The historic Grand Prix Circuit of Foxhill near Swindon played host to the sixth round of the ACU Maxxis British Motocross Championship, powered by Skye Energy Drink on Sunday.
Following an unfortunate crash at last weekend’s Latvian GP, Jake Nicholls was missing from action needing another week’s recuperation, which left MX2 rider Adam Sterry as the sole representative for the Wilvo Forkrent KTM team.
Qualifying:
After a rain shower in the early hours of Sunday morning, the hard pack track was very tacky and heavy off the racing line meaning that getting a fast time in qualifying was important. Sterry put in three fast laps, which would have given him pole until Max Anstie eclipsed him by just 0.08 of a second on his final attempt of the session.
Race 1:
Prior to the opening race of the day the track had been heavily watered making a good jump out of the start vital. When the gate dropped Sterry fired himself into the first turn and stormed to a great holeshot and set about opening an early advantage.
Once at the front, Sterry started to run at a fast and consistent pace even while coming under pressure from Anstie. Holding onto the lead until three laps to go, Anstie fresh from his previous weekend’s GP win, suddenly found a couple of faster lines and was able to force his way past for the win, leaving Sterry to take a confidence boosting second place finish.
Race 2:
Sterry got held up on the first turn in race two leaving him only in 11th place, but a great first lap quickly put him up in sixth. Passes were at a premium on the slick, fast track and Sterry then got held up behind Jordan Booker for three laps. By the time he finally made the pass he was five seconds behind third place man Steven Lenoir and despite putting in fast lap times, he was just unable to close the gap, leaving him in fourth at the finish.
Race 3:
In race three, Sterry and Anstie went bar-to-bar as they shot down the start straight for the final time. As they reached the first turn their hand guards got hooked up for a split second, which hampered them just enough to hand the holeshot to Lenoir.
Sterry still managing to come out in fifth, then got delayed behind Duval for a couple of laps before setting him up for a great pass up the first of the legendary hills for which Foxhill is famous for. The front four were lapping at similar times and for the rest of the race there would be no significant moves leaving Sterry to take another fourth place finish.
His 2-4-4 results were enough for him claim third overall on the day and climb onto the British Championship podium for the first time since the second round at Lyng in April.
The weekend’s strong overall result meant the 18-year-old also moved up into fourth place in the MX2 Championship standings and is now only eight points away from third place with two rounds remaining.
“Today has been solid for me. In the first race I got the holeshot and was leading until three laps to go when Max [Anstie] got by me and I finished second, which I was happy with,” Adam Sterry said. “Then in the next two races I got two fourth place finishes from bad starts. I’m really happy to have come away from today with no mistakes as I’ve had a lot of crashes in the last month. It was good to get on the podium after three solid races and build my confidence up again before my next race in Loket.”
Team Manager, Steve Turner commented: “It was good to see Adam back on the podium today. He rode really well throughout the day with consistent fast lap times in all three races. The start was so important as the track became faster as it dried out and passing became almost impossible, especially in the last race. He had a great start in the first race and took the holeshot, then not such a good one in the second and was unlucky to tag Anstie on the third one; otherwise he could have had another holeshot. He’s had a tough time lately and this will give him some confidence which he can take into the next race at Loket where he has a wild card ride in MX2.”
