鈥淲e went to sunny Gritthenham on Sunday to race with Corsham for the 3^rd round. As always, track prep was on point even with such hot weather; a well organised day taking in consideration all the youth riders who were put out first due to their GCSE exams.

鈥淭he day consisted of two laps of practice followed by three races.

“The Youth category is mixed 125s and 250s, so it鈥檚 always a bit harder to get a decent start but the boy did well.

鈥淎ll top-six riders were on 250cc, so it was lovely to watch Phillip taking the win on his Gibbs Performance KTM 125SX with our always very reliable EBC brakes on.

鈥淧hillip went P1-P4-P1, for 1^st 辞惫别谤补濒濒.鈥�

Race 1

鈥淢id-pack into the first corner, worked his way up to second chasing the leader who crashed unfortunately. Took the lead and rode steady to take the win.鈥�

Race 2

鈥淣ot the best of the starts but moved quickly into 4^th, wasted too much time trying to find a moment to pass the 3^rd so the two front runners were too far in front, and 5^th too close behind. Made the pass and moved to 3^rd but so did the rider behind him. Wrong line choices and he lost his place finishing 4^th.鈥�

Race 3

鈥淢id-pack again into the first corner, but moved into 2^nd within the first two laps, on lap 4 he got the lead and finished 1^st.鈥�

鈥淎nother great meeting held by Lawson and the team. The weather was pleasant for once what made the day much more enjoyable.

鈥淲ith mixed 125s and 250s on the line, Phillip struggled with the starts being uphill and each and every race he was pushing through the pack to get to front. In all three races, he finished 3^rd giving him 3^rd overall for the day.

鈥淲e are pleased with his riding; no silly mistakes, just need to work on starts that aren鈥檛 flat for the future.

鈥淗e is currently standing three points behind the leader in the championship.鈥�

鈥淥n Saturday and Sunday just gone, we ventured to a race with the Corsham Club at Bromsberrow. Saturday was a practice race and was Sunday the club championship race.鈥�

Saturday

鈥淩ace 1 – good start with a lead for a lap, then crashed, dropping down to 5^th. Phillip managed to pull back to 3^rd.

鈥淩ace 2 – technical problems with the bike, with the kick start not going back in, so Phillip basically raced with one leg on the peg, causing few crashes, finished 8^th.

鈥淩ace 3 – we sorted the problem, had a good start and a led for a lap, lost it in Lap 3 and had no chance to take it back as the race been cut short, finished 2^nd.鈥�

Sunday

鈥淩ace 1 – good start in comfortable 3^rd, made a pass to 2^nd in Lap 2, pushed to take a lead in Lap 4 and that鈥檚 where he finished, claiming 1^st place and the fastest time in the group.

鈥淩ace 2 – not the best start, but moved quickly to sit in 2^nd, made a move and took a lead in the 2^nd lap and that鈥檚 where he finished 鈥� taking the win and fastest time in the group.

鈥淩ace 3 – felt good sat in 2^nd after the start and unfortunately in the second lap, the head gasket went, with the bike losing power lap after lap. Managed to stay calm and passed the line finishing 12^th 鈥� glad we didn鈥檛 have a DNF.

鈥淔inished 2^nd overall for the weekend.

鈥淟ots of positives taken away from this event; the track was rough, deep and very technical so we are really happy with the results.鈥�

鈥淭he bank holidays in May brought around the annual Nora British Cup at Marshfield, followed by the UK Master Kids at Cusses Gorse where I defended my title won in 2022.

鈥淭he Nora Cup saw some tightly contested racing over two days, and I finished in a respectable 5th overall in a strong field.

鈥淢oving on to Master Kids, I started well, finishing 2nd and 3rd in first two races, but then leading race three, my rear hub failed resulting in finishing last having to push it over the line! I then went on to win the next three races which gave me a second overall which I was happy with given the bike鈥檚 failure.

鈥淚n the Bridgestone British Masters, Round 3 was held at Monster Mountain in Wales where I rode well all weekend 鈥� I just needed a couple of better starts and hit the start gate in one race so had to come from dead last, finishing 9th overall for the championship across the weekend.

鈥淭his was followed by Round 4 at Culham MX Park, a wet Culham! Again, my pace was really good but crashed in three out of the four races eventually finishing 10th overall for the championship. I currently sit 10th but with two rounds to go, can hopefully pick up a couple more places.

鈥淚n the Cotswold Youth MX Championship, I have completed 9 rounds so far, winning 8 of them and taking a third in the other. I am currently leading the championship with next round scheduled at Monster Mountain in August where I will hope to cement my lead.

鈥淢y next update will be in September after the final two rounds of the Bridgestone British Masters.鈥�

鈥淢y goal coming into MX Master Kids was to better my seventh-position overall result last year, and I really wanted to get onto the podium,鈥� Bethell explains. 鈥淪ome issues early on meant I qualified in 18^th, meaning I really had my work cut out.鈥�

Thanks to some seriously impressive riding, Bethell was able to battle the likes of Tom Butler and Benny Bradley across the weekend, eventually pipping the competition to the post.

鈥淭o be a champion at MX Master Kids is a pretty big achievement for me, and I鈥檓 quite proud to be a champion at a big event like this and it definitely feels good, Bethell continues. 鈥淎s long as the dates work for me, I will 100% be back in 2023.鈥�