British champion Conrad Mewse stretched out his lead in the MX1 class from five to 16 points as he took second overall in the scorching conditions in round six of the series, held at the historic Canada Heights circuit in Kent.
And it was a solid return for his Crendon FASTRACK Honda CRF450R team-mate Jamie Carpenter, back from some medical treatment to his injured knee. He took a well-deserved seventh overall to move up a place to seventh in the series.
But it was a day of cruel luck for the team’s teenage rookie MX2 rider Charlie Richmond. Eager to get on the podium again after finishing second at the last round, he was blazing fast but was hindered by crashes and bad luck as he took tenth overall and is now fifth in the series.
On a revamped circuit, Mewse started the day in top form but controlling qualifying to take pole position on the very last lap, with Carpenter spending the session getting back into the swing of riding again and taking 11th.
The Crendon riders chose vastly different positions on the start gate but neither paid off too well, with both getting caught up in traffic early on. Mewse exited the second corner tenth with Carpenter back in 20th.
Hard-riding Mewse managed to end the first lap in sixth place after some heroic passes, then started to make his way forward towards the front. It took him until lap seven to get through to second place, with title rival Oriol Oliver holding a commanding lead. Mewse dug deep and reeled in the Spanish MXGP rider on every single lap. A stunning charge on the last two laps saw the Brit get close and set the fastest time of the race but Oliver held his nerve to take a slim victory.
Carpenter took some time to get into his race rhythm but eventually made consistent passes until he got through to 11th place, riding on the same pace as many of the riders just in front of him.
Race two started with both Honda men making better starts with Mewse fourth and Carpenter ninth, but it was red-flagged while an injured rider was attended to by the medical team. The restart saw Mewse sixth and Carpenter tenth, and both men made forward.
With Ben Watson leading, Mewse and Oliver quickly moved up the rankings until they held the top two positions by lap six, with Watson third. Mewse set the fastest lap of the race once again as he stayed close to Oliver for the whole moto, but the exertion of his first race charge through the pack began to take its toll.
When Watson’s bike stopped with three laps remaining, Mewse decided to play it safe and accept second place – knowing his results would see him pull away at the head of the series.
Carpenter also looked more comfortable despite the track getting rougher after a full day of racing. He held his nerve and moved up to seventh for seventh overall and a move up to seventh in the series!
Mewse said: “It was an awesome day to come away with a 15-point lead. Obviously second overall is not what we want, but we've got to look at the bigger picture a little bit now, as it's getting close to the end of series with just two rounds to go. So we’ve got to try to manage this thing as good as possible.
“In the first race I was really fast, and came from a long way back. I really dug deep in that race. It's hot here and the track is gnarly and I think I just maybe left the tank a little bit empty for the last couple of laps in the second one.
I came down the hill and I unfortunately saw Ben had gone out, which is never nice to see someone go out that way. And then straight away I went into defence mode and just couldn't get the championship out of my head.
Oliver was fast today. It was his day and I can’t take that away from him. He was a better man today. But with two-two, I’m happy for me and it’s a great result for the Crendon FASTRACK Honda team.
The British championship is the main priority for me and the team. It's not like I’ve got a 40 point buffer, so I decided not to race the British GP next week. My main priority is the British, and I want to make sure I get it wrapped up.”
Carpenter said: “Seventh overall and moving up to seventh in the series shows it wasn’t too bad of a day, considering I’ve only ridden once in the last month since the last round at Monster Mountain. So to come here, and still be fairly on the pace in both races is pretty good.
I had a little incident in the first turn at first race didn't come out of it very well. I came back from 18th to 11th, and that's probably the best I could do. The riders in front of me were all on the same sort of pace so it’s hard to move forward.
In the second race, it was a bit eventful with a red flag and a restart, but I didn’t get too bad of a start and made a couple of passes. The track was pretty sketchy and with four laps to go, I pulled the reins in a bit to make sure I brought it home safely in seventh.”
In the MX2 class, Charlie Richmond was full of confidence following the last round where he had the best ride of his professional career and took second place overall. He was third in qualifying and got a good start but things quickly went wrong in only the second corner as he went down after a clash with some rivals. Despite an impact to his leg, he got back on in 33rd place and staged a stirring ride through the field to get up to tenth. Then disaster struck once again and he fell once more. He got back on and by the end of the race managed to clinch tenth place on the final lap.
Riding in discomfort from his first race spill, he made a better start in race two, just inside the top ten. He fought hard in eighth place, but couldn’t hold off Ollie Colmer who managed to get by to demote the Honda rider to ninth. But he didn’t give up and eventually caught and passed championship leader Charlie Heyman who was suffering with the effects of the heat. Richmond came home eighth, which gave him tenth overall.
Richmond said: “After the success of the last round I was hoping to be going for a podium again but I made too many mistakes today. The start crash in moto one saw me coming from last to tenth, but race two was a struggle. I just didn’t have the best feeling. But I’ll regroup and come back fighting at the next one.”
Team manager Ryan Thorpe said: “It was a day that tested all three riders and I’m pleased at how much determination they all showed. Conrad gave it all he had to win the first moto after a bad start, but he made great decisions and to leave with a 15-point series lead is excellent.
Jamie has had a tough year with his injuries so to finish seventh is a great result. Obviously Charlie is disappointed, but he was so fast all day on a difficult and tricky track.”
For a full set of photos go to https://we.tl/t-k6Qd3TPtY7JquonN
Results: MX1:
I Oriol Oliver 50 points
2 Conrad Mewse Crendon FASTRACK Honda 44
3 Triston Purdon 38
4 Adam Sterry 35
5 Taylor Hammal 34
6 Tom Grimshaw 29
7 Jamie Carpenter Crendon FASTRACK Honda 29
8 Ben Edwards 24
9 Dylan Woodcock 18
10 Charley Putnam 18
Championship points after 6 rounds:
1 Conrad Mewse Crendon FASTRACK Honda265
2 Oriol Oliver 249
3 Ben Watson 232
4 Taylor Hammal 209
5 Tristan Purdon 166
6 Tom Grimshaw 140
7 Jamie Carpenter Crendon FASTRACK Honda 132
8 Ben Edwards 128
9 Adam Sterry 127
10 Bobby Bruce 111
MX2:
1 Gyan Doensen 43
2 Joe Brookes 38
3 Billy Askew 38
4 Ollie Colmer 35
5 Ben Mustoe 34
6 Charlie Heyman 34
7 Joel Rizzi 32
8 Jamie Keith 29
9 Glenn McCormick 25
10 Charlie Richmond Crendon FASTRACK Honda 24
Championship points after 6 rounds:
1 Charlie Heyman 258
2 Gyan Doensen 201
3 Ben Mustoe 171
4 Tommy Searle 169
5 Charlie Richmond Crendon FASTRACK Honda 165
6 Billy Askew 160
7 Joel Rizzi 152
8 Joe Brookes 144
9 Ollie Colmer 141
10 Jamie Keith 134
