Canada Heights hosts Motul MXGB Round Two
By Team TMX on 20th May 25
Canada Heights in Kent hosted the second round of the Motul ACU British Motocross Championship. The Sidcup Club had invested a lot of hard work and time in altering their famous and historic circuit to improve racing and create a more spectacular look for spectators. And judging from what the massive crowd was saying, it seemed to work.
Despite battling a hand injury that has permitted him to race only once in recent weeks Crendon TRU7 Honda’s Conrad Mewse achieved an MX1 clean sweep as he was the fastest in qualifying and took two race wins.
In the MX2 class, Dirt Store Triumph pairing Tommy Searle and Billy Askew nettled for the win, the experienced Searle sneaking past his young teammate Askew in race two to secure victory.
Mewse led the first MX1 race around the opening lap, with Josh Gilbert (Lexa Honda) and Adam Sterry (Chambers KTM) in his wheel tracks. The three fast riders seemed to be in a class of their own as they had already pulled away from the rest of the pack.
For the first three laps, Gilbert hung on to the flying Mewse until he started to suffer from the dreaded arm pump. It got so bad that he almost lost control of his machine at the top of the staircase, which allowed Sterry to slip through into second place.
From that point on, the three leaders were spaced out and maintained a similar pace until the end of the 15-lap race. Behind them, Chris Mills (MVD Yamaha) had gated fifth and maintained that position for the first nine laps until fatigue caused him to finish seventh.
Taylor Hammal (Bike it Kawasaki) was the first rider to pass Mills as he came from eighth to finish fourth, with Tristan Purdon (SC Sporthomes Husqvarna) doing almost the same thing as he moved up from 11th at the start to fifth at the finish flag.
Mewse crossed the finish line almost 44 seconds clear of Sterry, who had Gilbert a minute behind him. Then it was Hammal from Purdon and Jamie Carpenter (Crendon TRU7 Honda).
The second MX1 race was a carbon copy of the first, with Mewse leading the entire race from the drop of the start gate until the chequered flag. Once again, Gilbert was second at the start, with Sterry third. However, on lap three, with arm pump returning, Sterry took second place from him. They maintained that order until the end of the race, while John Adamson (Lexa Honda) spent the entire race in fourth place.
Carpenter had gated well in fifth but a fall dropped him down three places to eighth, from where he managed to claw his way back to finish sixth.
Hammal didn’t have the best race. He started in eighth place and moved up a position when Carpenter came off. However, three laps later, he crashed all the way down to 21st and could only recover to finish 17th, one lap behind the leaders.
Overall, the finishing order was the same as both race results, with Mewse winning, followed by Sterry and Gilbert. Carpenter was the best of the rest, finishing ahead of Purdon, Jason Meara (Moto-Cycle Racing Gas Gas), and Adamson. Carlton Husband (Phoenix Tools Fantic) delivered two consistent rides, securing eighth place, while Hammal, despite his crash, was ninth overall.
“I came here without any expectations really,” said a surprised overall winner, Mewse. “I have had one race in four weeks and haven’t ridden the bike at all in the week. I crashed four weeks ago and dislocated a bone in my wrist and damaged the ligaments. So, I have been struggling with that. It’s probably the most unprepared I have ever come to a British Championship. So I can’t be unhappy with the result. Adam (Sterry) and Josh (Gilbert) rode well today, and I am so pumped to get another one, one today. Now I just need to rest this wrist and hopefully get some more bike time in before the next round at Blaxhall.”
Second overall, Sterry said after racing was over, “It’s hard to be disappointed with second in both races and second overall riding in the British Championship, but you always want more. I think the starts let me down a bit today as I felt I had the speed to run with Conrad (Mewse), but by the time I got into second, he was already gone. You have to play it safe as I pushed hard in the second moto, but the gap to Conrad was slowly getting bigger, and closing that gap would mean taking a lot of risks. It’s a long championship and can easily be lost with a silly crash.”
Gilbert said from third place on the podium when asked about his almost crash, “Wow, its started off well when I got the holeshot in the first race. But Conrad (Mewse) got me early and I settled into second place when arm pump set in and I began to struggle a bit. Then, I had a massive moment at the top of the jumps where I nearly ended up in the chestnut fencing and a tree. I took a post out with lots of tape, which wrapped around me. So, it was a bit of an eventful start to the first moto. After that, I just rode around as I couldn’t do anything with my arm pump. I regrouped for the second race and I did feel a bit better, but I just didn’t have the speed I wanted and needed. Perhaps taking it a bit easier on myself in the next week, as I have been pushing myself a bit hard trying to catch up after several early-season injuries.”
In a shortened first MX2 race, Searle led the pack around the opening lap with Gyan Doensen (Gabriel SS24 KTM) and Bobby Bruce (Bike it Kawasaki) close behind as Ben Mustoe (ASA United GASGAS) took Glenn McCormick’s (Chambers KTM) fourth place. However, a lap later, things would start to heat up behind them.
Oriol Oliver (Gabriel SS24 KTM) slipped off and dropped back from sixth to 13th place. Then, in an effort to quickly get back to the leading group, he came up to the back of Jake Nicholls (Crendon TRU7 Honda) and slid into him while going around one of the track corners, taking them both down. The two bikes were in a heap and tensions ran high with Nicholls pushing and shoving and Oliver. Oliver went on to finish 17th in the short time remaining, with Nicholls finishing in 19th place. There was some official discussion with the riders afterwards, apologies were made and everyone left happy.
Later, with the leaders on their sixth lap, a rider hit one of the large bales protecting a gate post at the top part of the course and went down in a blind spot for oncoming riders. He didn’t get up right away and to protect the fallen rider, a marshal went out on the track, frantically waving his yellow flag, while the marshal at the post before the incident waved both the yellow flag and the red-cross flag. As a result of riders not slowing down enough to pass the incident, the marshal was hit and bowled down the track.
The race was red flagged. Fortunately, neither the rider nor the marshal was seriously injured, although the marshal had a large bandage on his head which would require some explaining to his wife when he got home.
As the race was just over half distance, it was called a result. Going back a lap, the results were recorded as a win for Searle by a third of a second from Doensen and Bruce. Askew was fourth from Mustoe and McCormick.
Oliver must have been fired up after the first race, as he led from the very start of race two and quickly pulled ahead, leaving everyone else in his dust. He won the race by 30 seconds and lapped half the field.
Askew had gated in second place from Josh Vail (Phoenix Tools Fantic), Mustoe, and Searle, with Bruce in ninth place and Nicholls one place ahead.
By lap three, and with Oliver pulling further and further away, Searle was in third place and closing in on his younger teammate Askew, and that was drawing the crowd's attention.
By the halfway point, and behind the leading trio, Nicholls caught and passed both Bruce and, a lap later, Mustoe, on his way to a fourth-place finish. With four laps to go, Bruce also passed a flagging Mustoe to take fifth behind Nicholls as Mustoe hung on to finish sixth.
But while all this was going on, Searle was closing in on Askew lap after lap, until, with two laps to go, he found a way past in the wooded area at the top of the course to steal second place and the overall win.
Askew was third overall, just four seconds behind his teammate and friend Searle, with Bruce taking the last place on the podium. Doensen was fourth, with Mustoe fifth. Oliver, despite only scoring four points in the first race, was sixth overall, thanks to his race two win.
In the Under 21 side of the race it was an overall win for Askew from Bruce and Doensen.
“I managed to get past Little Bill (Billy Askew) in the woods as I think he was struggling a bit at that point of the race”, said a happy Searle. “I was happy to get the overall win today. It was a shame the first race got stopped but I hope all involved in the incident were OK. In race two, I got a bad start and came through to second place, so I am happy with my riding this weekend and leave here with the championship lead.”
Askew commented on his race and his teammate Searle, saying, “The old boy (Tommy Searle) is quite good, to be fair. I was not too happy with my performance today, as he beat me, but it is what it is. Getting a good start was very important today and I got a better one in the second race, but he still beat me. Next time.”
Bruce said after his day, “I am a bit disappointed with my third place today. But, how the last couple of weeks have gone, I will take it. I didn’t have any expectation today and I had a big crash last weekend. This morning the speed was good but struggled a bit in the second moto, so I guess I can’t be too unhappy about third overall. I just have to keep building on this and get that red leader's plate back.”
Ryan Waggott (Radgie Ry Racing KTM) got the holeshot at the start of the first 125cc race from Charlie Richmond (Yamaha), Drew Stock (Yamaha) and Jamie Keith (JK Racing Yamaha) but fell later in the lap and dropped to sixth place. This booted Richmond into the lead as Keith past Stock for second place.
With four laps to go, Keith had caught up to and passed Richmond for the race win. Richmond was second with Stock third as Waggott crossed the finish line in fourth place.
Once again, the fast-starting Waggott got the holeshot at the start of race two, but this time he had Keith on his tail. Richmond was third, with Haydon Statt (HS Racing Yamaha) in fourth place.
By the end of lap two, Keith was in the lead and styling it in the air over the jumps. Statt had passed Richmond for second only to throw it away with a crash on lap four. Richmond slipped by Waggott just before the halfway point as Stock moved into fourth from ninth at the start. Keith secured his second win of the day, from Richmond, Waggott, Stock, and Lewis Spratt (Yamaha).
Overall, in the 125s, it was Keith from Richmond, Waggott, and Stock.
Results
MX1
1 Conrad Mewse (Crendon TRU7 Honda) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Adam Sterry (Chambers KTM) 22 + 22 = 44
3 Josh Gilbert (Lexa Honda) 20 + 20 = 40
4 Jamie Carpenter (Crendon TRU7 Honda) 15 + 15 = 30
5 Tristan Purdon (SC Sporthomes Husqvarna) 16 + 13 = 29
6 Jason Meara (Moto-Cycle Racing GASGAS) 13 + 14 = 27
7 John Adamson (Lexa Honda) 7 + 18 = 25
8 Carlton Husband (Phoenix Tools Fantic) 11 + 11 = 22
9 Taylor Hammal (Bike it Kawasaki) 18 + 4 = 22
10 Brad Todd (DK Off Road Bikesport Honda) 5 + 16 = 21
Championship positions
1 Mewse 100, 2 Sterry 88, 3 Gilbert 78, 4 Carpenter 64, 5 Todd 52, 6 Adamson 51, 7 Meara 51, 8 Purdon 49, 10 Husband 47
MX2
1 Tommy Searle (Dirtstore Triumph) 25 + 22 = 47
2 Billy Askew (Dirtstore Triumph) 18 + 20 = 38
3 Bobby Wayne Bruce (Bike it Kawasaki) 20 + 16 = 36
4 Gyan Doensen (Gabriel SS24 KTM) 22 + 13 = 35
5 Ben Mustoe (ASA United GASGAS) 16 + 15 = 31
6 Oriol Oliver (Gabriel SS25 KTM) 4 + 25 = 29
7 Charlie Hayman (SC Sporthomes Husqvarna) 11 + 14 = 25
8 Brad Anderson (Yamaha) 12 + 11 = 23
9 Ollie Colmer (Chambers KTM) 14 + 9 = 23
10 Glenn McCormick (Chambers KTM) 15 + 8 = 23
Championship positions
1 Searle 89, 2 Bruce 83, 3 Askew 78, 4 Mustoe 63, 5 Doensen 59, 6 Hayman 56, 7 Colmer 54, 8 McCormick 50, 9 Nicholls 43, 10 Vail 36.
MX2 Under 21
1 Billy Askew (Dirtstore Triumph) 20 + 25 = 45
2 Bobby Wayne Bruce (Bike it Kawasaki) 22 + 22 = 44
3 Gyan Doensen (Gabriel SS24 KTM) 25 + 16 = 41
4 Ben Mustoe (ASA United GASGAS) 18 + 20 = 38
5 Charlie Hayman (SC Sporthomes Husqvarna) 14 + 18 = 32
6 Ollie Colmer (Chambers KTM) 16 + 14 = 30
7 Josh Vail (Phoenix Tools Fantic) 12 + 15 = 27
8 Raife Broadley (Fantic) 15 + 12 = 27
9 Lennox Dickinson (Triumph) 13 + 11 = 24
10 Tyla Hooley (KTM) 8 + 13 = 21
Championship positions
1 Bruce 91, 2 Askew 86, 3 Mustoe 74, 4 Doensen 73, 5 Hayman 68, 6 Colmer 65, 7 Vail 53, 8 Broadley 48, 9 Dickinson 46, 10 Barker 46.
125
1 Jamie Keith (JK Racing Yamaha) 25 + 25 = 50
2 Charlie Richmond (Yamaha) 22 + 22 = 44
3 Ryan Waggott (KTM) 18 + 20 = 38
4 Drew Stock (Yamaha) 20 + 18 = 38
5 Hayden Statt (HS Yamaha) 16 + 15 = 31
6 Harry Lee (Fantic) 14 + 14 = 28
7 Christopher Brindley (KTM) 15 + 11 = 26
8 Lewis Spratt (KTM) 7 + 16 = 23
9 Jack Evans (KTM) 10 + 13 = 23
10 Lucas Moncrieff (3 Flo Yamaha) 11 + 12 = 23
Championship positions
1 Waggott 88, 2 Richmond 83, 3 Statt 73, 4 Stock 70, 5 Lee 53, 6 Moncrieff 52, 7 Keith 50, 8 Greenhaigh 47, 9 Spratt 45, 10 Gardiner 47
.jpg)