MX Diary: Amateur Nats Dock in
By Team TMX on 27th Jul 16
After a three-week break the Acerbis Amateur Nationals is back in action on Sunday (July 31) with round seven of the popular series at Preston Docks.
The championship continues to go from strength-to-strength as it picks up momentum with virtually full line-ups across its seven classes and no shortage of wildcard entries keen to sample the series.
Harry Bradley (Husqvarna) leads the MX1 division with the Staffordshire rider holding an 87-point advantage over Jacob Joyce (Honda).
Top registered rider last time out was Cory Nemeth (KTM) but after missing the Irish round in June he currently sits back in fifth – 221 points off the lead – and, if he's racing, Brad Cavill has to be considered a potential winner.
Michael Smith is third a further 70 points adrift of the leader but with three blocks of racing and 40 points for a moto win the championship table could alter drastically.
Early season pace-setter Ryan Voase (Kawasaki) is now on a bike again after sustaining an ankle injury at round three of the series at Hawkstone Park at the start of May and it's hoped he'll be back in action.
With maximum points from round six at Whitby's spectacular Skelder Bank circuit, Brad Wheeler (KTM) is threatening to run away with the Craigs Motorcycles-backed MX2 class.
Wheeler Jnr now leads the class by a healthy 177 points with his nearest rival, 125cc-convert Alex Butler (KTM), faced with a lot of ground to make up. A no-score in Whitby's opening moto has dumped Danny Wright (Yamaha) back to third.
Wheeler Snr – aka Brian ‘Spud' Wheeler – leads the CNR Vets class but despite winning 21 out of 26 races his advantage over second-placed Richard Collins (Honda) is just 33 points after a series of mechanical problems on his CR500 hybrid.
The fight for third sees former British championship man Paul Coward (Kawasaki), Jez Bailey (Yamaha) and David Campbell (KTM) separated by 10 points.
In the Over 50s Alan Eaves (Honda) took a maximum haul at Whitby and leads David Clayborn (Kawasaki) by 128 points.
The Moto Connection Ladies class is being dominated this season by WMX rider Stacey Fisher (KTM) who has won every race so far on her 125cc stroker.
The Leigh engineer was pushed hard at Whitby but Nieve Holmes (Husqvarna), who came so close to inflicting Fisher's first moto defeat, crashed out of race four and sustained a season-ending elbow injury.
Silje Otte (Husqvarna) is second in the title chase but is 133 points behind.
There's a great championship battle in the 250cc Two-stroke Open class where Scot Paul Johnston (Honda) holds a 71-point lead over Jake Preston (Husqvarna).
Johnston won the opening four rounds of the series but Preston's been top at the last two and is poised to capitalise on any mistakes by the series leader.
It's even tighter in the 125cc division where Ashley Harland (Yamaha) leads Jack Drogan (Yamaha) by just 52 points. Harland struggled all weekend at Whitby with gearbox problems but Drogan failed to take advantage.
Maximum points in the final race helped third-placed Dylan Spencer (Husqvarna) close the gap slightly and he's 71 points
behind Harland. The most popular class – the Junior Open – is led by Neil James Griffiths (Suzuki) who has opened up a 90-point gap ahead of Jamie Bevin (KTM). James Chandler (Honda) is third but is out of title contention.
Preston Docks is off the A583 Riversway road. Postcode is PR2 2HW. Practice starts at 9am with the first race at 10.15am.
