Thursday July 25, 2019 at 12:30pm
Another bumper weekend of Grasstrack racing is set to take place at the unique Cornish Boarded Circuit in a couple of weeks as Mid Cornwall Premier MCC stage the ACU British Youth Championships. And to make a fine weekend of it, the club are hosting their traditional Westcountry Winner meeting the following day.
The Championships, which takes place on Saturday 3rd August, will display a hotbed of the top talent that currently race in the youth ranks in the UK. This season has seen something of a resurgence of youth racing in this country, and the event is a real celebration of this fact. All four youth classes come to the tapes on the day to race for the coveted British title.
The youngest class, the Auto Cadets, sees a real racing rivalry come to the fore. Essex-based Archie Rolph and Bridgwater’s Oliver Bovingdon have been battling all season up and down the country. They have swapped positions several times, with both riders claiming victories. The rivalry of these two youngsters comes to a dramatic climax for the British title.
The Cadet class sees reigning champion Cooper Rushen try and defend his British crown for a fourth successive year. The vastly talented youngster won the Auto Cadet title twice before moving to the Cadets and winning that class in 2018. Trying to put a stop to Rushen’s dominance will be reigning Auto Cadet champion Ollie Binns. He has moved up to the Cadets class and has shown some great promise.
The Junior class has been a real success story in 2019. The kids who race in this class have shown some incredible talent this season and it is one of the most hotly contested racing classes in all of Grasstrack. Heading the line-up and starting as favourite is Max Perry. The talented youngster has already won four British titles, and 2018 was the only year where he hasn’t been British champion. This will be his last year in the Junior class and he has been in sensational form all season. However, there are plenty of riders lining up to challenge the multi-British Champion. Guernsey racer Thomas Vining has put in a full season of Grasstrack on mainland Britain this year, and is a much stronger rider for doing so. And the lad who is really turning heads, having won the Junior Whoppa last weekend, is George Colvin. He was given special dispensation to move up to Juniors this season, though he is younger than his fellow competitors. He has gone from strength to strength though, and could be the rider to take it to Perry on the day.
The Intermediate class sees some interesting clashes. Reigning and defending British Intermediate champion Mickie Simpson has had a lot of bad luck heading into this year’s event. There’s no doubt, however, that Simpson will be the one to catch on the day. Reigning Junior champion Cameron Taylor has steadily improved in his first season in the Inters class. He is known to ride this unique circuit well and could well be a spoiler to Simpson. Two riders in this class, Chris Mackie and Kai Ward, have now tasted adult racing and have been competitive in amongst the men. They could use this experience to mount a challenge on their British Championship winning opponents.
The final championship competition will be the British Under 21 championships, which has attracted some very big names. Reigning British Masters Champion Zach Wajtknecht looks to win the title for the final time before he becomes too old for eligibility. He has won the title before and will surely start as favourite to win again.
Trying to stop him, however, will be reigning British 250cc champion Henry Atkins. The Somerset Rebels speedway racer rode fantastically to become a three-time British 250cc champion earlier in the year and would dearly love to add another British title to his already impressive resume. Yet another British champion, 350cc Upright British champ, Luke Harris also joins the foray. Harris, who has been performing well all season, has ridden this circuit and won before.
The event will be supported by a big line-up of Quads, who are racing for the multi-round John Elliott championship. The Quads have proven to be spectacular at the Roche venue in the past and some of the top four-wheeled oval racers are making the trip to take part.
On Sunday 4th August, the following day, more racing will take place as the club hosts the Westcountry Winner. All of the youth competitors will take part once again, no doubt vowing for revenge from the previous day’s racing. Joining them will be an excellent lineup of the highly entertaining GT140 class. 1000cc sidecars, old/new sidecars, upright solos, 250cc solos and solo open (once again including British Masters champion Zach Wajtknecht) all come together for what looks to be another great meeting in Cornwall.
The permanent, semi-boarded venue is easy to find. It is straight off of the A30 at ‘Victoria Interchange’. The venue is signposted from here. With camping, beer tent and even a McDonalds in close quarters, there are plenty of reasons to make a full weekend of it in Cornwall
Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th August. The newest champions will be decided.