This Sunday (1st April) the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship makes the trip to Canada Heights in Kent for Round Two of the season. The event is hosted by the Sidcup and District MCC at their superb venue, which is sure to create more fantastic racing as the Championship moves forward.
The MX2 class will see the battle for the Red Plate heat up after Zach Osborne maybe a non-starter after a practice crash last week. This opens the door for the like of Mel Pocock, Graeme Irwin and Arnaud Tonus to take charge at the top of the table. Reigning Champion Tonus will be looking to make amends following his heavy crash in the second race, which led to a DNF at round one. Second place in the Championship went to Mel Pocock who now effectively sits at the top of table following Osborne’s injury. Graeme Irwin on the Samsung RFX Yamaha will also be looking to continue his great form following the opening round where he produced three fantastic race results to collect third overall.
Canada Heights will be a vital round for Elliott Banks-Browne as he looks to recover from a DNF at the first round, while French star Nico Aubin will be looking for a strong improvement in his result following a slow start to the season at FatCat. As an added bonus for race fans, riding as a Wild Card at Canada Heights will be Nick Triest the Factory Husqvarna Ricci Racing rider who will be looking to pull out the stops and produce some great results in preparation for the Opening Round of the World MX2 Championship the following weekend.
Sunday’s MX1 class will feature current Red Plate holder Kevin Strijbos on the HM Plant KTM UK machine looking to continue on from his dominating performance at the opening round where he took three race wins. Gert Krestinov on the Route 77 MVR-D Honda and Matiss Karro on the Team STR KTM will be looking to close the gap on Strijbos along with former Champion Shaun Simpson and Ireland’s Martin Barr. Dutch star Marc De Reuver, showed some great potential at the first round, albeit hindered by some small crashes and little mistakes that limited him to 11th overall and will be looking to close the gap on the series leader on aboard his Lanes Kawasaki. Last year’s runner up, Kristian Whatley suffered a heavy crash in qualification at round one and rode in pain for 14th overall and will be looking to improve at Canada Heights.
This event will also mark the opening round of the British MXY2 Youth Championship, with a number of last year’s front runners moving up into the main classes. This will allow for a several new faces to take over at the front of the field as they look to make an impression on the British scene. Riders to look out for are sure to be Joe Bamfield (Evo Tech Stevens Honda) after making the podium at the last round of the 2011 season, young Tommy Alba on the Oakleaf Kawasaki who has recently been scoring strong results in the Premier MX Expert Championship in the South West. Another name to look out for will be Ben Watson, the youth sensation of recent years now moves up to the 250f machine looking for glory.
Sunday’s action starts at 9am with Practice and the first of eight Championship races starting at 12:15pm. For more information please visit the Official Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship website on www.MXGB.co.uk.
