Jesse James headed to Culham MX Park for Rounds 4 and 5 of the Cotswold Youth & AMX Club Championship on the weekend. With the sun beating down on the popular riverside motocross track just outside Abingdon in Oxfordshire, Jesse had a positive weekend ending with a 6th overall.
Here is how the weekend went from Jesse’s perspective.
Race 1 – I headed to the gate and I was feeling the nerves as last time I was at Culham I really didn’t ride as well. As a result I had a awful start then decided I was going to have a little nap in the dirt which resulted in a 17th.
Race 2 – What I have worked out so far is that getting caught up with riders off the line does not work. I had a ok start but I misjudged the pace and left it too long to catch the pack. I could only manage to get back to 17th again.
Race 3 – I was determined to stop messing about and headed to the gate with only one mission. Unfortunately the world had other ideas. As the gates dropped I took off and another rider lost control and crossed in front of forcing me to roll off the gas to avoid hitting them. I was last into the corner, but I was determined to catch back up so I carved through the riders up 14th.
Race 4 – My starts just weren’t on my side for some of the races so I had to work really hard through the race to keep pace and I felt a lot better on the Sunday my confidence was definitely there just needed to unleash it.
Race 5 – By this stage I definitely felt more confident. The track had become very knarley but my start was there and my riding was really good and I came away with 13th.
Race 6 – I had a great start so great I nearly had the holeshot felt amazing on the bike and rode the best race I could have until I came off but I wasn’t on ground too long and only lost a couple of places but came home in 13th again.
Finished the weekend 12th overall. Culham is always a busy meeting with some fast riders I was really happy with my riding. My lap time came down massively over the two days and my fitness was there. Each event I am getting better and better.
I’m having a great start to my Championship with Cotswolds where I finished 6th overall and I’m determined to break into the top 5. I’m loving the bike and can’t thank my team enough for the support they are giving me.
