Great Britain’s Tommy Searle saw his hopes of winning the World 250cc Motocross Championship take a dive after he finished outside of the points in the Latvian Grand Prix at Kegums on Sunday.
He was in the leading bunch in the first race, but was hit by engine failure in the second half of the race and he limped home in 29th place.
In the second race, he landed badly from one of the many jumps, which resulted in a puncture with his back tyre off the rim.
It was not a great day for series leader Jeffrey Herlings either. He was edged into second place in the first race by Belgian Joel Roleants with Jeremy Van Horbeck a close third, ahead of Jake Nicholls.
Van Horbeck led the second race from the start from Roleants, with Herlings passing Frenchman Jordi Tixier on the seventh lap to slot into third place in readiness for his assault on the leaders, but he suffered bike problems with less than three laps remaining.
With Nicholls a non-finisher, Max Anstie was top Briton in fourth place.
Italian Antonio Cairoli regained the lead in the Open Class Championship.
He went into the meeting lying three points behind Clement Desailie, but Cairoli won the first race by 14 seconds from Belgian Ken De Dycher, while Desailie was involved in two spills, finishing in seventh place just ahead of Britain’s Shaun Simpson.
Cairoli led the second race for three laps, but a tumble let in Kevin Strijbos, who stayed in the driving seat for the remainder of the race.
Ross Danby upset the form book by winning the fourth round of the British Trials Championship at Ilsington in Devon. Staged over three laps of 15 sections at Ruby Rocks, Danby finished two marks in front of title leader Michael Brown and six ahead of current champion James Dabill.
It was his first championship win and also the first major success for Jotagas importer Steve Saunders – a ten- time British champion.
Danby incurred his only maximum mark penalty in the second section on his first lap.
Brown equalled his feat, but Dabill came to a halt in the seventh and eleventh sections on his first lap and also in the eighth on his final lap.
Ricky Wiggins, from Stoford, near Yeovil, was the sole West Country representative and he finished in 15th place.
John Crinson netted a single mark win over Richard Temperley in the experts class.
With the late cancellation of the Chard Club’s motocross at Halberton, near Tiverton, there were no local events.
Latvian Motocross Grand Prix at Kegums – open class, first race: 1, A Cairoli (Italy) 2, K De Dycher (Belgium) 3, R Congalves (Portugal) 4, G Paulin (France). British: S Simpson 8th. Second race: 1, K Strijbos (Belgium) 2, Cairoli 3, De Dycher 4, C Desailie (Belgium). British: Simpson 8th. Championship standings: Cairoli 392, Desailie 380, C Pourcell (France) 357, Paulin 348, De Dycher 299, Strijbos 279. 250cc first race: 1, J Roleants (Belgium) 2, J Herlings (Netherlands) 3, J Van Horbeck (Belgium) 4, J Nicholls (GB). British: M Anstie 14th, T Searle 29th. Second race: 1, Van Horbeck 2, Roleants 3, Tixier (France) 4, Anstie. British: Searle 27th. Championship standings: Herlings 428, Searle 387, Van Horbeck 375, Roleants 310 Tixier 279, Nicholls 255.
Fourth round of British Trials Championship at Ilsington, Devon – championship class: 1, R Danby (Jotagas) 12 marks lost 2, M Brown (Gas Gas) 14 3, J Dabill (Beta) 20 4, S Connor (Beta). Championship standings: Brown 71, Dabill 70, Danby 57, A Wigg (Gas Gas) 49, S Connor (Beta) 45, S Haslam (Gas Gas) 40. Experts class:1, J Crinson (Beta) 19 2, R Timperley (Sherco) 20 3, S Kershaw (Beta) 28 4, A Milner (Beta) 31. Championship standings: Crinson 74, Timperley 61, Milner 54, T Hick (Beta) 43, T Afleck 39, Kershaw 35.
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