The opening round of the 2015 Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship powered by Skye Energy Drink at Hilton Park on Sunday was full of incidents in a curtailed two-race format in very dry, but cold conditions on the sandy 1,4000-meter circuit.
KTM machinery dominated both the MX1 and MX2 classes with reigning British champion Shaun Simpson and Ben Watson taking maximum points in both classes.
Racing was delayed for over an hour while medics took care of Mel Pocock who was involved in a freak on-track incident in the first MX2 race. The 2012 EMX250 Champion sustained horrific injuries to his hand and the damage could not only potentially wreck his career but also have repercussions for the rest of his day-to-day life.
Related: Mel Pocock suffers horrific hand injury at Hilton Park
Adam Sterry was leading the moto when it was red flagged and must have been reasonably pleased to cross the line in second for the restarted race, but the KTM pilot was later docked 10 places for ignoring yellow flags.
Sterry’s weekend went from bad to worse in moto two when leading the race from Ben Watson, his chain snapped. He probably found all the fuses blown when he got home too.
Making a return to the series, Estonian Tanel Leok ground out a solid result to take second in the MX1 category with former champion Kristian Whatley in third at the end of a very close final race encounter.
Steven Lenoir followed Watson home in the MX2 class with Bryan MacKenzie taking the lower step on the podium despite his machine seizing within meters of the finish line in the final moto.
Ryan Voase won both veterans motos after fighting off a late challenge from Brian Wheeler in the opening race but gave himself a comfortable cushion in the final race.
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