on the Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki in second and Robert Yates taking third on his Watson Plant/ IDS Bridgestone Yamaha.
In the races it was Max Anstie on the Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki who took three straight wins on the day to claim the overall victory and jump up to fifth place in the Championship standings after missing the opening round. The opening moto would see Anstie being headed by one of the main title challengers, Adam Sterry. It was Sterry who looked smooth at the front during the first part of the race but a small mistake allowed the Kawasaki rider into the lead and was never to be headed again.
In reality on the day Anstie, Sterry and Steven Lenoir were on a different pace to the rest of the field in the MX2 class. At the end of the day Sterry's 2-3-2 results gave him the second step on the podium and moved him up to third in the Championship standings with Lenoir taking third overall with a 3-2-3 scorecard and is now tied on points with Ben Watson who retained the championship leaders red plate with a trio of fourth places to back up his two moto wins three weeks ago.
The opening MX1 race of the day saw Kristian Whatley storm to the front of the field and for the opening three quarters of the race and it looked very much like the ex-Champion Whatley had done enough to take the win but Simpson kept grinding away and eventually took the lead and the chequered flag. In the second and third races it was Simpson who took both race wins ahead of the hard charging Tanel Leok in second and Kristian Whatley in third.
With Simpson taking the three MX1 moto wins and overall on the day he now has a comfortable 27 point lead over Leok. Whatley adapted to the rough Cadders Hill circuit well and his 2-3-3 results were enough for second overall ahead of Tanel Leok who was on a mission in the second and third races but a 5
th in the opening race saw him slip to third overall.
In the MXY2 class it was last year’s runner up Oliver Osmaston who took the overall victory with two race wins and a second to stand on the top step of the podium with Jay Hague staying on the championship pace with 2-2-1 results to claim second overall and Henry Williams on the Feehily MX KTM on the lower step with 5-3-4 scores.
The championship now takes a four week break with the next round on May 3rd at the newly revised Canada Heights circuit in Kent.