The Phoenix Tools EvenStrokes Kawasaki team headed to the Lyng round of the Revo ACU British Motocross Championships in Norfolk. After the second round of the series had been postponed due to bad weather at the Canada Heights venue, the team were itching to get back into action and improve their positions from the opener at Oakhanger. Jay Hague came into Lyng in 13thposition in MX1, and Carlton Husband held down 9th in MX2.
The team was happy after qualification, with Carlton 9th in MX2 and Jay 11th in MX1. Analysing the lap times revealed that they were on a good pace to finish higher than that in the races.
In the MX2 division, Carlton made a brilliant start but made “a silly mistake” and lost about four or five places, crossing the line in 8th to start the first full circuit. After passing rookie Ben Mustoe to move up to 7th, he only got passed by local expert Elliott Banks-Browne and first round podium man Jake Millward. Despite finishing 9th he was on the pace of the first six who just escaped him in that first lap. The unusually fast conditions this year at Lyng made it very difficult to make up time after the early laps.
In the second race, again Carlton got a fantastic launch to compete for the holeshot on the uphill and sandy start straight. Coming round in 4th behind the eventual podium finishers showed he was right on the pace and staying ahead of some strong challengers, including Banks-Browne. Sadly, on the second full lap Husband suffered “a really big off” that left him too beat up to continue. Nothing was broken but with heavy bruising his day was over. A real shame as the track was getting wetter and favouring Carlton’s style, plus it was brought to a premature end with a dangerous track situation. A fence had been dislodged, leaving massive pointed wooden stakes facing the riders on the outside of a corner. The team come away with the positives in mind that Husband was certainly capable of a top five result, even in a field that contained three very fast Grand Prix points scorers.
In MX1, Jay got a decent start to end the first lap in 10th, battling with last year’s MX2 Championship runner-up Jamie Carpenter. They were both pressuring ex-champ Billy Mackenzie before Jay collided with another rider and hit the ground on lap three. The accident damaged the rear brake housing which left it constantly binding for the rest of the race. He battled on without giving up and nursed it home for 20th and a single Championship point. Once more the early lap times were good enough for Hague to be running in the top six in extremely rapid company.
Race two never really got going the #277 rider, stalling the bike in the hectic first lap and having his own massive crash that ended his day. Like his MX2 teammate Husband though, there is nothing broken and the bruises will heal.
Carlton is now 12th in the MX2 Championship, just 9 points shy of 8th, and Jay has dropped to 19th in the MX1 standings but certainly has more pace than many ahead of him. The team are looking forward to the next round at Foxhill Moto Park on the 14th of May.
