Bridgestone British Masters Powered by Rock Oil Round One report, images and results from Oakhanger

By Dick Law on 9th Apr 24

News Motocross

Crendon Tru7 Honda’s Conrad Mewse won both Expert races to claim the overall and early series lead at round one of the Bridgestone Masters, Powered by Rock Oil, held at Oakhanger in Hampshire.

The meeting was held on a shortened, rough and tough, sandy Oakhanger track at Bordon in Hampshire. With packed-to-capacity start gates in all nine classes, over 300 rides packed the paddock among the trees, all looking to start their racing season.

The heroes of the meeting, however, were the track crew who worked tirelessly in their diggers. After presenting the club with a great track on Saturday morning, they worked both days between the races to keep the bumps, holes, and berms to a reasonable level.

Even after a 10-week layoff from racing, Mewse came back with all guns blazing as he set the fastest qualifying time. He just beat John Adamson by just over a quarter of a second, but Mewse did his fastest lap on a rougher lap eight while most of the rest did their quickest time on a relatively smoother lap two.

Mewse’s speed translated into the races. At the start of race one, he got the holeshot and in a flawless display of smooth and fast riding, he powered away to win the race by almost 40 seconds.

Adamson gated third but, by the end of the opening lap, had passed James Dodd, who, after being second at the start, crashed down to sixth deep in the Oakhanger woods.

Adamson had a lonely race on his way to second place. After passing Dodd and losing sight of Mewse, the only riders he saw were when he lapped them.

Dan Thornhill had a good start and was running third for the first six laps till Taylor Hammal, from 10th off the gate, snatched the place from him and made third his own.

Carlton Husband was showing some speed as well. He lost a place to the flying Hammal but passed Thornhill on lap nine to score a strong fourth place, with Thornhill hanging onto fifth.

Liam Knight started sixth and, after swapping a couple of places, ended his race where he started – sixth. Dodd, after his great start, finished in seventh place and was the last rider on the lead lap.

Husband got the holeshot at the start of the second race, but by the third turn, Adamson powered past him and into the lead, with Hammal and Mewse following him through later in the lap.

Adamson made a minor error on the next lap allowing Hammal and Mewse past. But, a lap later, there was no stopping Mewse from taking the lead from where he had just powered away from the pack and cruised to a comfortable second race win.

Try as hard as he could for the rest of the race, Adamson couldn’t close the gap between himself and Hammal as the pair finished second and third.

Knight had had a worse start than in the first race but had more pace as he started ninth to end it in fourth, while Husband’s race came to a stop halfway through the race when his exhaust system broke.

Thornhill didn’t get the best start but made his way up to fifth by the halfway stage, only to lose a place on the very last lap as Reece Jones, from 17th at the start, snatched fifth from him.

Thornhill was sixth and the last rider on the lead lap.

Overall, it was Mewse from Hammal and Adamson, with Knight and Thornhill just missing out on a podium position.

“It’s been a long time off and a tough injury”, said a happy Mewse, “It’s been a difficult time for me with 10 weeks off the bike.  It’s tough to come back from. The track was tough, but we did what we came here to do, we certainly have a lot more work to do, but we have two weeks to the Fastest 40 and then the British championship, which is our main goal. So we will be putting in the hard work and come out ready for round one.”

“With Conrad here, everyone is looking to see who will be second,” said runner-up Hammal. “In the second race, when I finally got a good start, I tried to stay with him for a couple of laps, but when he breaks that tow, he’s gone. But overall, it's good to get the first race of the year out of the way on the 450. I have been desperate to get on a 450 for a while now, so Dave (Thorpe) had given me a chance to do one series on it, so I am happy with that. Hopefully, I can show people what I can do on it ready for next year.”

“I didn’t have an answer for Conrad Mewse today,” admitted third-placed John Adamson. “He was in a class of his own. He had his time off with his injury but has come back with vengeance and is riding flawlessly again. So, we need to go back to the drawing board to see if we can have anything for him in the future. It was tough out there today and I couldn’t get a good feeling with the track like I had here a couple of weeks ago. But it’s OK. We came here for a run out and it was good to try and learn from the boys that are winning.”

Wildcard rider Scott Aldridge won the Amateur MX1 class with three wins and a third place. However, despite easy wins on Saturday, he didn’t have it easy on Sunday. While Daniel Maule, Ben Knight, and Jake Winnard led that race from the start, Aldridge started way back in 11th place with a lot to do. By the end of three laps, he was in third place, and three laps later, he was in the lead and on his way to his third win.

In the fourth and final race, while Seth Manners, Josh Greedy, and Maule disputed the lead, Aldridge was way back in 14th place. He was quickly up to seventh but seemed to get stuck there for too long, as by the time he was on the move again, the top three were out of reach in the remaining laps.

Maule was second overall, six points behind Aldridge with Manners third and Greedy fourth.

Wildcard racer Bailey Johnston was unstoppable in the Amateur MX2 class, winning four races from four starts. Raife Broadley followed Johnston over the finish line in all the races and finished second overall, with Jonathan Roderick-Evans third.

Scott Bates didn’t finish out of the top three over the weekend, and with two race wins, he won the overall in the hotly contested Clubman class. With two race wins, Dan Chapman was second, eight points behind the winner. Elliott Pugh was third, while wildcard rider Luke Richardson just missed out on a podium by just three points.

It was very close at the top of the 125cc class as Chester Hyde, with a win, two seconds, and a third place, took the overall win from Matt Bayliss, who had two wins, a third and a fourth place as they ended the weekend separated by just two points. Race one winner Charlie Richmond was third, four points behind the leading pair.

What can you say about the young wildcard racer Jamie Keith in the MXY2s? On a two-stroke against the more powerful and easier-to-ride four-strokes and on a power-sapping sandy Oakhanger track, he took four wins from his four starts.

Tyla Hooley chased Keith over the finish line in each of the races for second with Harrison Greenough taking third overall. Beau Brown finished on equal points as Greenough but was placed fourth by Brown’s higher place finish in race four.

In the Big Wheel 85s, it was close at the top, with Alfie Geddes-Green and wildcard rider Finley Pickering ending the four-race weekend separated by just one point.

In the first race, Pickering led Geddes-Green at the start, then swapped back on lap three. They continued in that order till the last lap when Pickering snatched the win. In race two Geddes-Green led from the gate from Pickering and Kameron Greenhaigh. In race three, Pickering crashed out of the lead and dropped back to fifth but made a comeback to take the win. While this was happening, Zane Stephens was second, but Geddes-Green had worked his way from fifth to third on lap four, but a crash dropped him back to finish sixth. In the fourth and final race of the weekend, after race leader Danny Flude crashed out of the lead, Geddes-Green took over the lead and the win. Greenhalgh was second in the race and third overall, while Pickering crashed out of fifth but finished seventh, which robbed him of the overall win.

Harley Marczak won the Small Wheel 85s but rode better on Sunday than he did on Saturday. In race one, while Nixon Coppins led from start to finish, Marzak gated fourth and finished second. In race two, after holeshotting, Teddy Merriman slipped down the pack, and new leader Archie Butterfield crashed out of the lead leaving Leo Wilson to win the race with Marczak finishing fifth. On Sunday, he won both races and took the overall by nine points from Arthur Moore, Butterfield, and Wilson.

The Junior 65s were always going to have trouble with the deep, boggy bits of the Oakhanger track, and none would see the end of racing without coming off two or three times. Wildcard rider Jett Gardiner didn’t win a race but by finishing high up in each race took the overall win. Second-place man Elliott Shawyer also didn’t win a race on his place to the runner-up position. Ronan Watson, who won the opening race took third ahead of Jack Clark. The fastest lad on the track was undoubtedly Cohen Jagielski who made up for a race one DNF by winning all three remaining motos. However, he had to be content with fifth place.

Results

Expert Open

Amateur MX1

Amateur MX2

Clubman

125cc

MXY2

Big Wheel 85

Small Wheel 85

Junior 65

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