Two race victories for Luke Benstead in the motocross at Blaxhall but it’s Tom Grimshaw’s title

The Woodbridge and DMCC hosted their first motocross meeting of the season on Sunday.

Action from the junior at Blaxhall (Image: Archant)

The demanding sand circuit was in great condition as nearly 160 riders competed in the sunshine and bright blue skies.

In the A group the Expert and top Junior riders competed together in three exciting races. The opening race would see top National Youth rider Tom Grimshaw take the early race lead and battle with the current British Youth Champion George Grigg-Pettitt until Grigg-Pettitt crashed.

Meanwhile former Centre Champion Luke Benstead was pushing hard to close down Grimshaw and take the lead and the win with Steve Bixby in third and Brendon Mayers and Jason Morland rounded out the top five, while Ryan Davin came home in sixth as the top Junior.

The Second A group race would see a repeat of the opening race as Grimshaw fired out of the gate in the lead and had pressure from Benstead early on until the race one winner suffered a problem and had to retire from the race.

Tom Grimshaw, Expert winner (Image: Archant)

With Benstead out, Grimshaw took the race win by over 12 seconds from Bixby and Mayers in third. Fourth and fifth places went to the Grigg-Pettitt and Jason Morland with Ryan Davin once again the top Junior in seventh place.

The third and final A group race saw Bixby make the start but unfortunately due to an injured rider the race was stopped and re run. In the re run Bixby again made the start but was unable to stop Benstead from taking the victory ahead of Grimshaw in second which was enough to give the youngster the overall victory. Bixby finished in third with Grigg-Pettitt and Morland rounded out the top 5.

In the B group it was John Gill, Thomas White and William Nice who all shared the race wins with John Gill taking the overall win after finishing 1-2-5 in the three races. Thomas White’s 5-1-3 scorecard was enough to secure him second overall with William Nice going 3-6-1 for third overall.

In the C Group it was John Bavin who took all three race wins to secure the overall ahead of Thomas Pearmain who recovered from a fifth in the first race to take two second places for second overall with Michael Kester having a solid day for third overall.

Flying action from the Experts start (Image: Archant)

Sunday’s meeting also featured the opening round of the NGR championship and it was to be a tough day for reigning champion Tim Clark who suffered with problems in the second and third races. With Clark suffering bad luck it meant that Liam Walker was able to take the overall victory.

Results

A Group

Double race winner, Luke Benstead (Image: Archant)

Race 1

1 – Luke Benstead, 2 – Tom Grimshaw, 3 – Steve Bixby, 4 – Brendon Mayers, 5 – Jason Morland

Top 3 Juniors 1 – Ryan Davin, 2 – Aaron Holloway, 3 – Rheis Morter

Race 2

1 – Tom Grimshaw, 2 – Steve Bixby, 3 – Brendon Mayers, 4 – George Grigg-Pettitt, 5 – Jason Morland

Top 3 Juniors 1- Ryan Davin, 2 – Aaron Holloway, 3 Matt Maxted

Race 3

1 – Luke Benstead, 2 – Tom Grimshaw, 3 – Steve Bixby, 4 – George Grigg-Pettitt, 5 – Jason Morland

Top 3 Juniors 1 – Rheis Morter, 2 – Matt Maxted, 3 – Aaron Holloway

B Group

Race 1

1 – John Gill, 2 – Martin Dixon, 3 – William Nice, 4 – Chris Keeble, 5 – Thomas White

Race 2

1 – Thomas White, 2 – John Gill, 3 – Jamie Hardman, 4 – Chris Keeble, 5 - Joe Marsh

Race 3

1 – William Nice, 2 – Ben Gilbert, 3 – Thomas White, 4 – Daniel Knight, 5 – John Gill

C Group

Race 1

1 – John Bavin, 2 – Gary Scarlett, 3 – Richard Gorrell, 4 – Shaun Grimwood, 5 – Thomas Pearmain

Race 2

1 – John Bavin, 2 – Thomas Pearmain, 3 – Shaun Grimwood, 4 – Richard Gorrell, 5 – Zac Norris

Race 3

1 – John Bavin, 2 – Thomas Pearmain, 3 – Michael Kester, 4 – Sam Cushion, 5 – Luke Stannard

NGR Championship

Race 1

1 – Liam Walker, 2 – Adam Gordon, 3 – Aaron Hopkins, 4 – Paul Hubbard, 5 – Tim Clark

Race 2

1 – Liam Walker, 2 – Adam Gordon, 3 – Paul Hubbard, 4 – Aaron Hopkins, 5 – Stephan Burdett

Race 3

1 – Liam Walker, 2 – Adam Gordon, 3 - Aaron Hopkins, 4 – Paul Hubbard, 5 – Jake Morphey