With now just three rounds remaining, the heat is certainly rising in the race for the 2019 AMCA British Motocross Championship glory. This Sunday, July 28th its round eight and a trip to Culham in Oxfordshire with Shane Carless (MX1), Jamie Wainwright (MX2), Lewis Dowdeswell(125cc), Jamie Powell (Vets) and Matt Tolley (Youth) currently leading the respective charges.
And in the series powered by Datatag and supported by Dunlop, some of the Championship classes now show significant changes in the leaderboard positions of riders also in the hunt for honours. Those changes have been brought about by the additional ‘bonus’ 300 points competitors have been able to accumulate if they have also entered and raced in up to five AMCA Club level events.
So with a 2nd overall last time out at Hawkstone, FUS Marsh MX Husqvarna ace Shane Carless is now in pole position in the very competitive MX1 contest. Shane is currently 39 points clear of James Dodd who has leapfrogged Neville Bradshaw thanks to the ‘bonus points’ system. In this class, defending Champion Josh Waterman and Gary Gibson are still very much in contention as Ashley Thomas, Luke Mellows, Sean Wainwright, Rhys Walker and Daniel Preston are next up.
With yet another overall win, Jamie Wainwright (Apex KTM UK) has stretched his lead at the top of MX2 to a 69 point advantage. Completing the podium at Hawkstone were Kristian Whatley and a very brave Josh Coleman who earlier in the day had dislocated his shoulder during timed practice. However in the Championship table, Whatley has been pushed back to 3rd whilst Coleman’s still in 4th as it’s now Ryan Crowder sitting in 2nd due to the ‘bonus points’ addition. One of the star performers last time out at Hawkstone was 2T flyer Corie Southwood bagging his first ever Championship moto victory. That result as fired him up to 9th in the table just behind Luke Dean, Henry Williams, Clinton Barrs and Lee Truman.
Going into the last round held at Hawkstone, Lewis Dowdeswell (FWC Construction Bay KTM) was just a single point clear of his nearest challenger Chris Povey in the race for the 125cc Championship title. That advantage though is now 39 points in Dowdeswell’s favour after he had scorched to a brilliant maximum score. With Brad Malin out for the rest of the season due to a serious knee injury, Ryan Zebedee has sprung up into 3rd in the 125cc standings. With the bonus points changing the chasing order in this superbly entertaining class, it’s now Ben Watkins in 4th ahead of Malin, Jordan Ridgway, Nathan Bache and Ryan Jones.
Although Wildcard entry Phil Mercer took the Vets win last time out, Jamie Powell still increased his Championship lead after scoring a composed 2nd overall. The SRH KTM rider now holds a 94 point advantage at the top ahead of defending Vets Champion Simon Lane. Slotting into 3rd spot in the title chase is Craig Chamberlain with the injured James Lane, Colin Conduit and Darren Bennett next up. In the Vets there’s also a separately scored contest for riders Over 50 with John Heath currently the leader 16 points clear of Stephen Elford.
For the first time this season, Matt Tolley failed to make it onto the Youth podium at Hawkstone after crashing in the last moto of the day. Despite that fall though, Matt on the IDS/Tolley Jewellers KTM is still in control, 38 points clear of his closest challenger Ezra Blackwell. With those points accumulated for attendance at AMCA club level events, the series standings now as slightly different appearance. Harry Ridgway is still in 3rd but Joshua Fletcher-Williams has jumped up to 4th ahead of Yarin Evans, Brodie Salt, Mitchell Hartill and Jake O’Gorman with Reece Leverton dropping down to 9th.
So Culham which sits on the outskirts of Abingdon in Oxfordshire is the place to be this Sunday.The circuit can be found off the A415, postcode OX14 3DA. Words and image by Mike Wood.