CRESSING’S Jason Morland looked like having it so easy as the opening races got off to a cracking pace at Braintree and District Motorcycle Club’s annual Jack Hubbard Trophy motocross event at Stisted.

Riding a 1989 500cc KTM he had built up himself from parts sourced on the Internet, he stormed to an easy start-to-finish win over series leader Brad Tomlin in the opening Eastern Evo Championship race for pre-1990 bikes.

Reigning and four-time Jack Hubbard Trophy champion Morland then coasted to three similar wins in the Allcomers races, riding his latest high tech KTM and continued showing all the signs of securing a fifth title in the grand final, the last race of the day.

However, a stalling engine in his second Evo race saw him forced to fight his way through from last to finish sixth, and a less than perfect start in the final leg handed overall victory in this class to Tomlin.

Morland ended up third behind Sidcup’s Brett Fisher.

No-one felt Morland would have a battle on his hands in the grand final for the trophy, though, where the qualifying top 13 riders from each of the Evo, NGR over-30s and Allcomers groups came together.

However, his Halstead and District Motor Cycle Club team-mate Tomlin, on his 20 year old 250cc JK Honda Evo machine, emerged first out of the start gate.

He was followed by Sudbury’s Harry Clark on a modern but small capacity 250cc KTM ahead of the title-chasing Morland aboard his super quick 500cc bike.

By lap two, Morland was up to second spot but some distance back from leader Tomlin.

Try as he might, it looked as though the Cressing rider had lost the advantage of a good start on a track that was proving difficult to get by on.

Lap by lap, the Tomlin-Morland gap widened, before narrowing and with four laps to go, Tomlin drifted out at the finish line bend under pressure from Morland, who was now in touching distance.

And in a do or die effort, the local man snatched his opportunity to take the lead and finish the race a comfortable way ahead of his rival to take the Trophy for a fifth time.

Daughter of Braintree Club legend Jack Hubbard, Susan Lee, once again supported the event and presented the Trophy to Morland, as well as additional special prizes for other race winners.

The NGR races were dominated by current leader Aaron Hopkins from Norwich, who made a clean sweep of things over the three legs to maintain his standing in the Championship.

But exciting battles down field were aplenty, notably those involving former NGR champion Steve Bottoms and Rayne’s Aaron Smith, who this year not only took charge of track building, but also was event secretary, as well as racing. Bottoms managed to defend his seventh position from the Braintree Club rider’s race-long attempts to get by him in the first leg, while the tables turned in the second.

By lap six, Smith had got by his rival in the third race to finish seventh and make it 2-1 to Smith, who later fell heavily in the boggy entrance to the far meadow during his Jack Hubbard final race.

The Club is grateful to Dixon-Smith Farms and Whitehead Farms for the use of their cattle fields, with this being the 63rd year of running scrambling events at Stisted.

RESULTS: Jack Hubbard Trophy final: 1 Jason Morland, 2 Brad Tomlin, 3 Harry Clark, 4 Phil Burton, 5 Jordan Cutting. Qualifying race winners: Tomlin, Aaron Hopkins, Morland.

Overall Allcomers A Group: 1 Jason Morland, 2 Jordan Pasquale, 3 Ryan McDonnell, 4 William Hughes, 5 Harry Clark. Leg winners: Morland (2).

Allcomers B Group: Leg winners: Robert Brown, Tom Sutton.

NGR Over 30s Group: Leg winners: Aaron Hopkins (3)

Overall Evo (Pre-1990 machines) Championships: 1 Brad Tomlin, 2 Brett Fisher, 3 Jason Morland, 4 Shane Lock, 5 Jon Barfoot. Leg winners: Tomlin (2), Morland.