After almost quitting following a crash last June that left him with multiple fractures and put him out for the year, Ant Barrett (above) returned to the ACU British Masters championship on Sunday at the opening meeting of NORA MX season at Mepal in Cambridgeshire and won!
Suzuki-mounted Barrett, who has had strong showings in this year’s early season breach races, always looked at home around the rough sand track as he won all three races in a day of exciting battles with reigning champion, Ed Davies.
In the opening race Barrett led out with Davies regularly mounting challenges in the closing stages, without success. In the second race Davies led initially, before Barrett took over, then Davies crashed his KTM as tried to battle back. He remounted, with the left rear tyre off the rim, to finish third.
Then in the final race Barrett led from the gate to win by 15 seconds, with Davies back in third. It was enough to give Barrett a 15-point winning margin over Davies in second.
Third overall went to Clint Eagle, who tied on 101 points with Gary Aldington, but Eagle got the nod thanks to his second in the final race. Aldington, a welcome new addition to the series, also took a second, plus the fastest lap, in the second race.
The Masters B championship, run within the same race, went to Matthew James who took two class wins, after Trever Humphris, who was second overall, won the first.
A second ACU British championship be staged at all NORA MX meetings this year is the 250 Youth class, but it looks like the title may be heading overseas if the first round is a fair barometer. Estonian Martin Adamson put down a marker in qualifying by going 3.5 seconds quicker than Bailey Edwards.
And, in the three races, Adamson led every lap; his smallest winning margin was 15 seconds, his largest was 45. Each time Edwards, who was certainly the best of the rest on the day, mounted spirited pursuits on his way to three seconds.
Third place in each race went to different riders. In the first Lawrence Whyte, who had come all the way from Aberdeen, took the honours, in the second Jack Holmes, then in the third it was Joshua Crane.
Highest placed 250 Modified rider in a class dominated by Open machines, was Dafydd Davies, in fourth overall. Davies won all three Modified races, each time from Aytron Knowles.
The Expert class was keenly anticipated on Sunday as it featured many of the names likely to be front-runners in this year’s ACU British Quad championship, but few expected one man to dominante as new Yamaha signing Stefan Murphy did. He smashed the quality field by 37 seconds then 29 seconds respectively in the first two races.
Only in the third, when the track was at its roughest did he come under any threat after the UK’s top beach race Carl Bunce reeled him in the closing stages, only to crash moments later when caught out by a fast rough section. Bunce, who had been second in the first two races, after battling through some tough groups, remounted to finish third, which secured him second overall.
Third overall was the reigning British champion Paul Holmes, who ground out two fourths before taking second in the final race.
Reigning Expert champ Luke Cooper had a steady day by his high standards with two fifths and a third, however it was enough to give him victory in the Riverside Under 23 class.
The busy Clubman and Rookie group saw three different race winners – Jack Naylor, Harry Walker and James Bevan (all Rookies), but it was reigning 250 Modified champion Naylor who nicked overall victory after backing up his win with two thirds.
Second overall was Tom Yates, who also took his first ever overall win in the Clubman class, thanks to third and two wins.
The 100 Group was another keenly anticipated class as it brought together several talented young riders, in the 100 Open class (for 150 geared machines), that had previously raced in different classes. In the end it was the consistency of Marcus Sprason, with three seconds, who secured victory.
Race wins went to Catrin Davies, Alfie Walker and Joshua Birch. But it’s clear any one of six riders is capable of winning races. One to watch!
RESULTS:
Experts: 1 Stefan Murphy, 2 Carl Bunce, 3 Paul Holmes, 4 Paul Winrow, 5 Luke Cooper, 6 Oli Sansom
Under 23: 1 Luke Cooper, 2 George Callaway, 3 Harry Miller, 4 Luke Davies, 5 Josh Waring, 6 Josh Coombs.
Clubman: 1Jack Naylor, 2 Tom Yates, 3 Kyle Hawkes, 4 James Bevan, 5 Harry Walker, 6 Ameelie Miller
Rookie: 1 Jack Naylor, 2 James Bevan, 3 Harry Walker, 5 Joe Ruby, 6 Jamie Smith
Masters British Championship: 1 Ant Barrett, 2 Ed Davies, 3 Clint Eagle, 4 Gary Aldington, 5 Darren Bridge, 6 Chris Murphy
Masters B: 1 Matthew James, 2 Trevor Humphris, 3 Richard Clark, 4 Andrew Willcock, 5 Rick Jones, 6 Clyde Thompson
250cc Youth British Championship: 1 Martin Adamson, 2 Bailey Edwards, 3 Joshua Crane, 4 Dafydd Davies, 5 Ayrton Knowles, 6 Tom Chell
250 Open: 1 Martin Adamson, 2 Bailey Edwards, 3 Joshua Crane, 4 Jack Holmes, 5 Ryan Spratt-Wyatt, 6 Reece Miller.
250 Modified: 1 Dafydd Davies, 2 Ayrton Knowles, 3 Tom Chell, 4 Dean Porter, 5 Bradley Cockrem, 6 William Booth.
250 Standard: 1 Oliver Martin, 2 Bradley Lightfoot, 3 Harry Ruby, 4 Daniel Hares, 5 Elysha Crane, 6 Joseph Jukes.
250 Stock: 1 Shanice Mott. No other finishers
100 Group Overall: 1 Marcus Sprason, 2 Catrin Davies, 3 Joshua Birch, 4 Alfie Walker, 5 Lewis Humphris, 6 Dylan McKenna.
100cc Open: 1 Marcus Sprason, 2 Catrin Davies, 3 Joshua Birch, 4 Alfie Walker, 5 Dylan McKenna, 6 Woody Jackson.
100cc Modified: 1 Shelley Smart. No other finishers.
100c Standard: 1 Dillon Stepney, 2 Terence Palin. No other finishers.
50cc Youth: 1 Aled Davies. No other finishers
Enter Round 2 Grittenham up next: Entries are now open for the second round of the NORA MX championship at Grittenham (SN15 4JW) and you can enter now online by simply
clicking here
This hard pack, quad-friendly track is always one of our most popular and always attracts a big entry so you are recommended to get your entry in quickly if you wish to ride in one of the more popular classes.
Once again
all NORA championship classes, plus round two of the 250 and Masters ACU British Championships, will be held.
In addition we will be running the opening round of the
EVO Cup and Fun Cup championships at this event. It is important that if you intend to ride on these classes that you either enter online, or register your intent to ride by texting Stuart Walker, on 07836 242000 by Monday March 24th.
See you there!