Owen riding high as he claims first ‘A’ victories

A solid campaigner and frequent contender, the 18-year-old had clinched last season’s championship for the MX2 category but had yet to take overall victory in an A Group race.

That was until Saturday, when the in-form youngster eventually split the honours evenly with established star George Symons across four races.

Motocross is just revving up again after a lockdown-blighted early season and this was the second race meet after the customary summer break, but some close battles throughout the field painted a healthy picture at La Trigale.

Indeed, the first of three A Group championship heats could hardly have been closer.

Previous open champion Symons has stepped into MX2 and, despite not feeling his best on the day, he maintained his lead over the first of the 12-lap and roughly 8km races to take the chequered flag four-tenths clear of Waddingham.

But Waddingham worked his way through the field in race two and eventually made 15sec. on Symons, who really had to work to edge runner-up in a tight finish with Aaron Lesbirel and Ethan Brehaut.

It was change again in race three as Symons dominated to post the day’s fastest time – 15min. 30sec. – and win from Waddingham (15-43) and Lesbirel (15-53).

In an adult grand final which Symons skipped, Waddingham made a mid-race overtake of Lesbirel to finish 1sec. clear, with Brehaut a more distant third.

Although his son has previously won on the sands of Vazon, former motocross vice-captain Graham Waddingham was rather pleased to see him now taking top spot up at Pleinmont.

‘I’m a pretty proud parent, I must admit,’ he said.

‘He seems to be able to ride well, but he has suffered with fitness because he does not get much bike time.

‘His riding has really improved since he moved up to the A Group [last year] and it’s just getting the opportunity to ride more – he needs more time on the bike.

‘We are hoping to take him away if we can,’ he added while noting that Covid restrictions have proved problematic so far.

The B Group proved competitive as ever, with Chloe MacDonald continuing to fly the flag for women’s motocross and winning two heats from three against largely male opposition.

Paul Le Messurier and Braden Morris took a runner-up place apiece and then finished in that order in heat three as MacDonald placed only third.

In the junior 85s, Cody Wallbridge made it four from four and Zak Guymar took runner-up three times.