Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee turned attention to the domestic scene today, as round one of the 2022 ACU British Motocross Championship was run not far from London at the sandy track of Culham. Isak Gifting entered the first round with some momentum, following a great start to the Grand Prix campaign, and used that to get his title bid off to a consistent start.
Although Gifting had not ridden at Culham before, he managed to record a time that put him inside of the top three in timed qualifying and followed that up with a solid second in the first race of the new campaign. Gifting engaged in a brilliant battle for the race win in the final MX2 encounter – he led the first half of the race after using the power within his KTM 250 SX-F to take a great start. Four seconds separated him from the eventual race winner when the chequered flag waved. Yet another second place put him second in the overall classification too. A strong start to the eight-round campaign!
Continuing their commitment to the next generation, Cole McCullough piloted a 125 SX for the team in the 125cc class. Four 125cc motos were run over the weekend and, after finishing inside of the top ten in all of those, McCullough was awarded fourth overall. A fourth in the third moto was his strongest showing of the weekend.
There is no time to rest for Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee – Isak Gifting will travel to South America for round three of the 2022 FIM Motocross World Championship this coming weekend. Gifting will be the sole representative for the team, as Kay Karssemakers is recovering from the wrist injury that he suffered at the Grand Prix of Lombardia.
Isak Gifting: “It was my first time at the British Championship today and it was pretty nice, with a cool and gnarly track. I struggled a lot with my riding, but turned it around for moto two and rode better.”
Roger Magee (Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee Team Owner): “This weekend’s British Championship saw the first appearance of 13 year old Cole McCullough from Northern Ireland on the Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee team and he certainly didn’t disappoint. In his four races he finished P8-P6-P4-P5 against many of the riders who are older and have been in the class for a number of years. It’s an encouraging start for him and we can look forward to him competing in EMX125 in a few weeks’ time when the level of competition will be on another level.
“Due to Kay Karssemaker’s untimely injury last weekend in Mantova, we were reduced down to the Isak Gifting competing in his first ever British Championship event. After getting used to the track and the deep rutted conditions, he came home in P2 and led moto two for over half the race distance. The unofficial provisional results show that he was P2 overall. Despite a team protest and clear video evidence that another rider clearly jumped a double on a waved yellow flag, the matter was inexplicably dismissed by the race director and other ACU officials who have not followed their own rules which is their duty and does not have to be instigated by a protest.
“The officials should consider their position as they would appear to be now untenable given the clear video footage available to them to make the correct decision in accordance their own rules. Anything else is nothing but cheating in my opinion and that of others who are well experienced within motocross.
“The team will now make the long and expensive journey to the third MXGP round of 2022 in Argentina, where Isak Gifting will be striving to improve on his overall ninth position in MX2.”
Words: Press Release
Pic: Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwauke