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.
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.
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.
Words by Stefan Hicks
Images courtesy of Max Leveridge/Narna media
Full results can be found here - https://speedhive.mylaps.com/events/2568660