Former British champions Shaun Simpson (RFX KTM) and Tommy Searle (BOS Kawasaki) put on a motocross masterclass as they traded places in the headline MX1 class at round two of the Maxxis British Motocross Championship at Lyng.
The pair could hardly be separated all afternoon and in both races it came to the closing two laps before either took a winning advantage, with both picking up a win apiece.
Bury St Edmunds' Lewis Tombs, who has stepped up to the senior level this season with Buildbase Honda, narrowly missed out on the final podium position after giving best to Cab Screen Honda's Harry Kullas, with Mel Pocock an impressive fourth on the ASA Scaffolding KTM, with the experienced Gert Krestinov rounding out the top six.
There was no doubting who was the star performer in MX2 as Hitachi KTM's Conrad Mewse rode through the early race melee in both outings to secure a double win and take control of the early championship standings. Behind him it was anyone's guess who would join him at the garlanding ceremony with no less than five riders disputing the right to take their place on the other two steps. Buildbase Honda's Josh Gilbert took second overall, splitting the Grand Prix Hitachi KTM teamsters of Mewse and Bas Vaessen, with fellow world championship stars New Zealander Dylan Walsh and Sweden's Alvin Ostlund putting their Revo Husqvarna's ahead of Crescent Yamaha's Martin Barr.
In the women's class it was 17-year-old Kathryn Booth who set her stall out in morning qualifying by taking pole position, but she slipped off on the first lap of race one and had to come from behind to catch early pacesetter Amie Goodlad from Essex. Booth got to the front with two laps remaining, but a last-corner mistake allowed Goodlad to power through on her JW Scaffolding KTM to steal the win as the pair crossed the line side by side.
The young RFX KTM rider was in no mood to make the same mistake in their second encounter, and led from start to finish with a winning margin of some 26 seconds. Goodlad came out the better of a race-long duel with Honda mounted Charlotte Hall, while Nieve Holmes took third overall on the day.
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