Tombs finishes Red Bull Pro Nationals season on a high‏

Earlier last week, riders and teams across the country received a call from the promoter of the Red Bull Pro Nationals that the schedule for the season finale at Culham in Oxfordshire would be reversed. This left John Banks Honda-supported Lewis Tombs scrambling to prepare for his final season races a day sooner than expected, and on Friday evening, the truck rolled up, ready for Saturday's proceedings.

Saturday morning qualifying saw Tombs take the sixth-fastest time in the MX2 class, which set him up well for the races ahead. In the first race, Tombs found himself crowded out on the start, but ended the first lap in eighth, from where he launched into an assault on the pack ahead on him. Switching between sixth and seventh for the majority of the race, Tombs finally made his pass stick to end the race in fifth.

The second race saw Tombs emerge from the start and second corner battles unscathed in the class lead, a situation that lasted for but a lap. Nonetheless, Tombs made the best of his situation and kept hold of the leaders, ending the second race in fourth for a tie in fourth place overall. With this excellent result, Tombs also moved up one more place in the championship, ending seventh for the year.

Commented Lewis Tombs: “I qualified in sixth in the MX2 and had a good gate pick. In the first race I had not such a good gate pick, I had two 450s next to me so I got boxed in a bit, but I came out around twelfth in the race and was riding well, got into a good rhythm. Halfway through I started making silly mistakes, and Nathan Watson passed me for fifth and I just stayed there, was pleased with that. In the second race I got the best start of my life I think, was riding in second for a few laps, which was a good experience. Eventually a few people passed me and I dropped back to fourth in MX2, I caught up with Lenoir at one point but I started making silly mistakes, and thought I'd just play it safe and stayed there.”