2018 British Championship predictions!
Andy McKinstry: After Lyng was cancelled the first round of the Maxxis British Championship takes place at Culham this weekend.
Heading into the season there’s two clear favourites for the MX2 title who are Conrad Mewse and Martin Barr. However, there could be another top contender, even though it’s not yet confirmed we have got in touch with Darian Sanayei and he thinks it’s pretty likely he will contest the full series – on paper he might just be the favourite to win the title.
Even though Mewse is Brit he didn’t ride here too much as he concentrated on racing in the likes of Holland when he was growing up but it’s nice to see him contest the British series this year.
Moving to the Revo Husqvarna setup, Martin Barr is absolutely flying at the moment and has what it takes to win moto’s too so you’d think they will be the main three. You can’t discount guys like Natkze, Todd (will miss the first round through injury) or Millward either. Micky Eccles is another one who could be right at the front too and he looked really good at Hawkstone on the 450 but he’ll be contesting the MX2 British series.
Even though Sanayei might be the favourite, I’m going to predict Mewse to win the British title this year.
MX2 Culham Predictions:
- Darian Sanayei
- Conrad Mewse
- Martin Barr
MX2 Championship Predictions:
- Conrad Mewse
- Darian Sanayei
- Martin Barr
In terms of the MX1 class, it really is a shame Tommy Searle picked up an injury in Valkenswaard which means he’ll miss the first round. Adam Sterry has recently proved you can win a British Championship after missing a round which should give Searle some hope but it’ll be much tougher to do in the MX1 class.
For the championship, you’d think it’s going to be between Evgeny Bobryshev on his Suzuki and Graeme Irwin on his Hitachi KTM UK. Irwin is really fast in the UK and showed that at Hawkstone by beating Bobby in a moto.
He might have put an end to his GP career but Jake Nicholls on his Buildbase Honda can’t be discounted, he should be right at the front. There’s no doubting Kristian Whatley’s talent either and a move back to the Yamaha might just do the trick for him. Banks-Browne had a good year last year and it started to click for him at the end of the season, he’ll be hoping to run with the GP riders too.
As for the championship, it’s really hard to pick but I’m going to go with Graeme Irwin to win the title two years in a row.
MX1 Culham Predictions:
- Evgeny Bobryshev
- Graeme Irwin
- Jake Nicholls
MX1 Championship Predictions:
- Graeme Irwin
- Evgeny Bobryshev
- Tommy Searle
Jonathan McCready: It looks to be a mudder this weekend which will make things even more unpredictable than normal! And it could also open things up for the championship or make things difficult for the leading contenders.
In MX1, Irwin, Nicholls, Bobryshev and Searle when he returns should be the front runners but Elliott Banks-Browne, Brad Anderson, Gert Krestinov, Kristian Whatley and more are all capable of running up front as well on their day.
Culham
1.Nicholls
2. Irwin
3. Bobryshev
Championship
1. Irwin
2. Nicholls
3. Searle
In MX2, Runner-up from last season Martin Barr will take on GP men Conrad Mewse and Darian Sanayei who will compete in the full season for the first time, the title will probably come down to those three but you can’t discount Josiah Natzke, Mel Pocock, Todd Kellett, Eccles and more. However the MX2 GP experience and intensity might see Mewse just edge it over Barr who won’t be riding with the MX2 GP men every week.
Culham
1. Mewse
2. Barr
3. Sanayei
Championship
1. Mewse
2. Barr
3. Sanayei
