On a weekend of wall to wall sunshine another jumbo sized gathering set up camp at Wroxton near Banbury for round four of the GT Cup.
In the Auto section Charlie Heyman continued his amazing dominance racking up five more heat wins. Just as dominant in the chasing role was Vampires rock runner Harvey Cashmore as he returned five second place finishes – Harvey almost suggesting at times that he could mount a serious challenge. Callum Murfitt claimed a fine third overall getting the better of fast Freddie Wyhard in a last race decider – Harrison Borg and Luke Batty completed the top six.
Going into round four Ike Carter led the way in the Junior 65’s and with another full on show going 1-1-2-2-1 he extended his series advantage. Ike generally a class apart as Eddie Jay Wade and Bobby Bruce picked up the remaining two heat wins. Wade finished in second overall with Bruce in third. In a tight scrap for the places 4 – 6 Lewis Wood got the better of Ollie Davidson and Jack Grayshon. All three guys nailing podium class finishes on the weekend.
Powerband duo Tom Grimshaw and Chris Mills were once again the talk of the town in the small wheel 85s. Tom finishing with four heat wins as Chris claimed the other. Wild-card entrant Ryan Allison showed enough speed to challenge for heat wins but in a first race yellow flag incident both he and Grimshaw ended up with a time penalty. The resulting points loss knocked Grimshaw down to third overall as Mills took the overall victory backing up brilliantly with four second place finishes. Mills now takes the championship lead ahead of Grimshaw. Second overall on the weekend went to Connor Ford as he carded a full set of third place finishes. Dylan Spencer, Callum Beekan and Charlie Kent rounded out the top six following season best shows from all three boys.
In the 85cc big wheel division Michael Ellis came to the fore taking a quality overall win. Henry Siddiqui finished in second overall with Luke Scarsbrook in third as the four stroke Honda’s ruled. Underlining the Honda dominance Will Jeonney claimed fourth overall. The individual heat wins went twice to Ellis and Siddiqui as Scarsbrook claimed the maximum points in heat five. KTM flier Albie Wilkie started well going 3-2 but it all went down hill after this – Wilkie ultimately finishing in eleventh overall. Aaron Gordon with a 4-3-2 on his card finished in well good fifth overall as Harry Pritchard took a solid sixth.
Matching Heyman in the Auto class Ricky Roderick also ran five from five in the MXY2 division. A superb show from the Welshman that now elevates him to the top of the championship points table. First year rookie Josh Gilbert did his uttermost to hang on to the Roderick coat tails and following a classy show carding three seconds as best Gilbert took second overall. Tony Saunders with his top show of the year claimed third overall – Saunders narrowly elbowing Ben Franklin as Ben finished with a spirited 3-2.
As at the previous round Robert Yates, Jim Davies and Henry Williams starred in the 125cc two stroke races. And with Jonathon Roderick Evans also pitching in with a terrific heat win round four proved the most competitive so far. Yates exited Wroxton with a superb class victory going 1-2-3-2-3 as TM pilot Davies took two moto wins and second overall. Williams was the other heat winner and he finished in third overall. In a close fought affair Luke Smith, Ryan Butler and Roderick Evans filled places 4-6 with Roderick Evans particularly unlucky not to finish higher.
Ashley Watt with two race wins and a second was the stand out performer in the clubman’s MX2 class – but a second race low score meant he had to settle for fourth overall. Sean Bardwell aided by a super Sunday show going 3-2 took third. Ady Peedle and Scott Hambridge (3-1-6-3) were the day one heat winners – but with Peedle backing up best (1-3-2-5) he duly bagged the section glory.
In the combined pro races wild card runners Lewis Trickett and Scott Elderfield (CMP Racewear) put on a Sunday show to rival the best. Bar to bar in both races they took a win and second place apiece. Trickett on the Lanes Kawasaki also taking a 1-4 in Saturday action.
In the championship and in points scoring mode Josh Spinks was the other Saturday race winner, and with three other maximum returns Spinks increased his series lead. Seb Osbourne won three times in the MX2 championship section as Jordan Batchelor claimed the other win. Elsewhere in the combined section top shows coming from Darryl Maxwell, Ashley Smith, Dominic Foreman, Zac Blackwell and Rob Wood also caught the eye.