Kay de Wolf rocks Preston Docks

By Team TMX on 22nd Jul 25

News Motocross

The dominance of Conrad Mewse and his Crendon TRU7 Honda in this year’s Motul ACU British Motocross Championship continued at round four held at the sandy Preston Docks in Lancashire. He remains unbeaten in all eight championship races held so far and is well on his way to a clean sweep of the year.

But, while Mewse dominated the MX1 class, Dutch reigning MX2 world champion Kay de Wolf (Nestaan Husqvarna) made the short hop across the channel to take control of the MX2 division. He won both races and set the fastest qualifying time, over a second and a half faster than second-place rider Charlie Heyman (SC Sporthomes Husqvarna). Comparing his MX2 time with the MX1 riders, he would have been the second fastest, just a second behind top qualifier Mewse.

The weather forecast for the weekend wasn’t good, with rain expected for most of the day, but luckily they were wrong and we only experienced occasional showers, which didn’t stop the large crowd from passing through the entrance gate and lining the viewing banks along most of the long track.

Josh Gilbert (Lexa MX Honda) got the holeshot at the start of the first MX1 race and led Joel Rizzi (Dirt Store Triumph), Mewse, Tristan Purdon (SC Sporthomes Husqvarna), Adam Sterry (Chambers KTM), and Tom Grimshaw (Apico Honda), who was riding his first British Championship of the year through injury. Gilbert’s turn in the lead came to an abrupt end when he crashed out halfway around the opening lap, dropping him to 10th place.

Rizzi inherited the lead for a lap, but that position was taken from him by the flying Sterry on lap three, and then by Mewse a lap later.

By lap four, Mewse had overtaken Sterry and taken the lead. That was the last anyone saw of him, unless he was lapping them.

Sterry spent the rest of the race in a lonely second place, while Purdon, after being passed by John Adamson (Lexa MX Honda), regained the position when Adamson crashed out of the race on lap seven.

While all this was happening, Gilbert had regrouped and was in seventh place, even snatching sixth from an unsuspecting Martin Barr (Apico Honda) on the very last lap.

Mewse cruised across the finish line almost half a minute clear of second-place rider Sterry. Purdon had a hard-fought third place, with Taylor Hammal (DRT Kawasaki) and Rizzi in fourth and fifth.

The start of race two was almost the same as the first race, with Gilbert leading the pack, only to have Sterry slip by him before the end of the second lap. Mewse, from fourth around the first turn, pushed Gilbert back another place on lap three.

Once again, Purdon made things difficult for himself as he gated ninth on a track that was hard to pass on, but fought his way up to third by the time the race was six laps in.

Things settled down from lap seven as Mewse took the lead from Sterry over the whoops, while Hammal passed Gilbert for fourth place.

Mewse took his second win of the day by just over 27 seconds from Sterry. Purdon was third, over a minute behind the two leaders.

Overall, Mewse, of course, was the winner from Sterry and Purdon, with Hammal and Gilbert just missing out on a podium position.

“Today was a tough one, perhaps the toughest day yet this year,” said winner Mewse. “The boys were pushing me hard all day. I had two good starts, which always helps, and managed to get into a good rhythm early on in the races.” When asked about his recent injury, he added, “It’s all good now, so I can get back into working and riding in the week now to get back into full fitness. So no excuses now.”

From second place, Sterry said, “Conrad (Mewse) is riding unbelievably at the moment, and that brings my pace up with it. That GP was demonstrated in Finland last weekend. If I can give myself that little extra push to close the gap between us, that’s only good for me. I feel I can ride GP tracks better than the home races, so perhaps I should spend more time on British tracks to improve."

From the final step on the podium, Purdon said, “Two third places and on the box again, can’t be bad. It’s good to be close to the pace of these boys, and they are bringing my speed up, keeping up with them. It’s been a very positive couple of weeks, with training and bike time. Both the team and I have been working hard, and it’s paying off. Mind you, I had a bit of a fall at the end of the last race. I landed on an old tractor tyre out of the back of the track, and it threw me off big time. I went over the bars, bending them as I went. Luckily, I didn’t lose any places.”

The first championship MX2 race was in two halves. Gyan Doensen (Gabriel SS24 KTM) got the holeshot from Ben Mustoe (ASA United GASGAS), De Wolf, Jake Nicholls (Crendon TRU7 Honda) and Charlie Heyman (SC Sporthomes Husqvarna), but by the time the race was three laps old, De Wolf had proved why he is a world champion, was in the lead and pulling away from the rest of the pack.

Doensen was hanging on to second with an in-form Hayman up to third. Kay Karssemakers, DRT Kawasaki’s temporary rider, had gated 10th but was already up to fourth when the red flag was waved and the race was stopped because of an injured rider stuck with a broken leg on one of the jump landings.

As the race had not completed the required 70 percent to be considered a result, the new staggered restart rule was implemented.

They lined up behind each other, in race order, until a green flag signalled the restart. No rider was allowed to pass another racer before passing a marked point on the track. It seemed to work well.

De Wolf just sped off into the distance while Karssemakers took full advantage of the new restart rule and overtook both Hayman and Doensen before the end of the restarted race lap.

Billy Askew (Dirt Store Triumph) was having a pig of a day. He had set the third fastest time in qualifying and looked set to take the red series leader's plate from his teammate Tommy Searle, who was out of action due to injury. However, he went down in a first-turn pile-up and was at the back of the pack. He had worked his way up to 11th place before the stoppage but still had a lot of work to do.

Ben Mustoe (ASA United GASGAS) was fifth at the restart but slipped back to eighth place, allowing Ollie Colmer (Chambers KTM), Josh Vail (Phoenix Tools Fantic) and Askew to slip by.

With a lap to go, Askew’s race went from bad to worse. While running sixth with half a lap remaining, everything fell apart. “I collided with another rider and went down hard,” he explained.

De Wolf finished nearly seven seconds ahead of Karssemakers and Doensen, securing an all-Dutch podium.

Race two was all about De Wolf as the Flying Dutchman got the holeshot and seemed to cruise to a comfortable win. But behind him, it was a different story as Mustoe had gated second head of Heyman, Calum Mitchell (Worx Total Triumph), Glenn McCormick (Chambers KTM), and Karssemakers.

However, by the end of the opening lap, apart from the leader, everything had changed. Karssemakers was already in second place and doing his best to close down De Wolf. Mustoe and Heyman had swapped places and were now third and fourth, while Mitchell crashed down to seventh place, moving McCormick to fifth, and they remained in the same order until the end of the race.

Askew’s day just kept getting worse. He gated in seventh place and moved up to fifth on lap two, but everything went wrong again when another big crash dropped him back to 33rd, a position from which he never really recovered. He explained, “It was in the whoops over the back of the track. I had seen a big rock lying in the track for several laps and had gone around it. But on this lap, someone must have hit it and changed its position as I hit it and went over the bars in the biggest crash I have ever had.”

De Wolf crossed the finish line just over 18 seconds clear of Karssemakers with Heyman third.

Overall, de Wolf was on a maximum from Karssemakers, with Heyman an excellent third. And poor Askew didn’t get his red points leader plate, as Tommy Searle hung onto it by a single point.

“It’s been a really good day for me today,” said a happy De Wolf. “It’s my first British championship and I really enjoyed it. It’s a great track, and I would like to thank everyone who helped get me out here, and perhaps I will be back. I would like to.”

Karssemakers commented on his second overall on a new bike, saying, “It’s not been a bad day. The first race was better than the second, as in the second I got a bit of arm-pump and couldn’t find my rhythm. It’s my first time out here riding for the Dixon Bike It Kawasaki team, and I would like to thank them for the opportunity.”

Heyman said about his third place, “After having a good ride at Matterley and racing well in Scotland the other week, it’s all seeming to come together. I had good starts in both races today, in the top three. My fitness is improving each week. I just have to keep doing what I am doing and get more podiums, hopefully.”

Charlie Richmond (Yamaha) secured a start-to-finish race win in the first 125cc race, while Ryan Waggott (Radgie Ry Racing KTM) had a great battle with Alfie Geddes-Green (Yamaha) in the first half of the race until Geddes-Green slipped back to fifth.

Drew Stock (Yamaha) didn’t get the start he wanted but managed to work his way up the field to finish on the podium in third place.

Hayden Statt (HS Racing Yamaha) qualified in 14th place but worked his way up to sixth before crashing down to 34th place. He recovered to finish 20th.

Race two was all about Waggott and Richmond. Waggott led the pack around the opening lap, followed by Richmond and Lucas Moncrieff (3 Flo Yamaha). But while Richmond took the lead on lap two, Waggott took it back the very next lap. The order stayed the same till lap nine when Richmond made the pass on Waggott for the lead stick and won the race.

Moncrieff and Wyatt McGregor (Husqvarna) slipped down the running order, and Stat and Stock took over third and fourth places until the chequered flag.

Overall, it was Richmond with both race wins from Waggott and Stock, which is also how they sit in the championship.       

Motul ACU British Motocross Championship Round Four – Preston Docks

MX1

Championship positions

1 Mewse 200, 2 Sterry 169, 3 Gilbert 131, 4 Purdon 129, 5 Carpenter 97, 6 Hammal 92, 7 Barr 92, 8 Husband 77, 9 Adamson 71, 10 Thornhill 70

MX2

Championship positions

1 Searle 131, 2 Askew 130, 3 Heyman 125, 4 Mustoe 125, 5 Doensen 110, 6 Nicholls 100, 7 McCormick 99, 8 Colmer 99, 9 Bobby Bruce 93, 10 Vail 84

Under 21 MX2

Championship positions

1 Askew 154, 2 Heyman 146, 3 Mustoe 143, 4 Doensen 138, 5 Colmer 119, 6 Bobby Bruce 118, 7 Vail 112, 8 Broadley 98, 9 Harris 80, 10 Hooley 62

125

Championship positions

1 Richmond 176, 2 Waggott 163, 3 Stock 158, 4 Statt 134, 5 Lee 117, 6 Moncrieff 108, 7 Geddes-Green 90, 8 Stephens 90, 9 Evens 76, 10 Brindley 74

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