MX Diary: Culham calling
By Sean Lawless on 5th Apr 17
The Acerbis Amateur Nationals fires back into life this weekend (April 8/9) with round two at the tough, testing Culham Moto Park near Abingdon in Oxfordshire.
The opening round at Mildenhall in March threw up more than a few surprises with some pre-season favourites faltering and new faces appearing on the podium.
With five races per class over the two days there are plenty of points up for grabs but dry weather leading into the event should make the racing much less of a lottery than we saw at the opening round of the Maxxis there a month ago.
Cory Nemeth left Mildenhall with a one-point lead in the Paradise MX-sponsored MX1 class thanks to an incredibly consistent performance. Former MX2 champion Lewis Meadows, who's moved up for 2017, won three out of the four races but a slip in race three proved costly.
Andy Wilson was another rider who kept it consistent at round one and he holds third, 14 points off the leader's pace.
The Craigs Motorcycles MX2 field was blown away by series newcomer Ashton Dickensen. The teenager, a regular at the Millsaps Training Facility in the USA, claimed the only maximum of the weekend to open up a healthy lead.
His nearest challenger is 2015 MX1 champion James Lassu who missed a large part of last year through injury. Lassu looked impressive last time out on his new 250F and will only get faster as the season progresses, especially once he coaxes more power out of his largely stock machine.
Reigning champ Brad Wheeler sits third and will be aiming to up his game at Culham before the leading two begin to open a gap at the top.
Defending Moto Connection 125cc champion Ash Harland had a disaster at Mildenhall, crashing hard in race three and dislocating his collarbone after poor starts restricted his scores in the opening races.
He's had surgery and is aiming to ride but he's already a long way behind series leader Lewis Dowdeswell who ran 1-2-1-1 and has a 12-point cushion over Chris Povey with Nathan Clanughan in third.
Paul Johnston leads the 250cc Two-stroke Open class after never finishing out of the top three all weekend and the super-fit speedy Scot – he also raced the MX1 class at Mildenhall – will be aiming to extend his nine-point lead over Luke Gidney. Ryan Davin holds third.
Some of the best racing usually comes in the Vets Over 40 class where Danny Blakeley claimed a surprise win last time out over Brian Wheeler who won three races but took a major soil sample in the third moto. Paul Drogan is 12 points off the pace in third.
The Roberts Plant-backed Vets Over 50s saw Warren Berthiaume come away with a four-point lead from reigning champ Alan Eaves but it was close with Berthiaume's 1-2-1-1 score edging out Eaves' 2-1-2-2 card as Nigel Parker claimed four third-placed finishes.
With defending Ladies champ Stacey Fisher taking on the men in the 125cc class it was Chelsea Gowland who came away with the overall thanks to her two race wins on the Sunday. Beth Farmer holds second from Nadiya Jones but expect Elaine MacEachem – who ran 1-1-2-DNF – to challenge for the overall win.
Even a bad third moto couldn't stop Jordan Dawes from taking the overall in the fiercely-contested CCM Junior Open class but it was close with his three wins just shading it on a tie-break with Ben Walsh as Ross Neville came home third.
Culham Moto Park is just off the A415 between Abingdon and Clifton Hampden.
Nearest postcode is OX14 3DA. Admission is £5 for adults with no charge for under 16s.
