Benstead wins a damp season opener at Blaxhall

Tuesday March 31, 2015 at 2:54pm
Benstead wins a damp season opener at Blaxhall
Sunday 29th March saw the Woodbridge and DMCC host their first motocross meeting of the 2015 season at the sandy Blaxhall Circuit. With a bumper line up of riders in both the Expert and Junior classes, it was a full day of racing action.

Following recent weeks of dry weather the track was in great condition but unfortunately the Sunday morning saw the rain arrive. Fortunately the track was able to withstand the heavy rain showers and strong winds to produce some close racing.

The Expert class featured a number of high profile British Championship riders all keen to gain some valuable track experience ahead of the Maxxis Championship event in June. In the qualifying session it was local rider Luke Benstead who set the fastest time.

The opening Expert race saw Luke Benstead take the early race lead and after coming under pressure early on from Steven Clarke and later Lewis Gregory, Benstead was able to maintain his lead and take the win. It was Gregory who took second ahead of Liam Knight in third and Matthew Bayliss in fourth and Lewis Tombs fifth after Clarke suffered a puncture and finished sixth.

The second Expert race saw Benstead once again take the early race lead until Lewis Gregory took over at the halfway point only to make a mistake and slip back to third. Meanwhile it was Steven Clarke who was pushing forward and made a pass for the lead in the final corners to claim the race win ahead of Benstead and Gregory. Fourth place went to Liam Knight with Daniel Arnold in fifth and Matthew Bayliss in sixth.

The final Expert race would see Steven Clarke take the holeshot but slip back to fourth after a mistake and handing the lead and another race win to Luke Benstead. Clarke was able to recover and claim second place ahead of Gregory in third and Lewis Tombs in fourth. Fifth and sixth places went to Matthew Bayliss and Daniel Arnold.

With nearly 120 Junior graded riders entered the class was split into three different groups. The Junior A group saw James Miles take the race win in the opening moto ahead of Joe Jefferies in second and Aaron Holloway in third with Ethan Winchester and Kane Fisher rounding out the top 5.

The second Junior A group race saw Joe Jefferies take the win ahead of first race winner James Miles in second and Ethan Winchester in third. Fourth and fifth places went to George Ellis and Kane Fisher.

The third and final Junior A saw Joe Jefferies take yet another race win ahead of James Miles and Connor Sutherland in third place. The fourth and fifth places went to Kane Fisher and George Ellis.

In the B Group in was Roger Frean who took three race wins ahead of Harry Peake in second overall and Nathan Attwood in third. Fourth and fifth overall went to Christopher Freeman and Lewis Holmes.

The Junior C Group would see David Whitehead take the overall victory ahead of Luke Nolan and Kyle Wilby in third. Fourth and fifth overall on the day went to Vince Pryke and Ben Catchpole.

Results

 

Expert Heat 1

1 Luke Benstead, 2 Lewis Gregory, 3 Liam Knight, 4 Matthew Bayliss, 5 Lewis Tombs

Expert Heat 2

1 Steven Clarke, 2 Luke Benstead, 3 Lewis Gregory, 4 Liam Knight, 5 Daniel Arnold

Expert Heat 3

1 Luke Benstead, 2 Steven Clarke, 3 Lewis Gregory, 4 Lewis Tombs, 5 Matthew Bayliss

Expert Overall

1 Luke Benstead, 2 Steven Clarke, 3 Lewis Gregory, 4 Matthew Bayliss, 5 Liam Knight

 

Junior A Heat 1

1 James Miles, 2 Joe Jefferies, 3 Aaron Holloway, 4 Ethan Winchester, 5 Kane Fisher

Junior A Heat 2

1 Joe Jefferies, 2 James Miles, 3 Ethan Winchester, 4 George Ellis, 5 Kane Fisher

Junior A Heat 3

1 Joe Jefferies, 2 James Miles, 3 Connor Sutherland, 4 Kane Fisher, 5 George Ellis

Junior A Overall

1 Joe Jefferies, 2 James Miles, 3 Ethan Winchester, 4 Kane Fisher, 5 George Ellis

 

Junior B Heat 1

1 Roger Frean, 2 Harry Peake, 3 Dave Downes, 4 Nathan Attwood, 5 Paul Mudd

Junior B Heat 2

1 Roger Frean, 2 Harry Peake, 3 Nathan Attwood, 4 Daniel Morphey, 5 Lewis Holmes

Junior B Heat 3

1 Roger Frean, 2 Christopher Freeman, 3 Harry Peake, 4 Nathan Attwood, 5 William Nice

Junior B Overall

1 Roger Frean, 2 Harry Peake, 3 Nathan Attwood, 4 Christopher Freeman, 5 Lewis Holmes

 

Junior C Heat 1

1 Daniel Hunt, 2 Vince Pryke, 3 David Whitehead, 4 Kyle Wilby, 5 Ryan Cole

Junior C Heat 2

1 Kyle Wilby, 2 David Whitehead, 3 Shaun Grimwood, 4 Vince Pryke, 5 Luke Nolan

Junior C Heat 3

1 Luke Nolan, 2 David Whitehead, 3 Ashley Bridges, 4 Michael Abel, 5 Steven East

Junior C Overall

1 David Whitehead, 2 Luke Nolan, 3 Kyle Wilby, 4 Vince Pryke, 5 Ben Catchpole

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