Huge crowds at the 2024 Aberdare Park Road Races witnessed Ryan Dixon seal the Welsh Open Title, riding on the Trickbits Racing Triumph Moto2 machine, and dominating the meeting in emphatic style.
The 2022 Welsh Open Champion reclaimed his crown during a weekend where the Folkestone rider won 10 out of his 11 races in all of his classes. Despite an astonishing record, Dixon was pushed throughout the Welsh Open heats and finals by Jay Bellers-Smith on the TH Racing CBR600, Aberdare newcomer Andrew Smart on a Kawasaki and reigning champion Mark Goodings on the Yamaha R6. During Saturday’s final, Dixon got away well off the line and managed to hold off Bellers-Smith throughout the race despite his best efforts, with Goodings securing third place ahead of Smart. Sunday’s final proved to be a nailbiter has Bellers-Smith raced into the ahead of Smart and Dixon in third. During the opening laps, the Welsh rider was on course to secure his first Welsh Open but Smart made his move and took the lead ahead of Bellers-Smith. A few laps later it was Dixon who made the move on Bellers-Smith to push himself into second place and in position to secure the title. Andrew Smart took the race win with Dixon claiming his second Welsh Open crown.
On the Triumph Moto2 Dixon secured both Park Challenge Final victories, but he certainly had to work for it. On Saturday’s Final, Bellers-Smith pushed the Trickbits Racing rider to the limit on every lap, however the local star from Merthyr Tydfil was unable to get past the No Limits Super Series 1000 Championship Leader. Sunday’s final was a three-way battle from start to finish with Dixon, Andrew Smart and Bellers-Smith only separated by the few seconds throughout the 12 laps, with all three lapping at some pace in the 39 seconds.
It was Ryan Dixon who once again took all of the spoils in the Sound Of Thunder. Riding the Trickbits Suzuki SV650, Dixon battled hard with William Holland in Saturday’s Final with third place secured by Aberdare debutant Andrew Smart. For Sunday’s Final, Dixon had some work to do, drifting back 4th on the opening lap behind Andrew Smart, Alex Sinclair and Will Holland. Within 5 laps Dixon passed all 3 riders ahead of him taking another win in commanding fashion. Local rider Jay Bellers-Smith unfortunately had to withdraw from the class after encountering some ongoing issues with his KTM.
In the Lightweight and Ultralightweight class, it was the Chris Northover and Will Burchill show throughout the weekend. With Bike World TV presenter Northover riding a Honda NC30 and Burchill on the Kawasaki ZXR400, the two riders entertained the crowds with some epic, wheel-to-wheel and elbow-to-elbow racing. Saturday’s first race saw Burchill take the spoils with Northover just 0.1 seconds behind. In race two, Northover took his first victory of the weekend ahead of Burchill and Tony Griffiths riding another Kawasaki. Burchill took Saturday’s overall win with a better aggregate result. Sunday’s two lightweight races were just as entertaining as the previous day. Northover and Burchill were at it once again, and it was Northover who took both wins with Burchill extremely close behind in second.
Alex Sinclair continued to wrack up the number of overall wins at Aberdare Park by taking all four wins the Golden Era & CB500 class riding a stunning Ducati 748. Sinclair secured all four wins in commanding style ahead of Tony Griffiths riding the Kawasaki ZXR400, increasing his tally of wins at Aberdare Park.
Aberdare Park Road Races 2024 was a huge success, boasting some of the biggest crowds in years and we get to experience it all again on ITV4 in a couple of weeks as part of the King of the Roads TV series. Stay tuned for more information about the broadcast details in due course.
Everyone at Aberdare Park Road Races would also like to add a special thank you to the army of volunteers, the officials who help to setup the park ready for racing, our brilliant sponsors, our special teams/riders and our fantastic fans. Let’s do it all again next year shall we?
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