Michelin MX Nationals - Round 6 - Canada Heights - 20th September 2015

Michelin MX Nationals - Round 6 - Canada Heights - 20th September 2015

The final round of the MX Nationals was held last weekend at the fabulous Canada Heights down near Swanley in Kent. Verde Sports Racing went with just one rider, MX2 Jake Millward 303, as Josh Spinks was once again sitting out of the MX1 class due to his knee injury. The track was in excellent condition and Jake was there to defend his 2nd place title in the championship. He entered this last round 17 points clear of Liam Knight and 27 points clear of Rob Davidson.

Qualifying

Jake was pretty consistent in qualifying. He liked the track, enjoyed riding it and managed to secure 2nd fastest MX2 behind Neville Bradshaw. His gate pick however was 12th as with all the MX Nationals races, both the MX1 and MX2 classes line up together.

Race 1

Not a bad start out of the gate amongst a mixture of 26 250, 350 and 450 bikes. Jake rounded the first bend in 12th place overall but was the fourth MX2 rider. The track was pretty rough but Jake rode very consistently as in qualifying. He struggled to pass Davidson but once he did, soon found his rhythm and chased after Bradshaw who was in 2nd place in the MX2 class. A battle went on for a lap or two with MX1 rider Dan Thornhill causing too much time to be lost to catch Neville Bradshaw. Jake came home in a comfortable 3rd place MX2, ahead of Davidson and Knight.

Race 2

Jake got a pretty good jump out of the gate and was 10th overall and 4th MX2 round the first bend once again. For the first few laps Jake and Rob Davidson battled together for 3rd and 4th place, swapping positions continually. Jake then got involved in a three bike crash with Micky Eccles and Ollie Osmaston. Ollie was on his way pretty rapidly but it was game over for Micky and Jake was left pretty dazed and disorientated. With his championship position at stake, he dusted the bike off and soldiered on to finish the race in 13th place MX2 and 8th overall for the day - meaning he managed to comfortably secure his 2nd place overall for the championship.

Overall

It has been an up and down series for the team. Josh was sitting in 5th place in the MX1 championship after four rounds but then had to miss out of the last two due to an injured knee, leaving him to lose positions and slip down to 8th overall in the championship.

Jake started the season with an excellent meeting at Preston Docks in Round 1 where he secured 2nd overall by finishing 2nd in the Moto 1 and 3rd in the Moto 2. Since then he has had plenty of 3rd and 4th place finishes and has proven to be the most consistent MX2 rider overall (with the exception of championship winner Steven Lenior). It would have been the cherry on top to have finished the series with a podium at this last meeting and at one point this looked to be in sight. Nevertheless, Jake was so far ahead, the final moto of the series made no difference to his championship position and Jake finished 2nd overall, 13 points clear of 3rd place Liam Knight.

Quote from Jake Millward:

It has been a really good year with some good and not so good races but we did it in the end. 2nd overall in the Michelin MX Nationals Championship - Peaking!

Quote from Josh Spinks:

It has been a fun series to compete in and just a shame that I have had to sit out the last two rounds due to injury. I had been confident to finish in the top 5 but have unfortunately had to settle for 8th place overall.

Quote from Team Manager, Adrian Kirk:

It has been an enjoyable series to be a part of and we have experienced many highs and lows. Jake did what he had to do this weekend to secure his 2nd place in the championship. The aim for next season would be to gain more podiums on the way and obviously aim for 1st overall. However, Jake entered the competition by claiming 2nd overall and consistently managed to keep hold of this title right until the very end. Well done Jake Millward. It is a shame that Josh got injured midseason as it would have been interesting to watch him ride at Hawkstone Park and Canada Heights - and he most probably would have finished 4th place for the championship.

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