The University of life

After a six week break from National championship racing Team Green were back on track at round three of the ACU British Youth Nationals at Brookthorpe, Gloucester this past weekend to continue our quest for titles.

Leading up to the weekend all three team riders had an awesome week at the Ricky Carmichael University (RCU) as guests of our partners at Monster Energy. The Team Green rig was all loaded up and off to Genk, Belgium we went for two days of coaching and riding with 'the G.O.A.T' himself, Ricky Carmichael, Stefan Everts, Jeff Emig, Jeff Stanton and Jamie Dobb. The lads all learned so much and did plenty of riding and even got the chance to turn some laps with the multi time champs, it was such an amazing experience for them all…so thanks Monster Energy for the invite, it's greatly appreciated.

The lads then had one day of travelling back to the UK before lining up for the race at Brookthorpe. With all the new training tips fresh in their minds they were all keen to get going, as it turns out maybe their bodies weren't as fresh and the lads all struggled a bit on the Saturday. After a few setting changes to the bikes and a good nights sleep Sunday saw an improved performance, albeit without Jed who had taken a slam in the last race on Saturday and went off to hospital with a suspected broken shoulder, luckily it wasn't, he was just bruised and banged up pretty hard.

Jeff Perrett - Team Manager

"It's been a week of highs and lows. The RCU was awesome and the lads had such a blast there and learned so much, so thanks to Ricky and Co and Monster Energy for that. The lads did so much riding which was great but in hindsight of the weekend's results maybe a bit too much as they were all a bit jaded on Saturday. To be fair I knew Lewis would struggle this weekend, he hasn't been too well for a while with a bad chest infection. We thought about not taking him to the RCU but he's a young lad and to miss an opportunity like that would've been too cruel on him. Lewis being Lewis gave it his all at the RCU and the race. I know Stefan Everts was really impressed with his corner speed and commitment, so we'll take that! He's been struggling to breathe properly when riding and I think that caught up with him at the weekend, he just didn't have the energy to push like he usually does. Sunday he came out, dug deep and improved. That's what I really like about Lew, you always get totally commitment. I feel for Jed this weekend because he was really hauling and we were starting to see that aggression and confidence he's been looking for. His crash was just unfortunate in that the bike then followed him and nailed him in the back and banged him up badly, he was in a lot of pain so sat out Sunday's racing. He'll now go for a second opinion on the damage to his shoulder and we'll see where we're at. Dylan was riding great again, but like the last round at Culham his starts weren't great and it cost him a chance of the overall win. Again he was having to come from a long way back and Keenan Hird was riding so well and getting good starts he couldn't close the gap this time. He had a nasty incident on the last lap of the third moto with Chris Mills in mid air and that cost him a bunch of points. He got his fingers caught in the back of Chris' wheel when they landed in a head and got dragged down the track. He though that he'd chopped his fingers off, luckily he didn't but obviously he had bruised and sore fingers for the rest of the weekend. We made a few changes to the bike and Sunday he toughed it out and won the second moto and was much better, although the starts were still making it hard for him. He really needs to focus on improving them and work hard at it because it's making his life so much harder. All said and done it was a tough weekend, but you learn a lot when the chips are down. Dylan is now up to second in the championship and can peg Keenan back, it's going to be an exciting remaining two rounds.”

Dylan Woodock #60 - Big Wheeled KX85

"I'm disappointed about the weekend. It's always good to make the podium but I wanted more. The third moto cost me a load of points when Mills cut across me in the air and took me down. We were battling for second and I ended up 18th and thought I'd chopped my fingers off. I didn't want to look until I got back on the bike and got it over the line. Luckily I hadn't and I've still got all four fingers! They were really sore though and I struggled quite a bit after that. We made changes to the bike and Sunday I felt better. I was pleased to win at least one race and I'm up to second in the championship now, which is good because after that plug failure at round one I was ninth in the standings, so I've clawed back a lot of points. Keenan rode really good this weekend, he got good starts and deserved to win. I think it's going to be a fight between us both for the championship. I have to improve my starts and keep putting the pressure on and I'm confident I can do that.”

Jed Etchells #7 - Big Wheeled KX85

"I'm gutted and I'm hurting. It's been such a good week at the RCU too. I was really looking forward to this weekend and I felt good, I was riding good too. My first race wasn't great and my head went in that one but I got it together after that and was closing in on riders that have been just edging away from me before. I had a problem with my rear brake over heating, we then worked out I was probably riding with my foot on it slightly and it was overheating. It would stop working for a couple of laps and then come back again. I was closing in on the top three in the final moto and I just put the front over the top of a rut and it high sided and the bike came over and whacked me in the back. They say nothing is broken at the the hospital but we're going to get a second opinion when we get back home to the Isle of Man. Hopefully I'll be fit enough to ride at Canada Heights next weekend.”

Lewis Hall #9 - Small Wheeled KX85

"It was quite hard this weekend. It was so hot and I couldn't breathe properly because of my chest infection. I did my best and tried my hardest but I didn't seem to have enough energy. I was better on Sunday and my starts were much better too, I learned a lot from Jeff Emig and now I have a routine to practice. I know my weak points and I'll do my best to practice them a lot. Hopefully my antibiotics will work and I'll be feeling better soon and get back to being on the podium.  There's a lot of races in a row now and I want to be fit and feeling better for them.”