It was Ben Stanley who dominated the Junior Open class taking home a maximum points haul and leaving the rest to fight over the remaining positions.
Ollie Rutter looked like he was going to take the runner-up spot but a race-four 31st dropped him down to fourth overall. Aiden Carney was the man to benefit from Rutter’s mishap and bagged himself the second place on the podium with just three points to spare ahead of third-placed Richard Evans.
In the Ladies category first blood went to former series champ Nadiya Jones but a couple of disappointing finishes in the second and third outings cost her a higher placing overall as she took a pair of third place finishes on Sunday to jump up to fifth overall.
It was enduro specialist Jane Daniels who took full advantage and after a first race second she then went on to take the rest of the moto wins for the weekend giving her the top spot.
Charlotte Hall took her Honda to a 3-2-3-2-2 scorecard to claim the runner-up position and give herself a solid start to the season and Chloe Richards stood alongside her rivals on the third step of the box.
Was there any surprise about the Over 40 Vets class winner? Brian Wheeler showed that a change of machine over the winter onto the CPS Husqvarna won’t change the result and he got his season off to the best possible start, taking five wins and a 22-point lead going into Hawkstone Park.
The race was behind Wheeler as championship regular Danny Blakeley had his work cut out with newcomers Adam Wilkinson and Danny Tollett joining the party. The trio shared the second, third and fourth places between themselves over the course of the weekend with Wilkinson second overall from Tollett and Blakeley.
It was a totally different story in the Over 50 Vets as it was about who could be most consistent on the rough, sandy circuit with four different race winners.
The only rider to claim two wins over the two days was Andy Watkins who could only manage fourth overall after running 7-6 on Saturday and leaving himself 13 points short.
Chris Brown and Morton Hannah tied overall and both left FatCat with 186 points but Brown was the man on the top step. Nev King also claimed a win and ended the weekend third overall.
In the 125 Two-stroke class 2015 champion Jimmy Margetson faced defending champion Dylan Spencer. Margetson took the first honours with Spencer second but the roles were reversed in race two before Margetson ended the day with his second win while Spencer could only manage fourth. A win and a second on Sunday earned Margetson the overall from Spencer with last race winner Nathan Claughan standing on the third step of the rostrum.
The podium was shaken up on day two below the leading pair as Harry Barker looked set for a solid overall until a fourth race mishap and DNS in the final race dropped him further down the order.
In the 250cc Two-stroke class it was a battle royale at the front between Denny Rapson and James Lassu. Even though the result showed a maximum points haul for Rapson he had to work for each of his wins and came through the pack after a couple of bad starts to catch Lassu which was brilliant to watch. Lassu fought hard but the rough conditions played their part and Rapson was able to pull away to five wins.
Lassu took a solid runner-up overall position and Adam Harris claimed the final step of the podium. Sunday saw EMX 2t rider Oli Benton make an appearance which spiced things up a bit more at the front and he took a third and second but didn’t score points towards the overall.
In MX2 British championship rider and former BYMX champion Howard Wainwright made an appearance and put on a good show for the crowd although he wasn’t eligible for points which left Jack Rowland with four wins and a second for the overall.
Reigning two-time champion Scott Hamilton had a disastrous moto two which pushed him down to fourth overall and Sammy Beresford had a nightmare race four leaving the door wide open for Troy Jones to take the runner-up spot on the podium tied with Jordan Martin. Hamilton was four points behind in fourth and Beresford a further four back in fifth.
It looked like the MX1 class was going to be dominated by Adam Wells after he claimed a pair of wins on Saturday but in the first race on Sunday a big crash left him unfortunately out for the remainder of the weekend.
Defending champ Ed Briscoe, after a solid 5-2 on Saturday, dominated day two with three wins and took the overall from Lewis Trickett who crashed in race two but claimed four second-places for second overall. Andy Wilson had a solid start to the year claiming third with Jamie Dixon in fourth and Cory Nemeth rounding out the top five.
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