Jediah Cumbermack denied Aiden Lopes a hat-trick of wins in the Scooter Mart KTM 125 class on Sunday at the Rubis Southside Raceway during the second round of racing in the BMRA Circuit Racing Championship.

Lopes won the first two races with Cumbermack placing second in each, before turning the table in the final race when he took the win with Lopes finishing second and Daente Fox finished with three third place finishes.

A full grid turned out in the class on Father’s Day, with Larson Burchall, Shaun Simmons, and Norre Robinson joining Lopes, Cumbermack and Fox in some exciting races. Photo Gallery here

Rookie racer Neveah Edwards rode alongside the Scooter Mart KTM 125 class on his Metrakit MiniGP 70 for the first time. Edwards is the first racer this season to bring a Metrakit to Southside.

The two-stroke MiniGP race bike was a popular bike for racers in the past; however, they have been packed away for several years. There are a few being worked on that are expected to rejoin the series this summer, potentially making up their own class once again.

Fox took an early lead off the line in race one and held off the chasing riders for five laps as they jockeyed for position behind him. With a daring pass going into Casuarina Corner, Lopes jumped from third to first, slowly lengthening a gap between him and the rest of the class.

Coming on to the front straight Robinson slid out while trying to catch Lopes and was forced to retire to the pits. Cumbermack managed to charge his way up into second place and held it until the flag. Fox finished in third, followed by Simmons, Burchall and Edwards respectively.

Race two saw a five-way battle off the line and into the first turn with Cumbermack taking the inside line to lead. Lopes charged right behind, followed by Simmons, Burchall and Fox, who was pushed wide going into the first turn.

Cumbermack continued to lead on laps two and three with Lopes on his back wheel. Burchall slid out going into Casuarina Corner, bringing his race to an end prematurely. This left a sizeable gap between front-runners Cumbermack and Lopes, and the rest of the group.

Cumbermack made a mistake running too wide out of a corner, opening the door for Lopes, who quickly took the lead. The battle at the front continued until Lopes made a mistake, which gave Cumbermack the opportunity to retake the lead.

Lopes sat back and waited for a chance to attack which came on the white flag lap, taking the lead once again on the corner before the start-finish straight. Lopes held the lead to the chequered flag, followed closely by Cumbermack in second.

Simmons slowed on the last lap to allow Fox to grab third place just ahead of him. Edwards fought some mechanical issues during his warm-up laps and did not get to compete in race two.

The third Scooter Mart KTM 125 Class race saw Fox make his way to the front of the pack again off the line for race three, followed closely by Cumbermack, Burchall, Simmons, Lopes, Robinson and Edwards, who was back on track and ready to go.

Cumbermack quickly pushed his way to the front and proceeded to increase his gap on the rest of the pack, building a comfortable lead over the rest and riding smoothly and calmly. Lopes had a poor start but eventually caught up to the back of the group and into third ahead of Simmons.

Lopes managed to make up time and closed in on Fox on the white-flag lap. Robinson got back up to speed and took fifth place back from Burchall. Cumbermack held his composure to grab the victory with Lopes in second, followed by Fox, Simmons, Robinson, Burchall and Edwards.

At the drop of the flag in the Scooter Open Class, Edward Cook rocketed off the line, followed closely by Marcus Pimentel. Cook started to increase his lead with Pimentel in hot pursuit, until he ran wide coming on to the start-finish straight on lap six where he managed to get the bike back under control to avoid a serious accident.

Cook showed good sportsmanship and waited for Pimentel to catch up before taking first place with Pimentel right behind him.

In the second Scooter Open Class race, Cook sped off the line once again. This time, Pimentel made some adjustments to his bike before the race and kept in closer contact.

They had some good battles swapping the lead back and forth for the first half of the race. Unfortunately, Cook was forced to reduce speed to save his engine after suffering some mechanical issues.

Pimentel’s bike was running strong bringing home the win with Cook managing to coast to finish the race in second.

The final race in the Scooter Open Class saw Cook rocket off the start once again. Whatever issue that Cook had in race two, he fixed it because he was back on pace and on a charge forcing Pimentel to work to keep up. Cook continued to push forward taking an easy win with Pimentel not far behind in second place.

Racing resumes on July 4 with Takara Dill, the president, expecting more action on the track as the season progresses.

“We knew we weren’t going to get many bikes out today because it’s Father’s Day, but we did want to give people something to do in case they had no other plans,” Dill said.

“We’re happy with the turnout and the amount of bikes that turned out today. We’re happy with what we have considering what we had to go through previously under the pandemic.”

Dill is hoping the number of participants will increase in certain classes as the season progresses. “It’s just a matter of encouraging those who have bikes in those classes to come out and participate,” she said.

“It’s only the second week and some people may still be nervous about coming out, which is perfectly understandable.”