All roads led to Route44 last weekend for the third annual Thomas Brown Memorial. There was a huge turn out ranging from top pro riders Brad Anderson, Jamie Law and Jonny Walker through to a talented group of Auto youngsters with a bright future ahead. Mix in an even bigger number of family and friends and the scene was set to celebrate the life of Thomas.
With a five-race weekend schedule and Thomasās legendary party on Saturday night, first up for the racing were the Autos.
There was a clear winner in the Auto class. With a first moto lap time equal to that of the 65s Lucas Lee was on fire from the get go. Currently second by a single point in the British Youth Nationals, Lucas showed his class by taking maximum points over the weekend.
The #10 machine of Kyle Graham went 6-2-2-6-5 for a second overall, ahead of Charlie Aspin. Harry Dale was a Sunday only racer having two-second places.
The 65s and the 85s had to endure a monumental downpour in their two laps of practice.
The Yamaha duo of Rylee Francis and Kameron Greenhalgh mixed in with Jaxon Haswell had the large crowd fixed on the action.
Haswell took the early lead in moto one only to have a huge crash just after the spectator area.
After a quick once over by the paramedics he was back on the bike and finished in 14th.
This obviously spurred him on as three wins out of the remaining four motos gave him second spot on the podium behind overall winner Rylee Francis with a 1-2-1-2-2 scorecard.
There were some notable battles further down the order between Finley Easton and Ruben Trew whose fathers raced together in the Dads race at the close of play Saturday.
The biggest mention in the 85cc report must go to the Mckinney family.
After a nightmare week having their motorhome stolen, along with all their essentials for a racing weekend, Ryan only just lined up Saturday morning with some help from the mx family.
This determination and help was to be rewarded as Ryan went 1-1-2-2-2 in the Small wheels.
The points haul of 216 left Ryan equal on points with in-form West Cumbrian Liam Johnston with the final moto being the decider. After a great battle Johnston took the win and the overall.
Ryan Lowes completed the Small-wheel box with a consistent weekend.
Lining up alongside the Small-wheels the Big-wheels was one that could go either way.
Robbie Park has been in blistering form recently, however with Jay Cheel and Grace Richards in the paddock, along with Mark Parker and Kerr Thompson both knocking on the door recently, the race was on.
Park was however in no mood to let anyone take another win, always looking super smooth and effortless.
Jay Cheel went 2-2-2-2-2, and it was good to see them racing together after some pretty epic battles at Brampton the past couple of years.
Taking the final podium place was Grace Richards who Iām sure we will see at the Team Event at Route 44 next weekend.
The Rookies cannot have got much closer with three points all that separated the first three. However it could all have been so different.
Moto 1 saw Oliver Barr and Northern Irelandās Ben Kennedy take an early lead but a coming together on lap three allowed Jack Abbott to sneak through and take the win.
The three named all had a race victory to their name over the weekend, however despite Oliver Barr going 1-1 on Sunday Jack Abbott took the overall by a single point despite a mechanical issue Sunday morning with Kennedy a further point behind.
One name missing from the Rookie class was Adam Slavin who took the step up to the A class for this meeting, finishing a creditable seventh in what you could describe as a āstackedā line up.
First Adult class was the Over 35/ Vets and the top two were basically glued together all weekend.
Saturday saw the two-stroke of Chris Muir holeshot and take the first two motos despite the attention of Scott Murray who was never far behind. But some good clean racing was had by both for the crowd to enjoy.
Moto three was the turning point however, with Murray reversing the result before maximum points Sunday to take the overall by three points.
There was a great battle behind the top two with John Carruthers just taking third by a narrow margin from Gavin Southward and the annual comeback of Clark Davidson. After an impressive previous weekend Ryan Sheppard continued that form to take the overall win in the Adult C under 30s.
Three wins out of five was enough with the other two wins going to Mackenzie Crockatt and Tom Lawrence.
It was great to see Crockatt back riding in Cumbria where he spent many years racing as a youngster.
West Cumbrian Mark Blacklock and his two-stroke machine had a solid weekend and came second overall.
New father Dee-Jay Walker took the honours in the Adult B going 1-1-1-2-1 to cap an impressive weekend on the Yamaha.
Andrew Slavin followed him home in second to continue his brilliant season form and a rare race alongside his brother Adam.
Third place went to a newbie all the way from America, Duff Man went 5-3-6-5-6 with the help of Matthew Frith who kindly lent him a bike for the weekend.
With not one person left in the paddock, everyoneās eyes were on the Adult A class.
Moto one saw fast-starting Matt Moffatt pop out the gate and take the holeshot award.
The lead was short-lived however, with Jamie Law stalking and passing during lap one.
Law was super impressive all weekend, taking maximum points despite the hard-charging Brad Anderson being on his tail. Rossi Beard improved as the weekend progressed to take second overall and John Robson, who has had some very impressive Maxxis results this year, completed the podium in third. Enduro racers, Jonny Walker and Sam Winterburn joined the racing on Sunday and both had solid top five moto finishes.
As a side to the racing, this weekend as always is a celebration in memory of Thomas and a time for the MX family to come together.
The first of the after race activities was the Dads race, always abit of fun but competitive all the same. Craig Trew, Stuart Easton and Shaun Wilson took the honours this year, raced through a monsoon.
There was also an inflatable total wipe out a beer tent and disco on Saturday where the packed marquee, drank, danced and shared some of their memories of Thomas.
Hereās to the TB44 memorial 2019 and a massive thank you to all that make it happen.
Thomas Brown Memorial Results
Autos: 1 Lucas Lee 2, Kyle Graham 3, Charlie Aspin 4, Ricky Barrack, 5 Jude Richards
65: 1 Rylee Francis 2, Jaxon Haswell 3, Kameron Greenhalgh, 4 Finley Easton, 5 Ellis Nelson
SW85: 1 Liam Johnston, 2 Ryan Mckinney, 3 Ryan Lowes, 4 Daniel Nevitt, 5 Thomas Carruthers
BW85: 1 Robbie Park, 2 Jay Cheel, 3 Grace Richards, 4 Mark Parker, 5 Kerr Thompson
Rookies: 1 Jack Abbott, 2 Oliver Barr, 3 Ben Kennedy, 4 Kyle Peel, 5 Jack Murray
Over 35s Vets: 1 Scott Murray, 2 Chris Muir, 3 John Caruthers, 4 Gavin Southward, 5 Clark Davidson
C Under 35: 1 Ryan Sheppard, 2 Mark Blacklock, 3 Daz Birkbeck, 4 Mackenxie Crockett, 5 Ross Johns
B: 1 Dee-Jay Walker, 2 Andrew Slavin, 3 Matthew Frith, 4 Brad Swinbank, 5 John Mulley
A: 1 Jamie Law, 2 Rossi Beard, 3 John Robson, 4 Matt Moffatt, 5 Joe Hodgson
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