One week after being drafted into the British Quad of European Nations team Welsh veteran Ed Davies capped off the month by securing the ACU British Masters championship at the final DWT Nora MX championship round at the Grittenham in Wiltshire on Sunday.
Davies took three comfortable wins, each time from Darren Bridge and Clint Eagle, and in a busy day also ended up third overall in the Expert class as he looked for more track time before his trip to Italy next weekend.
And, to cap a great day for Davies, who runs a race quad servicing business, several of the club championships decided on the day were won using motors prepared by him.
His biggest scalp came in the Expert class itself where Luke Cooper kept a cool head in some muscly races to score three wins and deny the title hopes of his nearest rival, Paul Winrow.
Winrow’s chances were effectively dashed in the first race when he was part of a bruising group chasing early leader Cooper. As Winrow tried to push to the front, Stefan Murphy closed the door firmly – a move which got him disqualified from race one – leaving Winrow to limp home sixth.
In the remaining two races Cooper and Winrow battled for the lead throughout, but each time Cooper just had the edge and won by small margins.
In the Inters class, in the same race, Jake Smith’s fine late season form earned him another three race wins.
In a day of cracking races, few came better than Nick Tucker and Callum Bates’ clash in the combined Clubman/Rookie class. The pair swapped first and second in the first two tight races, before Tucker took the decider. Each time they were the best part of 30 seconds clear of the field. Overall Jordan Hickman was best of the rest, coming in third overall, which was enough to win the Rookie title.
With Connor Taylor already crowned Clubman champion, and trying different bikes for the day, it was Luke Ryan Davies who stepped up to take overall victory thanks to three class wins.
The three round Zip EVO Cup concluded at Grittenham with Stuart Walker again taking three race wins, which also gave him victory in the EVO Plus category. However, he did not enjoy the relatively easy wins he had at the opening rounds, with both Stewart Gubbins and Ben Morgan – another new addition to the flourishing class for pre 2004 machines – giving him a run for his money.
In the standard EVO class Martin Crook won the day, but Trevor Humphris won the title thanks to his second overall. Humphris though was lucky to walk away from one the crashes of the season when he land on his backside from some height after misjudging a big tabletop!
In the remaining adult class – Masters B – Humphris took his maiden win, while Barrie Dennis took second and the title.
The 250 Youth group was dominated by Open rider Bailey Edwards, who had the benefit of Paul Holmes in his corner, with the British champion giving him riding and suspension advice for a day. Edwards lost the first race by under a third of a second to Connor Fitzgerald. But never looked like being beaten in the remaining two outings.
In the Modified, Standard and Stock classes the standout performance came from Shanice Mott, who took her first win of the year in the Stock class thanks to two wins and a second. Jack Naylor won the Modifieds and Kieran Heath the Standards with maximums.
In the combined 100/50cc class Joshua Birch continued his run of form with overall victory and first in in 100 Geared class with a three race maximum. Marcus Sprason, who gave some spirited chases in all three races, was second in both categories.
Catrin Davies was the highest placed Modified rider in third overall and took three wins in her class, each time chased hard by Tom Fitzgerald.
In the Standard class Josh Talent bounced back from a fourth in class in the first race to win the next two, which was enough for him to nick the overall win by just a point from first race winner Dillon Stepney.
Alfie Walker took the 50cc honours after his only rival Woody Jackson was disqualified from the first race. Jackson bounced back with two excellent rides to sixth and fifth against the mostly bigger machines, which also gave him two class wins. But with Walker finsihing second each time there was no chance to make up the points deficit.
RESULTS: Expert/Inters Overall: 1 Luke Cooper, 2 Paul Winrow, 3 Ed Davies, 4 Sheldon Seal, 5 Oli Sansom, 6 Jake Smith
Expert: 1 1 Luke Cooper, 2 Paul Winrow, 3 Ed Davies, 4 Sheldon Seal, 5 Oli Sansom, 6 Jamie Clarke
Inters: 1 Jake Smith, 2 Harry Miller, 3 George Day, 4 Harry Hinkley, 5 Danny Harris, 6 Aaron Pole
Clubman/ Rookie Overall: 1 Nick Tucker, 2 Callum Bates, 3 Jordan Hickman, 4 Connor McKenna, 5 Luke Ryan Davies, 6 Jamie Morgan
Clubman: 1 Luke Ryan Davies, 2 Charlie Harrison, 3 Ameelie Miller, 4 Laurence Stopps, 5 Philip Munday, 6 Philip Symonds
Rookie: 1 Nick Tucker, 2 Callum Bates, 3 Jordan Hickman, 4 Connor McKenna, 5 Jamie Morgan, 6 Luke James
Masters Overall: 1 Ed Davies, 2 Darren Bridge, 3
Clint Eagle, 4 Ben Morgan, 5 Chris Murphy, 6 Stewart Gubbins
Masters A: 1 Ed Davies, 2 Darren Bridge, 3
Clint Eagle, 4 Ben Morgan, 5 Chris Murphy, 6 Stewart Gubbins
Masters B: 1 Trevor Humphris, 2 Barrie Dennis, 3 Richard Clark, 4 Tony Atkinson, 5 Mark Clutterbuck, 6 Pat Carr
EVO Overall: 1 Stu Walker, 2 Stewart Gubbins, 3 Ben Morgan, 4 Martin Cook, 5 Trevor Humphris, 6 John Elliot
EVO Standard: 1 Martin Cook, 2 Trevor Humphris, 3 Eric Giddings, 4 Bruce Stoker, 5 Paul Last, 6 Gavin Stearm
EVO Plus: 1 Stu Walker, 2 Ben Morgan, 3 Stewart Gubbins, 4 John Elliot, 5 Richard Martin, 6 Simon Crook
250cc Youth Overall: 1 Bailey Edwards, 2 Connor Fitzgerald, 3 Jack Naylor, 4 Dafydd Davies, 5 Harry Walker, 6 Jamie Smith
250 Open: 1 Bailey Edwards, 2 Connor Fitzgerald, 3 Harry Walker, 4 Jamie Smith, 5 Ryan Spratt-Wyatt, 6 Josh Waring Jnr
250 Modified: 1 Jack Naylor, 2 Dafydd Davies, 3 Alex Bethell, 4 Connor Paxton, 5 Dean Porter, 6 Thomas Chell
250 Stock: 1 Shanice Mott, 2 Bradley Lightfoot, 3 Declan McKenna, 4 James Verity
250 Standard: 1 Kieran Heath, 2 Oliver Martin, 3 Daniel Hares, 4 Harry Ruby, 5 Joshua Crane, 6 Elysha Crane
50cc/100cc Overall: 1 Joshua Birch, 2 Marcus Sprason, 3 Catrin Davies, 4 Thomas Fitzgerald, 5 Alfie Walker, 5 Vassna Willcock
100cc Modified: 1 Catrin Davies, 2 Thomas Fitzgerald, 3 Dylan McKenna, 4 Shelley Smart
100cc Geared: 1 Joshua Birch, 2 Marcus Sprason, 3 Vassna Wilcock, 4 Joseph Jukes, 5 Lewis Humphris
100c Standard: 1 Josh Talent, 2 Dillon Stepney, 3 Charlotte Sprason, 4 Terence Palin, 5 Finley Cooper, 6 Reece Swann
50cc Youth: 1 Alfie Walker, 2 Woody Jackson