British Youth Championship Report – Redcar
The British Youth Championship moved onto Redcar on Saturday for the second round for the 500cc class, and it was the third round for the 125cc Support class.
The 125cc Support class took place prior to the National Development League fixture between Middlesbrough and Leicester, with the 500cc class as an event after the NDL fixture.
With the late withdrawal of 8 year old Reggie Ball due to mechanical issues, the 125cc Support class consisted of seven riders which included 9 year old Callum Hague who had won both Rounds 1 and 2 as well as 10 year old Rex Austin who was making his British Youth Championship debut having travelled up from Oxford.
Austin was very impressive on his debut and although he won all his heats, there were some fantastic battles with Hague and also 10 year old Douglas Marshall.
At the conclusion of the qualifying heats it was the impressive trio of Austin, Hague and Marshall who had the first three picks of the gates for the Final with Ella Marshall, who was celebrating her 12th birthday at this round, again making the Final as she had in the two previous rounds, with a score of eight points which included a race win in her second heat.
On the first lap of the Final, there was nothing to choose between the front three of Austin, Hague and Douglas Marshall, with Ella Marshall also in the mix but not quite making as good a start as her competitors.
It was the brave Austin who made his way to the front to win his debut round, with Hague claiming second, and Douglas and Ella Marshall third and fourth respectively.
In the 500cc class, having not lost a race to a competitor in the earlier NDL fixture in his seven rides Cooper Rushen went into his first round of 2025 the strong favourite to claim the 18 championship points, but with such a strong field which included four other NDL or NDT regulars this round was always going to be competitive.
As expected Rushen was unbeaten in the heats and qualified for the final along with Jamie Etherington, Charlie Southwick and Lee Harrison.
A special mention for the unlucky Round 1 winner Ryan Ingram who clashed with Etherington in his final qualifying heat, and it was a tough call for the SCB Referee to make, but having decided to disqualify Ingram from this heat it cost him a place in the Final having scored six points from his previous three heats.
In the Final after two laps it looked as if Rushen was about to claim his first Championship Round win in the 500cc class, but Etherington had other ideas and having picked himself up from that incident with Ingram in the qualifying heats, Etherington stuck to the outside line, and with Rushen riding the slick part of the track on the inside, Etherington kept it wound on going into bends 3 and 4 on the last lap, and rode a fantastic bend to make the move to pip Rushen just to the chequered flag and to win Round 2.
Charlie Southwick, who also was fast all day, did enough to claim his second podium finish of the series so far in third place.
125cc Support Scorers – Round 3
1st Rex Austin – 18 Championship Points
2nd Callum Hague – 16
3rd Douglas Marshall – 14
4th Ella Marshall – 12
5th Cody Smith – 11
6th Seb Kelly – 10
7th Jessica Cox – 9
Scores after 3 rounds – Callum Hague 52, Douglas Marshall 46, Ella Marshall 36, Jessica Cox, Cody Smith and Seb Kelly 33, Rex Austin 18 and Reggie Ball 10
500cc Scorers – Round 2
1st Jamie Etherington – 18 Championship Points
2nd Cooper Rushen – 16
3rd Charlie Southwick – 14
4th Lee Harrison – 12
5th Dylan Huthwaite – 11
6th Ryan Ingram – 10
7th Seth Norman – 9
8th Jack Franklin – 8
9th Rocco Webb – 7
10th Jack Crewe – 6
Scores after 2 rounds – Jamie Etherington 30, Ryan Ingram and Charlie Southwick 28, Lee Harrison 23, Rocco Webb 17, Cooper Rushen 16, Stene Pijper 16, Jack Crewe 15, Dylan Huthwaite 11, Seth Norman 9, Jack Franklin and Tia May Brant 8