Petrov makes Phoenix Even Strokes Kawasaki debut as Meara shows top ten pace


Culham Park played host to the first round of the REVO ACU British Motocross Championship this past weekend and the sand track, on the banks of the River Thames, gave the Phoenix Even Strokes Kawasaki team plenty of positives to take into the season ahead.

Carlton Husband was the only rider to come into the season fully fit after a fantastic pre-season that took him to Spain and Scotland. After a promising qualifying session Husband nearly secured the holeshot in race one, comfortably riding inside the top 3 until a small crash on lap one dropped him to last place. Despite this he regrouped to finish 14th. In Race 2 a similarly strong start and consistent pace saw him finish in 9th.

Sam Atkinson’s status for Culham was uncertain, following a training crash in the days prior to his debut in the MX2 class, but the #127 managed to heal up enough to compete in both races and despite the results he showed plenty of positives to take into the rest of the year.

In the MX1 class Petar Petrov arrived at Culham having only returned to riding in January after serious spinal injuries sustained during his MXGP campaign last year kept him off the bike for 6 months. Despite the lack of bike time the Bulgarian showed consistent speed throughout the weekend. He would go on to finish 12th overall.

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Jason Meara, who suffered a small crash during training shortly before the first round, had a good start in race one before a small crash ended race one early. Meara would regroup to finish the day on a positive with a 13th in race two.

Focus now shifts to the first round of the MX Nationals which takes place at FatCat Motoparc on the 19th & 20th March.

Team owner – Barry Moore: “There are a lot of positives to take away from round one of the Revo ACU British Motocross Championship. Petar Petrov, in his debut for the team, had his first visit to the Culham track and he struggled to find a comfortable set up in qualifying and race one. Ian Bailey at Moto33 made some adjustments and Petar finished the day with 12th overall. Jason was on for similar results to his team mate in the ultra competitive MX1 class but a crash in race one put Jason 16th overall, Jason has the speed to break into the top 10 and we will see this in the coming races. Carlton had a strong start to the day with 5th in qualifying and backed it up with two fantastic starts, but two unforced errors put paid to a possible podium. Sam showed he made the right decision to step into the pro ranks, any nerves were put to one side when he qualified in 16th position and he showed good pace in race one, riding just outside the top 10 before he crashed. Overall I’m happy with the effort the whole team put into the weekend and I know there’s so much more to come from this group.”

Words: Press Release

Pic: ConwayMX