November 10th, 2020.
Nora-MX was the only club to run a six-round quad racing championship in the UK in 2020. Despite the worldwide problems that plagued motorcycle racing of all disciplines, the series, which incorporated five official ACU British Championships, proved to be hugely-successful.Although the scheduled seventh round was unable to go ahead, all concerned agreed that the Nora-MX club did a tremendous job pulling together a competitive and Covid-19-safe championship under difficult circumstances. While the weather was a major downer at both opening and closing rounds planned for West Meon, it held good for all the other tracks.
The Nora-MX 2020 season finally started at Grittenham in July, before heading to the popular Cusses Gorse and then returning to Grittenham for double points. Champs Parc, Brakehill was next up with a hard-fought double-header and then in September, the club took quad racing to the British MX championship track at Little Silver in Devon for the first time in several years.
Harry Walker leads the Pros into the first corner
ROUND 1, 19TH JULY 2020, GRITTENHAM, WILTSHIREOne hundred and sixty competitors rocked up to the Nora-MX season opener in Wiltshire. With race-hungry competitors eager to get out on track, the racing was close and hard-fought throughout all classes.
Immediately prior to the opening round, the club announced that the 100cc Open, 250cc Open, Clubman, Ladies and Masters classes were all official ACU British Championships. With national pride at stake, there was much to play for.
Heavy rain overnight caused the track to be boggy in places, however, it dried out during the day and all classes managed three races apiece, albeit a shortened last moto for the Pro riders.
Four riders, namely Harry Walker, Tom Bainbridge, Ed Davies and Frank Marston maintained clean score sheets throughout the day, taking three wins from three starts in their respective classes of Pro, Novice, Masters and 100cc.
The morning qualifying session determined the fastest groups for the adult racers with Tom Day setting the quickest Pro lap time, ahead of George Day, James Bevan, Jamie Morgan and Harry Walker. The pace was hot out front with the top five all posting sub 1:50 lap times, setting the scene for the races ahead.
Tom and George Day, Morgan, Bevan and Callum Bates battled hard in the leading Pro group with Day (Tom) taking the fastest lap in the opening moto and Walker in races two and three. Dafydd Davies, David and Simon Hammersley Oli Sansom, Carl Bunce and Harry Miller all featured in the top ten of the uber-fast Pro class.
Having recently moved up from the youth ranks, Alfie Walker and Robbie Wood resumed their on-track rivalry in the Clubman class. Walker was on course for a set of three wins but was thwarted while leading the first race when his machine stopped on the last lap. Sam Norris took the win, but Walker was back on winning form in the next two races.
Ed Davies cleaned up in the Masters with Johnny McKnight and Paul McConway keeping him company with tight racing and making their long trip from Northern Ireland worthwhile. Chris Keitch and Darren Bridge were also in the frame. The new 40-plus age limit put a different mix on proceedings in the Masters B with three different race winners in the category. Richard Clark finished 10th on track and won the class in the first race, Ray Walker did the same in the second and John Hall was the top B racer in the third race, crossing the finish line in 12th overall.
Tom Bainbridge was on fire in the Novice group, taking all three wins, with Bradley Goddard, Catrin Davies, Georgia Lent, Lewis Painter and Harry Walker #169, all on a fast charge and keeping the pace fast.
The 250 class also witnessed exciting racing with Luke Berlyn taking two wins and a second, Chad Beevers taking the middle race win and two seconds and Josh McKnight securing three third place finishes.
Frank Marston, Louie Holt and Brodie North held their first, second and third places in all three 100cc geared races, while Jay Sam and Seth Balaam shared the winners’ spoils in the auto sector. Harriett Mewse took two wins in the 50cc class, with Beatrix Drinkwater claiming a win and two seconds. The girls also held their own against the faster machines, both finishing in the top eight on track.
Alfie Walker won the ACU British Clubman Championship
ROUND 2, 2ND AUGUST 2020, CUSSES GORSE, SALISBURYThe Nora-MX quad club welcomed another packed line-up of riders to the second round of its 2020 championship at Cusses Gorse.
The challenging, but superbly prepared, track 1.65km track produced some close racing across the classes. The day was unfortunately cut short due to the second Pro race being red flagged, while all medics attended injured riders on the track, and a passing air ambulance landed to offer assistance.
Harry Walker set the fastest time in qualifying, but it was a back-on-form Ayrton Knowles who grabbed the first race holeshot. He was passed by Walker and George Day who both held their first and second positions to the chequered flag. Tom Day recovered well to finish a close third, followed by James Bevan, while Carl Bunce, Simon Hammersley and Dafydd Davies enjoyed a race long battle behind them.
The chaotic race two was stopped at around half-race distance and a result declared after five laps were completed. The shortened moto was headed by the Day brothers with Tom emerging victorious. Bevan was third. Race one’s winner Walker picked up a puncture and lost shape across the whoops. Tom Chell and Iestyn Rees were both injured in separate incidents.
Alfie Walker was on a mission in the Clubman class setting a blistering pace with two wins ahead of Robbie Wood and Danny Smith; the order of the day in both races.
Ed Davies once again dominated the combined Masters A and B group, even though he was made to work from the back of the field in the second race. Jonathan McKnight lost his seat, and top placing, in race one but salvaged the day with a second position in race two. Multi-British Quad Champ Paul Winrow made his first return to competitive racing after knee injury; he took two third-place finishes.
Catrin Davies led the boys across the line in the first Intermediates/Novice race with Tom Bainbridge taking second and Georgia Lent third. Bainbridge romped home in first in the second race to secure the overall win.
In the youth ranks, the 250 category saw Chad Beevers, Luke Berlyn and Josh McKnight take the top three positions in both motos. The increasingly popular 100cc and 50cc group witnessed great battles throughout the positions and with almost half the grid made up of girls, the boys needed to keep their wits about them. Ellie Stott made her mark with a pair of second places in the geared class, while 50cc-mounted Harriett Mewse put on a gutsy performance to take two fifth place finishes ahead of many bigger machines.
There was no stopping Ed Davies showing the Masters a 'masterclass'
ROUND 3, 16TH AUGUST, GRITTENHAM, WILTSHIREThe Nora-MX club pulled out all the stops, with its organising team working through the Saturday night, when it returned to Grittenham.
Competitors arriving on Saturday, viewed the track with some concern as the British weather did its best to turn the Wiltshire venue into a swamp. However, once the hard-working Nora-MX team set to work with the big machinery, the Sunday morning delivered a different scene and competitors were heard to comment favourably on its condition.
The race day weather held good, and another huge line up of riders graced the Nora-MX start gate as racing got underway across adult and youth classes.
Harry Walker, Dafydd Davies and George Day shared the wins in the Pro class with Walker’s first, second and 12th place finishes just enough to give him the overall on the day by the narrowest of margins. Davies led the opening Pro moto right up until the closing stages, when Walker passed him for the win with Day third. Davies set out his stall though in the second race, taking a flag to flag win ahead of Walker and Carl Bunce. Both George and Tom Day were disqualified in race two for failing to start from the actual start line – a tough decision by the organiser, but the rules are the same for everyone. The brothers regrouped and rectified their race two zero score in the final Pro outing, with George taking the win and Tom finishing third. Simon Hammersley put up a fight to the finish to take a well-deserved second. Walker led the first few laps in race three, however, machine problems meant he had to limp to the finish in 12th to get valuable championship points. Davies, who had been second, lost a wheel on the edge of a berm, while trying to get a dry line, which flipped his machine over. Once righted, he coasted home to 13th. Jack Naylor was the top Pro-Am racer, going one better in each race with overall finishes of 12th, 11th and 10th.
In the fast-paced Clubman group, Alfie Walker dominated the first two Clubman Elite races with Robbie Wood, Dylan McKenna and Danny Smith battling it out behind him. In race three, after some early dicing with Walker, a determined Wood secured the win. Clubman riders Cameron Thompson, Joe Pryke, Daniel Scott Evans and Bradley Watson all featured in the top 10 of each moto with Watson taking an impressive seventh in the last race.
Ed Davies once again took all three wins in the Masters with Chris Keitch, Johnny McKnight and Paul Winrow keeping him company. McKnight lost a chain in race one which saw him in an uncustomary last place, but he was back on form with podium finishes in the next two outings. Still recovering from injury, Winrow looked to be back on form and Philip Hammersley also featured well in the early stages. Elsewhere in this hard-fought class, Richard Clark was the top Masters B competitor with Matthew Kirk and John Hall rounding out the top three in races one and two. Gary Jones and Ben Morgan were second and third in the final Masters race.
Girl power was a feature in race one of the popular Novice/Intermediate/Ladies group. Shelley Smart took the overall win ahead of Tom Bainbridge and Catrin Davies in the Intermediates, with Will Mead and Myles Mott taking first and second in the Novices and seventh and eighth on track. Bainbridge was back to his winning ways in motos two and three with Davies and Georgia Lent behind him in race two. Dillon Stepney was second in the third race and, with an impressive performance, Novice Mead was third.
In the Youth ranks, Chad Beevers was on fire in the 250s and left the rest of the pack standing with three wins from three starts. Luke Berlyn together with Northern Irish riders Josh McKnight and Ross Dillon were mixing it up behind him with Berlyn taking second, fourth and second, McKnight third, second and third and wringing everything out of his air-cooled against the open-class machines, Dillon bagged sixth, third and fourth.
All three 100cc/50cc combined classes raced the full adult circuit. The races were won by Frank Marston on his geared 100cc, while Louie Holt who usually runs at the front with Marston lost time in the first moto when his machine cut out on him. He made up for it in the following races with two second place finishes. Seth Balaam and Jay Sams on their auto 100s were right in the thick of it with their geared counterparts. Balaam won the Auto class with a third and two fourth-placed on-track finishes, with Sams right with him in fourth, fifth and fifth. Ellie Stott showed the majority of the field her rear wheels with a second and two thirds on her geared machine, while an absolutely on form Harriett Mewse posted results of seventh, seventh and ninth on her little 50cc auto. All participants in this progressively competitive class rode their hearts out and the start line was getting bigger and bigger at each meeting.
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Catrin Davies is the ACU British Ladies Champ and finished 2nd in the Inters. Image: Elys James.ROUNDS 4 & 5, 12TH & 13TH SEPTEMBER 2020, CHAMPS MOTO PARC, BRAKEHILL FARM, NORTHANTSThe fourth and fifth rounds of the 2020 Nora-MX Championship, the only double-header of the season, saw all main adult and youth class winners stamp their authority across their respective class races. There was plenty of action behind them, and in the sub-categories too.
With the fastest racers in the country lining up for the Nora-MX ATVs Only Pro class, it was rapidly becoming the UK’s British Championship. Harry Walker won all five motos across Saturday and Sunday, however, the top three changed frequently with Jamie Morgan, Simon Hammersley, George and Tom Day all taking podium positions. Tom Chell, Jack Naylor and Jack Holmes were the ones to watch in the Pro-Am class.
Alfie Walker was unstoppable in the Clubman Elites, taking all class wins ahead of Robbie Walker and Ryan Walters, with Joe Pryke putting in a great Clubman performance and Cameron Wildman also featuring well.
The Masters was once again the Ed Davies show, with maximum wins and max speed. Paul Winrow, Darren Bridge and Johny McKnight were up with him on the Saturday, with Chris Keitch entering the top-three frame on the Sunday. Richard Clark took four wins out of five starts in the Masters B, with Ray Walker taking the other win.
Tom Bainbridge extended his lead in the Intermediates with Gavin Roach and Catrin Davies keeping him company in round four. However, in round five Harry Walker #169 had a storming day, taking the runners-up slot in all three races. Davies was third, securing the top Ladies slot in the process on both days. Will Mead was dominant in the Novice sector.
In the youth ranks, Chad Beevers maintained a weekend-long clean sheet in the Geared 250s, while Ross Dillon was the one to beat in the Air-cooled class. The 100cc Geared group saw Frank Marston, closely followed by Louie Holt, with Seth Balaam running out front in the 100cc Autos. Harriett Mewse showed the rest of the 50cc field her rear wheels, with a maximum five wins out of five starts, once again rocking it for the girls.
Harriett Mewse was a force to be reckoned with in the 50cc class
ROUND 6, 20TH SEPTEMBER 2020, LITTLE SILVER MX, DEVONThe Nora-MX crew and competitors travelled to Little Silver in Devon for the sixth and – ultimately -final round of its uber-popular 2020 championship. This was the first-time quads had raced at the old-school British motocross circuit for many years.
The weather held fine throughout the weekend, the track was well-prepped and well-watered, the landowner was welcoming, and, by all accounts, a good time was had by all.
The nature of the tight and challenging track set the scene for some close and hard-fought tactical racing battles across the classes.
The Pros were on fire, and the different style of track made things interesting out front with three different race winners across the three motos. In the opening Pro race, Dafydd Davies and George Day held first and second spots for the first few laps. Championship leader Harry Walker worked his way up from third, passing first Day and then Davies for the win, setting the fastest time on lap seven in the process.
Oli Sansom was on a mission in the second moto, taking a flag to flag win and never looking back. He made it his own with Jamie Morgan and George Day battling behind him in second and third, until the closing laps when Day nipped past Morgan for the win. Walker finished fourth from a mid-pack start, with Davies and Dean Dillon rounding out the top six.
In the final Pro race, Day was out front for the first lap and a half, but Bevan made his way through, charging for the chequered flag and a well-deserved win. Walker was down the pecking order off the start in around seventh, however, he moved steadily through the pack to take third ahead of Carl Bunce. Morgan was fifth and Tom Day put his wheels across the finish line in sixth. Jack Naylor made it three out of three in the Pro-Am sector.
Alfie Walker was dominant in the Clubman Elite group, taking three wins from three starts. He was unstoppable, while behind him the pack jostled for positions. Robbie Wood had a strong second finish in the first race with a consistent Danny Smith in third. A table-top off in the second put Wood out of contention but the tough Scott managed to complete five laps to get a finish, and then got back on his quad for the last race to take and impressive second. Danny Smith finished second in race two ahead of Dylan McKenna and rounded out the top three in the final. There were three different riders out front in the Clubman class with Daniel Scott Evans, Scott Berlyn and Joe Pryke taking a win apiece.
The Masters once again went to Ed Davies who had a trio of wins ahead of Johnny McKnight and Greg Fisher. John Hall and Gary Jones took the Masters B wins.
Over in the Inters/Novice/Ladies, another Davies in the form of Catrin, put in a storming ride in race one to take a start to finish win. Gavin Roach held off a late charge from the championship leader Tom Bainbridge, who finished fourth, while Harry Walker held it together to take third. In race two, Walker was out front until the last lap when Roach made the pass for second with Davies following him through. Dillon Stepney was in the frame to take third. Walker finished fifth. Walker made up for his second race set back by taking the holeshot in the third race and kept his wheels clean for the duration of the race to take his first class win of the season. Stepney was a strong second and Davies stayed with the boys in third. Myles Mott reigned supreme with three victories in the Novice group.
In the 250s, Chad Beevers, Josh McKnight and Luke Berlyn all maintained their starting positions to the chequered. In race two, McKnight was out front for the duration, while Berlyn and Beevers swapped position at around half race distance for Berlyn to finish runner up and Beevers. Ross Dillon showed the Open machines his Air-cooled wheels with a fifth-place finish. In race three, Beevers and Berlyn held positions to the finish and Dillon put in a magnificent performance to take the third spot.
Frank Marston was out front again in all 100cc Geared races, with Olly McDonald claiming three runner-up positions. Ellie Stott was third in the first two races with Reggie Binskin taking the last race third place. Jay Sams cleaned up in the 100cc Autos and Harriet Mewse again rode her heart out to take all three 50cc race wins.
Three competitive lads having some fun; #33 Luca Shaw, #11 Finnley Bedding, #172 Ethan LeggDue to the unpredictable British weather, the planned seventh round at West Meon in October was cancelled by the landowner, leaving Nora-MX with nowhere to go. “We’re gutted that it was necessary for the final round to be cancelled,” said Nora-MX organiser Richard Shaw. “However, looking back we can reflect on what has been a great season, with terrific racing throughout all classes, loads of laughs and friendships born.
“We believe we have delivered on what we tried to promise and the amazing feedback we’ve received from competitors, their families, supporters and sponsors has endorsed that view.
“At the end of the day, we ran races - which is what it’s all about - and we’re the only British club to run a six round off-road championship. We took quad racing back to Little Silver, which was a brilliant track and enjoyed by all. We have 10 rounds scheduled for next year.
“Huge thanks from the Nora-MX team go to all involved in the 2020 championship and for supporting us throughout it all. Roll on 2021!”2020 ACU BRITISH CHAMPIONSBritish Clubman – Alfie Walker
British Masters – Ed Davies
British 250cc – Chad Beevers
British Ladies – Catrin Davies
British 100cc – Frank Marston
NORA-MX 2020 CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS Pro ATVs Only Championship1. Harry Walker 639, 2. Jamie Morgan 552, 3. George Day 551, 4. Dafydd Davies 531, 5. Carl Bunce 529, 6. Simon Hammersley 515.
ProAm AJ Wilcock Diamond Championship1. Jack Naylor 667, 2. Thomas Chell 574, 3. Lewis Rowles 520
ACU British Clubman/Elite Quadbikes R Us British Championship1. Alfie Walker 674, 2. Robbie Wood 633, 3. Danny Smith 581
Clubman Elite KIK Championship1. Alfie Walker 674, 2. Robbie Wood 633, 3. Danny Smith 581
Clubman Quad Bikes R Us Championship1. Joe Pryke 641, 2. Bradley Watson 554, 3. Jack Evans 533
ACU British Masters (BoA) British Championship1. Ed Davies 680, 2. Johnny McKnight 573, 3. Chris Keitch 571
Master A Barretts of Aspry (BoA) Championship1. Ed Davies 680, 2. Johnny McKnight 575, 3. Chris Keitch 571
Masters B NM Flooring Championships1. Richard Clark 658, 2. John Hall 596, 3. Matthew Kirk 577
ACU British 250cc Arrow Self Drive British Championship1. Chad Beevers 677, 2. Luke Berlyn 625, 3. Josh McKnight 608
250 Open Arrow Championship1. Chad Beevers 677, 2. Luke Berlyn 629, 3. Josh McKnight 608
250 Air Cooled ED Racing Championship1. Ross Dillon 651, 2. Andrew Black 593, 3. Arthur McDonald 561
Inters MX Academy Championship1. Tom Bainbridge 664, 2. Catrin Davies 605, 3. Harry Walker 547
ACU British Ladies K ATV Championship1. Catrin Davies 675, 2. Georgia Lent 614, 3. Nicole Lowry 599
Novice Brake House Championship1. Myles Mott 651, 2. Will Mead 634, 3. James Lees 583
ACU British 100cc Lamo British Championship1. Frank Marston 680, 2. Ellie Stott 570, 3. Jay Sams 534
100cc Auto Richard Clark Championship1. Jay Sams 648, 2. Seth Balaam 602, 3. Luca Shaw 587
100cc Open/Geared Brake House Championship1. Frank Marston 680, 2. Ellie Stott 579, 3. Amelia Talent 523
50cc Auto Stumpy DJ Championship1. Harriett Mewse 680, 2. Beatrice Drinkwater 595, 3. Jackson Marriott 587
Full results are available on
Speedhive.
Check out
www.nora-mx.co.uk for 2021 information.
Words: Jenni Foulkes
Images: John Cook