Elliott Banks-Browne turned up the heat and was unbeaten on his Geartec Husqvarna at round two of the Bridgestone British Masters at a sunny Wroxton circuit on Oxfordshire this weekend. He was fastest in qualifying, won both combined MX1 and MX2 pro races and then added another win in the Adult Annual Cup handicap race at the end of the day. But what a track Wroxton is. Set in a small valley with lovely sweeping up and down hills and loads of mega jumps. Considering the sunny conditions, there was not much dust on the hard pack surface, writes Dick Law.
In the pro MX2s Josh Gilbert was unstoppable on his Adventure Centre Honda by setting second fastest qualifying time, within a second of Banks-Browne’s fastest time on a 450, but almost a second and a half clear of the rest of the pros who were mostly on bigger MX1 machines.
From the drop of the start gate in pro race one, Banks-Browne showed he was not messing about as he got the holeshot and went unchallenged to take his first win of the day while Jake Shipton, who didn’t decide he was going to race till first thing Sunday morning and rode a bike he was practicing on the day before, followed Banks-Browne over the line.
Kristian Whatley, who looked more his usual smooth riding self, gated third but was pushed down to third by his RHR Yamaha riding team mate Ryan Houghton on lap three.
In the MX2s Gilbert had a battle that lasted two thirds of the race with a fast-starting Michael Ellis till Josh Spinks, from 16th at the start came join the fun and snatched second in class from Ellis.
Brad Todd, who was suffering from some sort of bug and didn’t look at all well, was third with Dylan Woodcock fourth.
Shipton got the holeshot at the start of race two from James Harrison who loves hard pack, Houghton and Harrison’s Cab Screen Honda team mate Dan Thornhill and Banks-Browne while in the MX2 side of things once again Ellis got the better of Gilbert in ninth and eleventh places.
It took till lap four for Banks-Browne to get in to the lead and win race two as Shipton, once again followed him over the finish line. Houghton spent all race in third as Harrison made a couple of mistakes and slipped back to ninth on the track, seventh in class. Whatley gated seventh but moved up to fourth followed by Thornhill and Knight.
Gilbert got passed Ellis at the halfway stage and finished seventh on the track deep within the 450s but first MX2 home with Ellis just one place behind him, from Todd and Woodcock.
The one off “Adult Annual Cup” race at the end of the day where top ten pro, plus the top ten amateurs, top five clubman and top five 125 all raced together with all but the pros getting a ten second head start, was won by Banks-Browne who closed up the ten second advantage and passed 20 riders in three laps of the fifteen minutes plus a lap race. Spinks was third from Whatley, Houghton and Gilbert.
“It’s been a really good day today,” said winner Banks-Browne, “I am feeling good on the bike at the moment and it’s going really well, and I think that shows in my riding. I could have gone to Lyng this weekend for a local centre meeting and get some practice in for the Maxxis later in the year, but I thought I would come here and ride a track I have not ridden before and the track is really really good and prepared very well. You could have a round of the Maxxis here it’s so good. Three wins’ is good, and I have made some money for a change. I am now thinking of doing the rest of the series as I am leading the championship.”
Gilbert on his way to the top step of the pro MX2 podium said: “It’s always good coming to a different track as you just don’t know how the lines are going to form and that makes it more interesting seeing how the track evolves. I really enjoyed the track but the last “Adult Annual Cup” race could have ended in carnage with the speed difference going off some of the big jumps. But to come away with two race wins is always a good day.”
It was very tight at the top of the amateur MX1 with just ten points separating the top four and with a different winner in each of the four races. Joshua Bentley, the race three winner won the overall by just two points from race two winner Harry Bradley with race one winner Luke Houghton third just five points off the overall win. Adam Wells winner of the last race of the weekend had a disaster of a second race and ended up seventh overall.
Charlie Putman loved the track on day one and took both wins but on the second dryer day he couldn’t repeat the same form though he did enough to take the amateur MX2 overall by just two points from race three winner Corie Southwood with Jaydon Murphy third.
In the ever popular 125s. Dylan Spencer got off to a shaky start by finishing fifth, but from then on he won all three races for the overall win. Jasper Uphill was second overall with Cullen Scott third, just two points behind him.
Mitchell Bates was unbeaten in the clubman class with Alex Harvey second and Greg Fisher third.
Sam Ongley and Rory Jones were tied on points at the top of the MXY2 but race one winner Ongley was given the overall by his higher place finish in the last race. Aaron Patstone was third with two race winner Todd Leadbitter slumping to sixth overall after a poor first race.
Cullum Baldwin dominated the big wheel 85s with two wins and two second places from race four winner Sam Davis and Harvey Cashmere.
With two wins, a second and a fifth Keelan Hope won the small wheels overall from Liam Bennett and Joel Fisher.
Will Haddock was unbeaten in the junior 65s with Warren Clark chasing him over the line in three out of the four races second and with Freddie Gardener third.
Top ten overall
Pro MX1:
1 Elliot Banks-Browne 45 + 45 = 90
2 Jake Shipton 43 + 43 = 86
3 Ryan Houghton 41 + 41 = 82
4 Kristian Whatley 39 + 39 = 78
5 Dan Thornhill 37 + 37 = 74
6 Liam Knight 35 + 35 = 70
7 James Harrison 32 + 34 = 66
8 Matt Burrows 33 + 32 = 65
9 Carlton Husband 34 + 31 = 65
10 Corey Nameth 30 + 30 = 60
Pro MX2:
1 Josh Gilbert 45 + 45 = 90
2 Michael Ellis 41 + 43 = 84
3 Brad Todd 39 + 41 = 80
4 Dylan Woodcock 37 + 39 = 76
5 Seb Osborne 35 + 37 = 72
6 Josh Spinks 43 + 29 = 72
7 Ashley Smith 34 + 35 = 69
8 Ben Franklin 32 + 34 = 66
9 Luke Smith 30 + 33 = 63
10 Corey Hockey 31 + 31 = 62
Adult annual cup:
1 Elliott Banks-Browne
2 Josh Spinks
3 Kristian Whatley
4 Ryan Houghton
5 Josh Gilbert
6 Michael Ellis
7 Dan Thornhill
8 Brad Todd
9 Jaydon Murphy
10 Luke Smith
Amateur MX1:
1 Joshua Bentley 164
2 Harry Bradley 162
3 Luke Houghton 159
4 Conner Halligan 154
5 Scott Bates 153
6 Ryan Bruce 146
7 Adam Wells 144
8 Alan Pearce 135
9 Matt Lomas 123
10 James Goodall 122
Amateur MX2:
1 Charlie Putman 170
2 Corie Southwood 168
3 Jaydon Murphy 160
4 Callum Green 154
5 Denny Rapson 144
6 Harry Linton 136
7 Mitchell Warhurst 131
8 Aaron Ongley 130
9 Jordan Bachelor 123
10 Luke Spence 121
125cc:
1 Dylan Spencer 172
2 Jasper Uphill 164
3 Cullen Scott 162
4 Chuck Davies 158
5 Troy Willerton 143
6 Ricky Lethaby 138
7 Danny Clarke 122
8 Elliott Bradshaw 121
9 Ricky Roberts 119
10 Jack Marshall 111
Clubman:
1 Mitchell Bates 180
2 Alex Harvey 166
3 Greg Fisher 156
4 Josh Watson-Bailey 145
5 Bradley Priest 143
6 Matthew Jones 136
7 Peter Sargent 136
8 Lewis Grimshaw 123
9 Dean Hakes 117
10 Charlie Sutton 116
MXY2:
1 Sam Ongley 166
2 Rory Jones 166
3 Aaron Patstone 158
4 Toby Avis 153
5 Kurt Griffiths 152
6 Todd Leadbitter 149
7 Lewis Parry 139
8 Oliver Cook 134
9 Lewis O’Sullivan 124
10 Callum Crossland 122
Big wheel 85s:
1 Callum Baldwin 176
2 Sam Davis 168
3 Harvey Cashmere 162
4 Billy Collins 153
5 Jade Morris 149
6 Jason Bancroft 137
7 Alby Smith 135
8 Tyler Etheridge 134
9 Guitar Webster 127
10 Jack Raybould 118
Small wheel 85s:
1 Keelan Hope 170
2 Liam Bennett 160
3 Joel Fisher 154
4 Tye Jones 152
5 Charlie Reynolds 147
6 Kayde Rayns 143
7 Ollie Addy 137
8 Hudson Roper 127
9 Billy Moriarty 125
10 Jake Walker 120
Junior 65s:
1 Will Haddock 180
2 Warren Clarke 170
3 Freddie Gardener 158
4 Joey Benfield 154
5 James Parr 143
6 Drew Stock 140
7 Jack Davies 136
8 Travis Barnes 133
9 Declan Wright 127
10 Alfie Davies 125
