Lyng in Norfolk marked the scene for the second round of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship powered by Skye Energy. The sandy circuit at Lyng always produces some exciting racing.
Tanel was looking for another strong result, while Jamie Law looked to build upon his results from the opening round.
The day started with the practice and qualifying sessions and both Tanel and Jamie set out their stalls early in the session, posting their fastest laps on the first attempt.
Tanel’s time was good enough to see him finish second fastest behind Kristian Whatley and ahead of Shaun Simpson, while Jamie finished in 12th place.
The opening MX1 race of the day saw both Jamie and Tanel start inside the top 15 and quickly begin to push forward. By the mid-race distance Tanel was inside the top 10 and pushing hard during the latter stages as the other riders started to drop off the pace.
Unfortunately with a few laps remaining one of the radiator hoses on Tanel’s bike was split by a stone and caused the bike to start steaming and forced Tanel to slow down to preserve the bike and bring it home in a great fifth place. Meanwhile Jamie had a good race but struggled to pass a few riders early on and finished 12th – but only 10 seconds off finishing in seventh.
The second MX1 race saw Tanel make a much better start and round the first corner inside the top five with Jamie just a couple of places behind in ninth. Tanel quickly set about working his way forward into third place but a small crash meant he had to do it all over again and in the closing laps found his way passed Whatley to take second. For Jamie the second race would see him riding well inside the top 10 but slip back to 11th place at the finish after a slight mistake lost him track time.
When the gate dropped for the third and final MX1 race Tanel produced his best start of the day in third and quickly made a pass on Whatley to take second place – setting after Simpson in the lead.
The pair set a strong pace and was matching each others lap times – soon moving away from the rest of the field, finishing just over a second apart. Meanwhile Jamie made the most of his strong start and was battling into the top 10 and settled into a good rhythm to take a well-deserved eighth place.
Tanel ended the day in third overall and remained second in the championship standings, while Jamie finished the day in 10th overall and now sits eighth in the standings.
Lyng also marked the opening round of MXY2 Championship with Ben James competing in the class. After breaking his arm just six weeks ago, racing at Lyng was always going to be a tough challenge. The day started with qualifying and Ben suffered with arm pump and traffic – only managing 33rd fastest.
For the 2015 season the MXY2 class has been increased to three races during the day and the main aim for Ben and the team was to gain valuable track time and finish all three of the races.
The opening race would see Ben finish in 30th place and then improve on this in the second race to finish in 27th, but it was to be the last race of the day where Ben improved the most to finish in 21st place, just missing out on the points.
The championship now has a four week break before heading to Canada Heights in Kent on May 3.
“Today went well, I was on the podium once again but I feel that things could’ve gone better,” said Tanel Leok. “In the first race we had a problem with one of the radiator hoses leaking and that worried me slightly as I was trying to check that the caps were tight etc, so I was lucky to finish in fifth.
“Then I was riding good in the second race as I was in third and crashed early on and then recovered to finish second. Then in the last race I got a good start and got into second early on but I couldn’t find my rhythm until towards the end of the race when I closed in on Simpson again.”
“I felt like I was riding well today but I’m a bit frustrated with my results,” said Jamie Law. “In the first and second race I was on the back of the freight train of riders from seventh to 12th but just missed out on better results.
“In the last race I got a better start and knuckled in on the opening laps and finished in eighth which is where I should have been all day.”
“It wasn’t the greatest of days for me but considering I haven’t ridden much before today due to my broken arm I’m happy to have finished all three races,” said Ben James. “And we now know what we need to work on ready for the next round.
Team Manager, Steve James commented: “It’s been a good weekend for the whole team, in the MXY2. It was Ben’s first big event of 2015 and the plan was just for him to finish all three races after breaking his wrist six weeks ago and he did that.
“In the MX1 class Jamie had three solid results to finish in 10th overall and is now eighth in the championship standings which is really good.
“Tanel also rode mega all day today and was second fastest in qualifying but unfortunately in the opening race a stone split one of the radiator hoses and that slowed Tanel’s progress but he still came home in fifth. Then Tanel got second in the second and third races to finish third overall and remains second in the championship standings so I am very happy with today. I’m looking forward to the next round.”
