After the unfortunate cancellation of the Foxhill round of the 2014 Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship, Canada Heights in Kent was the venue for round four. And the Wilvo Forkrent KTM team were looking to close the gaps at the top of the standings.
Race day started with practice and qualifying and in the MX2 class both Matiss Karro and Adam Sterry produced great lap times to finish second and third respectively and head to Superpole. In the Superpole session Karro improved his time further and took pole, while Sterry making a small mistake at the start of the lap slipped to fifth.
In the MX1 class Jake Nicholls finished both practice and qualifying sessions in second place and although Nicholls improved on his lap time, he was unable to advance his position.
With solid start positions for both riders on Sunday morning it was time for the gate to drop on the first MX2 race of the day. Unfortunately the drama began just 20 metres up the start straight, when title rival Pocock moved across and tangled with Karro, causing the Latvian to hit the deck and leaving him to continue from dead last.
Meanwhile at the front, Sterry had made a great jump and took an early race lead. Following a couple of laps into the race Sterry made a small mistake in one of the downhill corners and unfortunately lost a few positions.
As the race went on there was yet to be more drama. As Karro moved up the order he was then caught up in the melee of another rider’s crash. Karro continued to move forward and would eventually finish in eighth place ahead of team-mate Sterry in ninth who crashed heavily later in the race and lost the chance of a top three finish.
After the dramas of the first race the team were hoping for a much more straightforward race two. When the gate dropped both Sterry and Karro struggled to get the jump, leaving them in 14th and 15th as they rounded the first turn meaning both riders had to work extremely hard in the opening laps to make up the ground.
Karro rode a very smart and sensible race, setting incredible lap times as he worked his way up through the field and onto the back of Pocock before dispensing with the championship leader to take a fantastic win. Sterry pushed hard all race long and worked his way into the top 10 before getting stuck behind Dougan and eventually finishing in eighth place.
The final MX2 race of the day saw Karro finally make a good start and take the holeshot with team-mate Sterry close behind in second. The pair quickly started to breakaway from the field but Sterry suddenly ground to a halt as his chain came off in one of the deep rutted corners.
Managing to get the chain back on, Sterry was able to rejoin the race at the back. At the front Karro continued to run away with the race and the win while Sterry ferociously battled his way back to 14th to score some valuable points.
After a dramatic day of racing Karro finished in second overall and remains second in the Championship just six points behind Pocock, while Sterry took 10th overall and is now fifth in the Championship.
“It wasn’t the best start to the first race,” says Karro. “Pocock came across me and took me down but it’s all part of racing.
“Then I was coming through and James Dunn went down and I got stuck in his bike but still managed to come back to eighth place. Then in the second race I got a bad start and had to come from about 16th to take the race win, which was good. I felt good on the bike and I really like the track here. In the final race I got a mega holeshot and took a comfortable race win. I’ve finished second overall again but I know a better finish is still coming.”
Following a challenging day Adam Sterry said: “It’s been a tough day at the office but qualifying was good and I had the speed and finished third. Then in Superpole I made a mistake at the start of the lap and ended up fifth but the start here is pretty fair so I wasn’t too worried.
“The first race I was leading and then made a small mistake on the 180 corner at the bottom and lost a few positions and then coming through the whoops I had a massive crash and went over the bars, bent the bike and finished ninth.
In the second race I got a terrible start and got an eighth so was disappointed with that. Then in the last race I was second and the chain came off and I had to put that back on and restart almost last to recover to 14th which wasn’t bad considering it happened in the middle of the race so I felt good with my riding.”
In the MX1 class, Nicholls went to the gate feeling confident and was in the top five as they rounded the first turn at the start of the race. In the opening lap Nicholls made some strong passes and was quickly on the back wheel and applying pressure on race leader Shaun Simpson.
By the end of the second lap Nicholls had made his move and passed Simpson to take the lead. The pair then continuously battled for the remainder of the race and was separated by no more than a couple of seconds with Nicholls taking the win by just 0.9 of a second at the finish line.
The second race again saw Nicholls round the first turn just behind Simpson and the pair once again was locked in a race-long battle for the victory. With both Nicholls and Simpson being so evenly matched it was proving difficult for Nicholls to mount a serious challenge for the lead.
In the final laps Nicholls managed to up his pace and closed right in on Simpson but then sadly got obstructed by a lapped rider in the wood section. This made his cause more difficult and he just failed to make the pass by the narrowest of margins finishing just 0.2 seconds behind Simpson and almost a minute ahead of third place.
With Nicholls and Simpson tied on points going into the last race it was going to be winner takes all for the overall.
As the gate dropped Nicholls made a strong start and took the holey but was pushed wide by Simpson on turn two. As Nicholls tried to retaliate in turn three he was slightly too aggressive – making a mistake which high sided him off the bike.
After catching his breath and remounting, Nicholls set off again from dead last and charged down the riders ahead. With Simpson in the lead Nicholls knew that it was vital to recover places and as high as possible to limit the damage to his Championship standing. By the halfway point Nicholls was in 13th and eventually battled his way up to eighth place at the finish.
In the MX1 class, Nicholls last race charge was enough to give him second overall and stay second in the Championship but is now 17 points behind Simpson.
“It’s been a rubbish end to the day after such a good start,” said a disappointed Nicholls.
“The first race I took the win even though I wasn’t riding great. Then in the second race I was riding really good and nearly won that one and then in the last race I threw it away really.
“I got the holeshot and ran a bit wide and then just saw red mist and attacked the next section a bit too hard and crashed coming out of the turn three. I landed on my ribs pretty hard and winded myself and had to wait for everyone to go by before I could remount. I managed to charge back to eighth in the last 20 minutes but I’m annoyed to have given away so many points to Shaun in that race. At least I’m healthy and able to challenge again at the next round.”
Commenting at the end of the day, team owner and manager Steve Turner said: “It’s been the story of this Championship for us today. We’ve had two good races and one bad just like the first two rounds but today it has been with both Matiss and Jake.
“Matiss was unlucky in the first race with Pocock colliding with him on the start and then getting caught up with James Dunn’s crash which put him further back. If the second crash hadn’t happened he would have easily made it into the top five and maybe got the overall today. In the other two races Matiss rode amazingly well to take two race wins, especially in race two.
“Unfortunately for Adam he had a tough day. He showed some good pace but his mistakes and crashes cost him dearly today but it’s all still a learning curve for him. He’s got the speed to run in the top three every race but he just needs to do it without making any mistakes.
“In MX1 Jake rode well all day taking a strong race win in the first one and then was so close to doing it again in the second. It’s just a real shame that the last race turned out like it did. Jake pushed a bit too hard on the third corner and went down hard and took a few moments to get up and going again.
“After that he rode a mega race and got back to eighth which was all he could expect from so far back but we lost a load of points, so we are all a bit disappointed about that but we will keep fighting and things will go our way soon I’m sure.”
