MX2 Expert rider Lewis Bethell headed to Marshfield last weekend for the finale of the 2024 NORA 92 British Cup, which had been held over three rounds. Heading into the weekend Lewis was feeling positive for the Championship final round after the last chequered flag on the final moto, Lewis finished in an impressive 5th overall in the Expert Championship.
Here is how the weekend went for Lewis
The Expert group was first out for practice and qualifying on a heavily watered track which had also had overnight rain. The track conditions were wet and deep for the session which made it hard work against the 450cc bikes. Lewis qualified 10th with a time of 1.56 but this was less than 5 seconds off 5th place and he was sure he could eat in to this as the track dried, which it did very quickly through the morning.
Race 1 saw a decent start for Lewis, picked up a couple of positions then dropped one to eventually finish in 8th place, only half a second behind 7th.
Race 2 saw another good battle from 5th down to 10th place, however Lewis went down after losing the front end on what had turned in to a dry slippery track managing to finish 7th.
On Sunday, race 3 saw a really good battle for 5th down to 8th with lap times so close on a track that was quite difficult to make a pass on, it was a case of trying to pressurise other riders into making mistakes. Lewis knew he had the pace but just couldn’t find a way past the riders in front of him, finishing 7th but only a second behind 6th with less than 6 seconds covering 5th to 8th.
Race 4 was a similar story to race 3 for Lewis with a close battle all the way. He was right on the rear wheel of 6th place and then hit neutral in a corner on the last lap, dropping the bike to be passed for 8th. He chased as hard as he could for the final part of the lap but couldn’t make the place back and finished 8th which cost him a place for the weekend overall.
“I ended up finishing 8th overall for the weekend but tied on points with 7th and only 3 points behind 6th place. That gave me a 5th overall for the Championship which I was pretty pleased with the quality of the riders that I had been up against. As always, a big thanks to NORA CRS for the support along with all the team sponsors, VIP Motocross and EBC Brakes.”
