He managed to qualify in pole position by .3s which gave him first gate pick, at this stage track conditions were dry and fast. 

In race 1 Luke got a reasonable start pushing through in the early laps and got up to 5^th position, his race pace was good and he was catching 4^th place rider. With a couple of laps to he was making excellent progress towards the bottom of the track but just ran out of time. 5^th for race 1. 

Race 2 didn't start too well, the track had been heavily watered just before the start which delayed things a further 25 minutes. Luke got a terrible start going through the first few corners just inside the top 20 which gave him plenty to do, he made good progress as the laps counted down but wasn't enjoying the slippery conditions. He struggled to get into a rhythm but pulled through to 9^th at the end.  

Day 2, we were all hoping for a more consistent day. 

Heavy overnight rain had changed conditions, Luke was feeling confident and we had decided to change his start routine and gate pick. This resulted in a fantastic start for the first race of the day as Luke was right at the front, he pushed really hard on lap 1 and pulled away to a great lead. 

The track conditions were very difficult and it was easy to make mistakes, Luke was riding awesome and had a 12 second lead until 2 laps to go when he pushed a little too hard at the bottom of one of the hills and slipped off. He frantically tried to pick the bike up but it was so clogged with mud it hampered his progress. 

By the time he got the bike up and managed to restart he had lost 10 places, he got going again and tried to catch back up. He pushed to the end of the race and got 11^th place. A real disaster but he still got some points and proved he has the pace to run at the front. 

Race 2 of the day was also a tough but short one, although the track conditions had improved the previous race had obviously given the clutch a real tough time. Luke got a perfect start again running in second for lap 1 when the leaders bike stopped, Luke took the lead. As he got to the top of one of the steep hills the bike slowed rapidly. The clutch had overheated and the bike ground to a halt. 

We recovered the bike and found that the front tyre was punctured as well! Some frantic work to change the clutch and fix the puncture got Luke to the start line for the final race of the day. 

The new clutch got him off the line well and he pushed hard running around 7^th for half a lap, 2 riders in front of him tangled and crashed allowing Luke through. From then on Luke's progress was amazing, the championship leader who was out in front had pulled a huge lead. 

Luke got into an awesome rhythm and closed in on 4^th, then 3^rd then second to run 2.5 seconds a lap quicker than everyone. 

With 2 laps remaining the leader was insight, Luke could see he was making progress and pushed even harder to close in, 1 lap to go and Luke was 5 seconds behind, he closed the gap even further and with 2 corners to go was only 5 metres behind. He just couldn't quite get close enough and got a brilliant 2^nd place. Great for his confidence and a great team effort getting him out there for the final race. 

Summary 

Although his overall placing for the weekend was outside of the top 6 he managed to climb another position in the championship to 6^th, a great result in extreme conditions.  

His championship is certainly not over and some consistent rides with 4 rounds to go anything is possible. 

Luke has taken some important confidence away from this meeting and knows he has the speed and ability to run at the front. Thanks again go to Mark from ISO2 Nutrition for making the long trip down for Friday and Saturday and thanks to Rob from Spiked for his support on Sunday, it really does make a huge difference. 

Our next meeting is in 3 weekends time for round 4 of the British Masters at Foxhill Motoparc near Swindon, this is one of Luke's favourite tracks. 

Another bit of news, we have received all the paperwork for Luke's first European Championship round in Holland at the end of June and are busy sorting the logistics for this trip especially as the week before we are racing in Cumbria and the following week in Devon!  

Once again thanks for everyone's help so far this season, Luke has certainly made an impact on both championships he is racing in and is getting some excellent media coverage. 

Matt Norris

Luke managed to qualify in pole position by 4 seconds to give him every chance of the best gate pick. In race 1 he had a tough start chasing after the early leader who was putting some fairly dangerous moves on Luke in an attempt to hold him off.

This lasted 4 laps until Luke made his move and made a clean pass and pull away for win number 1 for the weekend. In race 2 Luke took the lead on lap 1 and never looked back, another comfortable ride controlling the race pace to keep a constant gap to 2^nd place by around 11 seconds.

Sunday was just as sweet, the track was again in great condition, in race 3 Luke held 2^nd position for a couple of laps watching the leaders lines then made a great pass to take 1^st place. He settled into a good rhythm and instantly improved his laps times by around 4 seconds to pull away to a 20 second lead. Win number 3.

The final race of the day was perfect, Luke chose a better start gate which gave him better drive and he got the lead by the second corner, from then on Luke got his head down and picked up the pace to gain a lead of 15 seconds, he paced himself for the remaining few laps and crossed the finish line for win number 4 and maximum points for the weekend.

This moves Luke further ahead in the championship where he now holds a healthy 85 point lead.

Our next championship meeting is this coming weekend down near Exeter for round 3 of the British Youth Championship, this is going to be a tough weekend but we are looking to be consistent and move up the championship ladder.

Once again thanks to everyone for your support, we are confident Luke had turned a corner especially in his physical conditioning, along with ISO2 Nutrition we have introduced a new daily diet for Luke which is having some very positive results and will help to maintain a higher energy level throughout the weekends racing especially at the BYMX events.

Matt Norris

Round 2 of the championship proved to be a very successful but gruelling event for Luke, for starters the trip was just over 800 miles! 

The track was in excellent condition, in qualifying Luke put in a great time to get 5^th fastest, the times were extremely close with only a couple of seconds covering the top 12 riders. 

In race 1 Luke got an awesome start running in a very strong second and running some impressive lap times to maintain this position. Towards the end of the race he came under some pressure but held 2^nd to the chequered flag. After the race we had an added bonus as the winners bike had failed the noise test so Luke acquired the race win. 

In race 2 Luke again got a great start and was running inside the top 4, he settled into a fantastic pace working on catching 3^rd which with hard work and determination he managed to catch and pull away from getting 3^rd at the finish. This put Luke in 2^nd overall overnight. 

Sunday proved to be a real battle, Luke woke up feeling under the weather, aching and generally not looking his normal happy self. Although in practice he looked on the pace he was not happy with how he was feeling, we tried to build his energy levels up as much as we could for the next race. 

Race 3, he got another amazing start running 2^nd for a couple of laps and had a nice gap to 3^rd, from lap 3 he came past shaking his head, something was clearly wrong as his lap times increased and he began to slip down the order managing to finish the race in 7^th, not what we needed.

Luke was exhausted and feeling sick. Again we worked as hard as we could trying to improve Luke's energy levels and general physical condition for the next race. 

The final race of the day was a real struggle, Luke put in a massive effort to get another awesome start and was holding 3^rd for 3 laps, we could see he was running low on strength as he was only able to put in bursts of speed.

He dropped to 6^th with 1 lap to go, it was not nice to watch him not be able to fight for positions but he still finished in 6^th . 

I don't think Luke has ever wanted to see the finish flag so much as he used every bit of energy he had left. Even though his second day wasn't as great he still managed to hold onto 2^nd place overall and move up the championship to 7^th place, only 28 points from 3^rd. 

Also the bike had proved to be 100% reliable over the weekend with no clutch issues at all which on a deep sand track was a great result. 

Our next event is round 3 of the British Masters Series at Pontrilas near Hereford in 2 weekends time, hopefully Luke will be in better shape for this one!