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Verde Racing News | 29/05/2015
EMX250 European Championship – Matterley Basin, 23rd and 24th May 2015
Last weekend was the British Motocross Grand Prix at Matterley Basin, down in Winchester, Hampshire. Verde managed to get their rider, Jake Millward, an entry into the British Round of the EMX250 Championship.
Matterley Basin is a fantastic venue: A top notch, hard pack track with spectacular viewing, an amazing packed crowd and luckily great weather which all added up to another awesome weekend of nail biting racing.
Saturday saw some excellent racing especially in the EM125 class with Brit Conrad Mews just missing out on 1st place after a neck on neck battle. The MXGP and MX2 qualifying races also gave good results for the British with Simpson and Anstie both qualifying in the top 7.
EMX250 TIMED QUALIFYING:
With 66 riders, the EMX250 was split into two timed qualifying groups with 33 riders in each. The fastest 15 out of each group would automatically qualify into Sunday’s racing. All others would get the opportunity to enter a “last chance†qualifying race on Saturday teatime with only 10 out of 36 going through to Sunday’s race day.
Qualifying is always hard to judge. You can get a few very quick laps in early on, only to find that someone else slots a quicker one in during their last lap, not giving you the opportunity to pull one back. Well group one of the EMX250 saw this for the Brits for sure. Just 2 Brits came home in the top 15, leaving Millward, Davidson, Knight and 6 other Brits all having to prove themselves in the last chance race. Jake was sitting in 8th all the way through the qualifying, until he got shunted back into 17th in the last couple of laps.
Group 2 was slightly easier. Similar lap times saw Eccles, Clarke, Cottrell, Gilbert & Osmaston secure places for the Sunday’s racing automatically, leaving Dixon, Banks, Burrows and 4 other Brits in the last chance race.
LAST CHANCE RACE:
What an excellent bit of racing to watch. 36 riders all competing for just 10 places. 16 of these were Great British and the crowds were right behind them. The first four laps were led by Dutch rider Van Der Vlist, closely followed by Dixon. But on lap 5 Jake Millward made his move into first place, shortly followed by Robert Davidson into second. Jake Millward, of Verde Sports Racing, then took off and looked at home on this Hampshire hard pack track. He picked up his pace, lengthened the gap and came home a comfortable 1st place, 5 seconds ahead of Davidson and 15 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack. British riders Dixon, Burrows and Knight also qualified for the main event on the Sunday, giving a total of 12 British riders out of the 40 strong line-up.
SUNDAY FREE PRACTICE:
Early Sunday morning gave a quick 10 minute warm up for the
40 EMX250 riders. The track was a little
slippy in places due to the morning’s watering but it looked like it would be
perfect for when the racing started.
Jake had a comfortable practice, slipped off once on a wet bend but got
17th fastest lap in this unofficial timed practice.
EMX250, RACE 1:
Jake got a good start, coming round the first corner in 12th place. It was going to be a tough race with a number of Championship contenders towards the back of the pack, pushing through and taking no prisoners on the way. Jake had an excellent first lap and then half way through the second, whilst going over the Ipone jump, Maxime Deprey found himself aiming for Jake's line on the downward jump. Maxime dumped his bike mid-air which went on to hit Jake's bike, sending him flying with two bikes following after him. Obviously this left us game over for the weekend's racing but he was very lucky and came away with no serious injuries - just very badly bruised and battered with a pretty mangled bike! With miraculously no bones broken, this week has seen a week of rest for Jake to recuperate and he is now ready for the Weston Super Mare festival this weekend, 30 and 31st May.
QUOTE FROM JAKE MILLWARD:
Really enjoyed myself riding at the British GP - disappointed that I got took out before I got chance to get stuck into the first race but just glad that I didn’t get too hurt. Hope to get the chance to compete in the EMX250 again!
QUOTE FROM TEAM MANAGER, ADRIAN KIRK:
Great bit of riding by Jake this weekend. Shame Sunday’s racing got cut short. It would have been good to see where he
finished in such a stacked class.
Hopefully he might get another chance before the season is out.
Verde Racing News | 29/05/2015
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