The 2026 Motul ACU British Motocross Championship touched down at Canada Heights for round six under baking heat, and after six hard-fought motos across Apico MX1, MX2 inc JMR U21’s and the RFX 125cc class, nobody left with an easy overall.
Unlike the clean sweeps of round five, Canada Heights served up a genuine dogfight in every class, with Oriol Oliver, Gyan Doensen and Brian Gyles taking the round wins, but each of them having to work for it.
Apico MX1: Oliver Survives a Last-Lap Shootout
Race one set the tone for a properly scrappy afternoon. The start went down hard into the first corner, and it was Oriol Oliver who came out the other side in front, taking the early lead before Conrad Mewse worked his way back to second. With two laps to go it looked settled, until the closing stages turned into a genuine last-lap showdown, Oliver holding his nerve to take the win over the line ahead of Mewse. Tristan Purdon rounded out the top three.
Race two brought drama of a different kind. An early red flag forced a full restart, and when the gate dropped again it was Carlton Husband who grabbed the holeshot and swaggered clear of the field, with Adam Sterry giving chase. Oliver, from further back, ground his way through the pack to take control of the race, with Mewse never letting the gap stretch too far behind him. Sterry held on for third, one of the rides of the day after returning from injury, while Purdon was left just one place shy of a moto podium in fourth. Ben Watson’s race ended in a DNF right on the final lap, handing Purdon the extra couple of points he needed to podium pie.
With Oliver going 1-1, he took the round overall, but it was Mewse’s consistent 2-2 that mattered most to the championship picture, extending his cushion at the top of the table. Purdon’s 3-4 was good for third overall, with Sterry’s late charge in race two lifting him to fourth on the day.
Apico MX1 Rnd 6 results
| 1 | Oriol Oliver | 1 | 1 | 50
| 2 | Conrad Mewse | 2 | 2 | 44
| 3 | Tristan Purdon | 3 | 4 | 38
| 4 | Adam Sterry | 5 | 3 | 35
| 5 | Taylor Hammal | 4 | 5 | 34
| 6 | Tom Grimshaw | 6 | 6 | 29
MX2 inc JMR U21: Doensen Runs Heyman Down, Brookes Wins a Classic
Charlie Heyman holeshotted race one and looked set to add to his points cushion at the top of the table, but Gyan Doensen had other ideas. Doensen hunted him down through the moto and, with the laps ticking away, put the hammer down to snatch the lead before the time was up to take the chequered flag, denying Heyman what looked for a long time like a certain win. Ollie Colmer completed the top three.
Race two was, by common consent, the closest race of the season so far, the kind that had the whole crowd hanging over the fences. Jamie Keith led the way with just five minutes and two laps to go before a small mistake cost him four places and the four-rider battle Doensen, Joe Brookes, Billy Askew and Joel Rizzi that had developed behind him swooped past to battle it to the wire for the win. It was Brookes who came out on top at the flag, taking his first win of the season, with Askew second and Rizzi completing the podium, with two seconds separating the top four.
Doensen’s 1-4 was enough to take the round overall, while Brookes’ storming 8-1 lifted him to second on the day. Askew’s consistent 5-2 rounded out the top three, a tough round for Heyman, who slipped to sixth overall despite still leading the championship table comfortably.
MX2 Rnd 6 results
| 1 | Gyan Doensen | 1 | 4 | 43
| 2 | Joe Brookes | 8 | 1 | 38
| 3 | Billy Askew | 5 | 2 | 38
| 4 | Ollie Colmer | 3 | 6 | 35
| 5 | Ben Mustoe | 4 | 5 | 34
| 6 | Charlie Heyman | 2 | 9 | 34
RFX MX125: Moore and Gyles Trade Blows, Statt Strikes Back
Arthur Moore took the holeshot in race one and set about stamping his authority on the class, leading from start to finish, with Brian Gyles keeping him honest. A slight slip out in the final laps made every corner count in the final stages of the race but held steadfast for his first ever British 125cc win.
Race two had a sting in the tail. Archie Stapley led the opening laps before Drew Stock hit the front and rode on to cross the line first, only for an official points deduction for a yellow-flag infringement to demote him after the chequered flag, handing the moto win to Hayden Statt. Gyles took second on the road, with Joel Winstanley-Dawson third.
Gyles’ 2-2 was enough to edge the round overall, with Statt’s 3-1 second on the day. Moore’s race-one win wasn’t quite enough to hold on to the top spot once the second moto was done, dropping him to third overall, while Winstanley-Dawson’s strong second race lifted him to fourth and further tightened the title fight, with Stock’s difficult afternoon leaving him down in fifth.
RFX MX125 Rnd 6 results
| 1 | Brian Gyles | 2 | 2 | 44
| 2 | Hayden Statt | 3 | 1 | 43
| 3 | Arthur Moore | 1 | 6 | 37
| 4 | Joel Winstanley-Dawson | 6 | 3 | 35
| 5 | Drew Stock | 5 | 4 | 34
| 6 | Archie Stapley | 4 | 5 | 30
Canada Heights lived up to its billing as one of the trickiest tracks on the calendar, and true to form, there were no foregone conclusions across any of the three classes. Oliver’s last-lap heroics kept the MX1 title race alive, Doensen’s late charge and Brookes’ breakthrough win shook up the MX2 order, and the RFX 125 class continued to see class rookies take the spotlight.
The series now turns north into the Scottish borders for round seven at Duns on August 9th, the penultimate round of the championship, before the season concludes at Blaxhall on September 27th.
