The second round of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship saw the Apico LPE Kawasaki Racing team head to Lyng in Norfolk. Following on from the recent podium at the MX Nationals the team were looking forward to a great day ahead.

In the qualifying session Gert Krestinov was the star after going third fastest in the first session before improving his time in Superpole and moved up to second. In the MX2 class Erki Kahro finished 19th fastest, while youth rider Ben James finished 26th in the MXY2 class.

In the opening MX1 class race of the day Krestinov made a strong top ten start but a mistake on the opening lap lost him a few places. As the race progressed Krestinov worked his way up into fifth place and finished just a second behind Banks-Browne in fourth.

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The second race saw Gert start inside the top 15 and quickly move into the top 10. Once there Gert tried to push forward, but a problem with his goggles caused vision issues, limiting his push to eighth place.

The final race of the day saw another strong start which put Gert into the top five – battling hard with Whatley and Nicholls. Unfortunately Gert lost a place when Nicholls pushed Krestinov over a berm and down into sixth place, where he would remain for the rest of the race.

Krestinov’s three results gave him seventh overall on the day and just four points off the podium – moving up to seventh in the championship.

“For the first time in a long while I got a really good qualifying time and finished second,” said Gert Krestinov. “Then in the first race I got an okay start but made a mistake and slipped to 14th and charged back to fifth so that was a good ride.

“The second race was a very average ride and I only finished in eighth place. The last race I got the best start and was in fifth place and battling with Whatley, but I was feeling tired and was unable to progress and finished in sixth for seventh overall. Ideally I had hoped to finish higher but the points were really close.”

In the MX2 class Erki suffered a poor start and was stuck in 29th for the opening laps and struggling to make any progress forward. As the race went on Erki suffered a small mechanical problem and decide not to continue with the meeting.

In the MXY2 class Ben James suffered a bad start, but moved towards the points when a bike problem unfortunately removed him from the race. The second race would once again see Ben suffer another bad start and have to work hard to progress forward and finish just outside the points in 27th place.

A disappointed Ben James said: “It’s not such a good start to the season as I struggled with arm pump in qualifying and rode tight and finished 26th. Then in the first race I suffered a bike problem and DNF’d. For the second race I had to use my spare bike and got a bad start and finished down in 27th place.”

Team Manager, Steve James commented: “Today has been really good in the MX1 class, unfortunately in MX2 Erki had a problem in the first race and didn’t take any more part in the meeting.

“Then in MXY2 Ben suffered a bike problem in race one and a bad start in race two limited him to 27th.

“So overall it wasn’t a great day for the smaller bikes but in MX1 it was a mega day. Gert was third in Q1 and then went up to second in Superpole. In the first race Gert got a good start and was seventh early on but slipped to 14th before recovering to fifth at the finish.

“[In] the second race Gert had a poor start and finished eighth which damaged his overall result today. The last race he started in fifth and when passed by Nicholls was pushed over the berm and slipped to sixth.

“It wasn’t a bad move, just a racing move but it cost Gert time on the leading group and by the time he caught Irwin and Whatley again it was near the end of the race. But seventh overall was still good and the points were so close only four points between third and seventh so I am still very happy as Gert rode very well and we are now seventh in the championship and will continue to push forward.

MX1 Overall
 
1. Shaun Simpson                                                          
2. Jake Nicholls                                                               
3. Kristian Whatley                                                          
4. Elliott Banks Browne                                               
5. Nathan Watson                                                           
6. Graeme Irwin                                                               
7. Gert Krestinov                                                             
8. Brad Anderson                                                         
9. Priit Ratsep                                                                  
10. Matthew Moffa
 
MX1 Championship
 
1. Shaun Simpson 139
2. Jake Nicholls 134
3. Kristian Whatley 108
4. Elliott Banks-Browne 100
5. Brad Anderson 94
6. Nathan Watson 74
7. Gert Krestinov 73
8. Graeme Irwin 69
9. Alex Snow 66
10. Jamie Law 59       
 
MX2 Overall
 
1. Mel Pocock                                                                
2. Matiss Karro                                                              
3. Neville Bradshaw                                                    
4. Adam Sterry                                                              
5. Bryan MacKenzie                                                      
6. Ben Watson                                                              
7. James Cottrell                                                           
8. Lewis Tombs                                                            
9. Steven Clarke                                                           
10. Lewis Trickett
 
MX2 Championship
 
1. Mel Pocock 128
2. Matiss Karro 126
3. Neville Bradshaw 107
4. Adam Sterry 98
5. Bryan MacKenzie 94
6. Lewis Trickett 75
7. James Dunn 75
8. Ben Watson 66
9. Lewis Tombs 65
10. James Cottrell 61
 
MXY2 Overall
 
1. Jason Meara 50
2. Josh Gilbert 42
3. Oliver Osmaston 38
4. Liam Knight 36
5. Connor Clark 33
6. Jordan Eccles 29
7. Jay Hague 26
8. Tom Neal 26
9. Tony Saunders 24
10. Curtis Blamey 22