On Sunday 7th of September, Halstead and District MCC hosted the final round of the 2025 ACU Eastern Centre championship, proudly sponsored by Stebbings Car Superstore and Templant Hire LTD. With the weather forecast looking sunny and the heavy rain that fell in the week leading up to the meeting, the track was in prime condition ready for the busy 12 race schedule that awaited.
With Sam Nunn winning the expert championship and Alfie Geddes-Green taking the Junior championship a round early, this meant that the 2nd and 3rd steps of the podium were up for grabs in both classes. Unfortunately Sam Nunn was unable to ride the final round due to injury but there were still plenty of top expert riders looking to battle it out for championship points alongside the fastest junior riders.
In race one of the Premier class, it was Ben Cole on his return from injury who grabbed the holeshot and led the opening laps, with Max Broadbelt, Shaun Southgate and Will Farrow all close behind. Broadbelt then made the pass on Cole who soon saw Southgate go charging on by and into second. After a decent start Syd Bales was showing good pace in and around the top five on his return to racing, while Bayliss Utting moved up to third place. Broadbelt would hang on to take race one victory ahead of Southgate in second, Utting in third and Ben Cole in fourth. Syd Bales finished in a very respectable fifth place.
In Race two Ben Cole was again quick out of the gate but Broadbelt emerged as the early leader with Southgate and Utting all inside the top five. Southgate started to put the pressure on leader Broadbelt and was in the perfect place to capitalise when Broadbelt made a costly mistake just under halfway through the race. Southgate would go on to control the race and take the win ahead of Broadbelt in second and Utting in third. In fourth was Ben Cole and Adam Collings finished fifth.
The final Premier class race got underway and Broadbelt was again up at the sharp end, alongside Southgate, Cole and Bayliss Utting. With the overall up for grabs between Broadbelt and Southgate, both knew that a win in this final race would see them take the overall. Both riders put on a great show and weaved their way past the lapped riders in fine style but Broadbelt managed to hold off the pressure from behind to take the win ahead of Southgate in second, Utting in third and Cole once again in fourth place. Finishing in fifth was Callum Murfitt for his best result of the afternoon.
The Expert overall would go to Broadbelt with 72 points, Southgate in second with 69 points and Utting in third with 60 points. This also meant that the expert championship standings finished with Sam Nunn regaining his title on 345 points, in second was Max Broadbelt on 342 points and in third was Shaun Southgate with 319 points.
The Junior class overall was claimed by Travis Bixby with 69 points ahead of John Hinz with 53 points and Alfie Geddes-Green in third with 50 points. The overall championship standings would see Alfie Geddes-Green take the title with 467 points, in second was Travis Bixby with 405 points and in third was James Rowsell with 376 points.
In the support ‘A’ class the overall was awarded to Henry Cox with a 1-2-1 ahead of Aaron Smith in second with a 3-3-2, and in third was Joseph Henthorn with a 4-4-4.
The support ‘B’ overall honors were claimed by Rudi Carter with a 3-1-1 ahead of Ryan Beeston in second with a 5-5-2 finish. In third was Jake Hicks with a 8-3-3.
support ‘C’ overall was taken by Marcus Becque with a 1-1-1 ahead of Shaun Tacey with a 2-2-2 and in third was Kian Bassett with a 4-4-3.
Halstead and District MCC would like to thank all marshalls, medics and officials for their hard work during 2025 and of course the spectators for their continued support. The club looks forward to welcoming you all back in 2026 to mark the club's 100 year anniversary!
Report by Stefan Hicks
Images courtesy of Narna Media.