A warm and sunny Canada Heights played host to round four of the ACU British Motocross Championship as the Phoenix Even Strokes Kawasaki team travelled to the Kent track minus MX2 rider Sam Atkinson who announced during the week that the extent of his shoulder injury, suffered last month, would keep him sidelined.
In the MX2 class Carlton Husband was back to full health and ready for his assault on the challenging track when a crash early in the morning free practice session put paid to his weekend. A broken foot the result of an innocuous tip over less than five minutes into the session. Carlton will now rest up and hopes to return to racing in around six weeks.
Focus therefore shifted to the MX1 class for the remainder of the day, and after a positive showing in the early morning qualification session Petar Petrov secured the eighth quickest time and Jason Meara the 15th quickest respectively, both riders were optimistic to start the days racing under the midday sunshine.
A strong showing in race one for Petar Petrov would see him start inside the top 10 and progress up to seventh. He was showing good pace and had the fifth place rider in his sights before arm pump set in and he rode smart to bring the bike home in seventh and with it some solid points. Some fine tuning to his Moto33 Suspension in the interval gave him renewed optimism heading into race two but a wiring issue put an end to his day with a 7-DNF score for 15th overall.
Jason Meara meanwhile continued his fine form with two gritty race performances. A combination of good speed and quick reactions out of the gate saw him battling inside the top ten for much of the first moto, and despite fighting up to seventh place, he would eventually settle for 10th in race one. Jason found himself further down the field heading into the first turn of moto two, but despite having it all to do, he rode smart and continued to show impressive speed aboard his KX450, gradually picking off a number of riders to cross the line in ninth. His 10-9 finishes were enough for eighth overall, his best overall result at the ACU British Motocross Championship in over two years!
MX1 Rider – Petar Petrov #152: “An unlucky weekend for me really! First moto I had a decent start but had arm pump halfway through the race so had to salvage the best result I could even though I felt like I had the speed to compete with the guys in front of me. We made some suspension changes before race two but unfortunately a mechanical issue prevented us finishing the race. Overall this was the best I have felt all year on the bike, so that’s really positive and something we can build upon. So whilst the results don’t necessarily show it, I feel like this weekend provided a lot of positives for us to take into the Michelin MX Nationals next week.”
MX1 Rider – Jason Meara #10: “This was another step in the right direction for me. My start in race one was good and I enjoyed battling inside the top 10, and whilst my start wasn’t so good in the second race I’m pleased with how I battled back up into eighth before eventually finishing ninth. A strong day of racing for me and my best result of the season by far, so this gives me plenty of positives to take forward for the rest of the year.”