The curtain came down on the 2022 British Minibike Championship at the supremely prepped Mildenhall MX Parc.
The Pro class shootout between reigning champion Blaine Blackwell and Zontal Racings hard charger Kieran Sembiante was where the majority of eyes were pointed, but on Day one, it was Chris Hughes who came to the fore and won Round 7 with Sembiante eking out a further 4 point lead on his title rival by finishing second. Blackwell was third after tieing with Dan Fisher, who ended the day fourth.
On Sunday, all Sembiante needed was to keep a cool head and to score points in each moto, and the coveted Pro title would be his, but a racer is a racer and rather than play it safe, he rode a blinder in moto one to take the chequers. Blackwell and Fisher fought back with Moto wins of their own, but it made no difference to the newly crowned Champion Sembiante, who finished the day in third behind Blackwell and Fisher, who was the round eight 1 and 2.
Huge Congrats to Kieran, Jody and the Zontal Racing team on becoming the 2022 British Pro Minibike Champions!
The Rookie class was super tight between Daniel Fisher and Leo Vowles coming into this weekend, and it ended being even tighter with the duo finishing the season dead level on points, with Fisher scraping home the title due to winning the final moto of the season over Vowles. Well done to Daniel. The overall result was the same on both days, with Fisher winning ahead of Vowles with Ben Moran third.
Chris Hughes doubled up his impressive Pro class performances with a clean sheet in the Masters class with six moto wins over the two days, both round overalls and the title in the bag as well. Dan Foreman ended each day in second with Jeff Pike third both times.
In the Vets, Tony Herd signed off 2022 with the title and a double victory over the weekend. Paul Gell was second on Saturday, with Ian Lennox third, with the duo swapping positions on Sunday.
On Saturday, the Clubman podium was made up of Jack Guntrip, Jordan Johnson and Kiya Glassey, who finished in that order, while on Sunday, it was completely different, with Tom Burrill getting the job done over Patrick Ryan and Antony Johnson.
There was a double winner in the Farmbike,s with former youth racer Senna Summers taking the glory on both days. On Saturday he was flanked on the podium by Jordan Haigh and Freddie Oleary, while on Sunday George Pym edged out Haigh, who suffered a DNF in the final moto after gaining the Moto one win for second. The title, though, would go the way of Freddie Hales, who pitched in with fourth on both days and had a solid and consistent set of results all season long.
The SuperMod title would go the way of Jake Speller, and he would also notch up the round seven victory for good measure ahead of Dave Lamb and Craig Powell. On Sunday though Powell would rule the roost, George Turner was second, and Travis Taylor was third.
Ash Gorman would add the SuperStock title to his long list of championship wins and chalked up victories on both days, too ahead of Liam Ruckwood and Tom Dunk, who switched positions on Sunday.
In the Youth Seniors, the title would go the way of Harrison Haslam, who also grabbed the round seven victory also, beating Jacob Darley and Chester Hyde to the top spot. On Sunday, though, Thomas Hunt was the victor ahead of Darley and Jayden Bickerton.
Tyler Griffiths battled hard with Hugh Darley in the Youth Juniors, with Griffiths eventually getting the title and both rounds sewn up ahead of Darley and Aaron Shepherd-Smith on both days.
Over in the Kids 65’s Franky Donoghue was a class act on Saturday with three wins from three and the overall. Jack Stanford was second, and Archie Oakes was third, but on Sunday, Stanford stepped up the pace and grabbed the victory ahead of Zach White and Oakes. Zach White though, had done enough to be crowned the 2022 British Champion after riding great all season long.
There was a great entry in the Kids 50cc category, and coming out on top on Saturday was Tyler Moss with a full house of race victories, Oscar Smith was second and Lilly Senior was third. On Sunday, Smith gained the upper hand for the win, Senior was second, and Stanley Peay rode well for third. When the points were totted up, though, the Champion was Lilly Senior who finished on the podium at every round and thoughtfully deserves her title as a British Minibike Champion.
Report by Dirthub.co.uk – Pictures by Zontal Racing and the Minibike Champs