Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship Season Review 2017

Wet n’ Wild!

Culham Moto Park hosts round one of the series where pre-event rain means it’s wet, wet, wet…

Hitachi KTM UK riders Jake Nicholls and Ben Watson dominated the opening round of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship supported by Pro Clean at a rough, tough Culham Moto Park.

Nicholls ran 1-1 in MX1 with two commanding rides and Watson matched his scores in MX2 while in MXY2 it was Team Green Kawasaki’s fast 14-year-old Lewis Hall who came away with the overall win with a 2-1 score.

Overnight rain made the always testing circuit even more challenging but Nicholls and Watson, both fresh from points-scoring rides at the previous weekend’s rain-lashed Indonesian GP, never faltered.

After posting the second-fastest time in quali behind Geartec Husqvarna’s Elliott Banks-Browne, Nicholls converted good starts into early leads and maximum points with Buildbase Honda’s Graeme Irwin and Hobbs Racing Kawasaki’s Steven Lenoir joining him on the podium.

Watson, who missed almost the entire 2016 season with a foot injury sustained at the Argentine GP, topped qualifying by over two seconds and looked in total control on a technically very challenging track.

His double win gives him a 15-point lead over MVR-D Husqvarna’s flying Finn Harri Kullas with Putoline Planet Suspension Husqvarna rider Brad Todd a further three points adrift.

After following Gear4 KTM’s Jake Edey home in the opening MXY2 moto, Hall clinched the overall with victory second time out. Keenan Hird put his Craigs Kawasaki on the second step of the podium with Edey surviving a crash in race two to take third.