An emotional week for the Crendon Tru7 Honda team ended on a high as British champion Conrad Mewse extended his series lead in the MX1 class with second overall behind wildcard rider Jeffrey Herlings at Monster Mountain in Wales. And 18-year-old Charlie Richmond took his CRF250R to his first MX2 podium with a stunning second overall after two third place finishes. It bumped him up to fourth in the series, while MX1 rider Jamie Carpenter toughed it out with a niggling knee injury to take a gritty tenth overall.
At the event, all three riders carried a special logo to honour Keith Thorpe, who lost his battle with a short illness just four days before the event. Keith, the legendary mechanic who helped his son Dave to three world 500 titles, still worked at the team’s HQ until recently.
Proudly holding his red leaders’ plate, Mewse said: “This weekend is dedicated to Keith and Dave so was a very important one. This goes out for them and I hope that it made Dave proud for the whole team effort. It would have been nice to get the win for them, but unfortunately, I was a bit of a tough ask today.”
Mewse arrived at the circuit with a slim points lead and knowing five-times world champion Herlings was riding and in top form. The Dutchman topped qualifying from the Brit, with Carpenter back in 13th.
As the gate dropped for the opener, Mewse and Carpenter both made great starts, with the red plate holder leading the way with Carpenter well inside the top six. Herlings was instantly on Mewse’s tail and made the move by the end of the first lap. The pair then set a blistering pace, both going two seconds a lap quicker than third place man and championship hopeful Ben Watson.
Mewse gave it his all to keep with the HRC man but he was just too quick and edged away to victory. Mewse took second, 37 seconds in front of Watson. Carpenter had a tough race, but never gave up despite not being on top form due to niggling injuries. He brought he CRF450R home 11th.
Second time out and once again Mewse put the Crendon Tru7 machine into the lead off the start, with Herlings snapping at his heels once more with Watson in third straight away. From then on, it was a repeat of race one as Mewse couldn’t hold off the HRC man then tried his all to stay with Herlings but the speed of the guest rider was just too much. He set the fastest time of the race and won by 12.9 seconds from Mewse, who was safe in the knowledge he’d beaten all the British championship regulars.
Carpenter had a solid start and ended up in some tough battles inside the top ten. He came home in tenth, for tenth overall.
Mewse said: “It was a really good day for the championship for me with 2-2 rides. But of course it was challenging as Jeffrey was, as usual, unbelievable. It was a tough ask to stay with him, but I did the best I could, and it was two comfortable second places. So overall, fantastic day for me, the team and the championship. And I had two holeshots, too. And the bike was completely to blame for that as it’s a rocket – just unbelievable. Thanks to Ryan, Rob and Willie who put in so much effort behind the scenes.
“And also big congratulations to Charlie Richmond for getting on podium on his rookie MX2 season. Good job to him. So to have both of us on the podium was a great day for sure.”
Carpenter said: “It was a day salvaging what I could as I’m still in pain. I haven’t really ridden much for a couple of weeks so I did what I could. I just wanted to get two solid results so tenth overall is OK. I’ve got a month now to prepare for the next race. I’m just trying to get through the season healthy and make it to the end of every race this year.”
In the MX2 class, Charlie Richmond was having the best ride of his professional career as he only moved up from youth 125 ranks at the start of the season. In qualifying he was disappointed as he only finished eighth, taking some time to get used to the race bike’s performance.
Come the racing and he was fast and ready, and pulled a stunning start in the opening moto. He was right in the mix around the first corner behind Liam Garland, red plate holder Charlie Heyman and Jamie Keith but put his Crendon Tru7 machine into third by the second lap.
He held it as best he could but lost a place to Ben Mustoe, who then went down which allowed Richmond back into third. From then, he focused on making sure he took this first every third place. When Gyan Doensen managed to get close to him on the last few laps, Richmond rode wisely and managed to hold him off. His reward was his first ever third place finish in a British championship.
The best was yet to come second time out as he blasted into the lead, with Heyman and Tommy Searle on his tail. Once again Heyman got by and slowly started to pull away, as Richmond had British champ Searle on his tail. They battled until the fifth lap, when the experienced Searle got by. But Richmond was setting great lap times as he watched and learned from Searle’s lines. He came home in third once again, but that was good enough for second overall. He leapt up from seventh in the series to fourth.
Richmond said: “I still can’t believe it, to be honest! This morning I started a little bit rough in qualifying and didn’t have a great feeling on the race bike, so I went out to the first race pretty angry! But everything just went to plan – the starts, my riding and I’m so happy to be up here on the podium.
“The only mistake I made was with three laps to go in race two when I caught up to some lapped riders. I didn’t know where they were going, so I lost a bit of time now. I had Joel Rizzi behind me too. But I brought it home and it means a lot to me. I’ve only dreamed of racing against Tommy, so to have him in my sights from the start of the race to the end felt so good.”
Team manager Ryan Thorpe said: “To have two riders on the podium – one in MX1 and one in MX2 – is an incredible result. It was always going to be a big ask for Conrad to get on terms with Jeffrey but he rode really so well. And as for Charlie, he put on two simply amazing rides and Jamie is having a tough time but not giving up.”
