Gunnell grabs the glory in plop final at Jurby

The fifth round of the 2026 Jurby MRSports Championship was held in dry conditions under sunny skies at the JCK Kart Track on Sunday.

Under the hot sun, the riders in the Plop 110cc and 90cc set out on the track. They numbered 13, all bar one in the 110cc class.

After a display of dominance in the previous round by Phil Gunnell, it was expected he would continue in a rich vein of form which has seen him take six victories in the previous four rounds.

The challenge was expected to come from the Bregazzi brothers but it was just Chuck Bregazzi alone, without brother Wig, who set out to make sure Gunnell didn’t have it all his own way and the on-track battle did not disappoint.

Heat one saw Bregazzi - resplendent in the colourful ‘Sunday best’ black and grey leathers - streak ahead from the moment the lights blinked out to the swoop of the chequered flag.

Gunnell threatened to poach the lead from the Foxdale man on a number of occasions but Bregazzi repelled all efforts to take the win.

Alex Bottomley beat father Simon to third place, while Ste Corlett produced a great ride to claim fifth at the finish.

Nigel Woods, the lone C90, took sixth spot and the class win from a returning Kelly Anderson who took seventh, chased home by the Wylde boys, Darren and Shaun in eighth and ninth.

In heat two Gunnell gained revenge with a measured ride to victory three seconds ahead of Bregazzi.

The final saw Gunnell in much more dominant mood, taking the win from Bregazzi to claim the day’s bragging rights, with Simon Bottomley taking the final spot on the podium ahead of son Alex who suffered brake problems in the latter stages of the race.

Freddie Craine continued where he had left off with another three comfortable wins in the senior pitbike open class to take his total to a maximum of 15 for the season.

In doing so, he extended his lead to 92 points in the championship, but the action was hot and heavy behind him.

In heat one, there was a one-two finish for the Craine bothers, with elder sibling Aaron taking the runner-up spot after his nearest challenger, Patrick Venus, hit machine problems on lap three and then ran off the circuit a couple of laps later at the banked Bombhole section. Shaun Griffiths took third place.

Heat two witnessed a cracking wheel-to-wheel dice between Aaron and Venus. Starting from the back of the grid, the latter moved up to third place on lap one and was soon locked on to the rear wheel of Aaron.

Sensing his chance, Venus outmanoeuvred him at the Hairpin section on lap six to move into second place.

A thrilling battle kept the crowd entertained and, just as it looked liked Venus was going to hold on to the runner-up spot, Aaron turned the tables at the Hairpin section, diving inside Venus on the last lap and held on to take second by 0.10s at the chequered flag.

In the final, Venus made no mistake and, making his move on Aaron on the exit of the Hairpin section on lap five, got the hammer down and steadily increased his lead to 22 seconds at the chequered flag, with Shaun Griffiths taking his second fourth-place finish of the day.

The 140cc pitbike class saw Jack Meechan take the ‘gentleman’s set’ with a dominant performance of three race wins.

Try as he did, Conor Percival had to settle for the runner-up position in each race.

In heat one, Jack Haybyrne eventually pulled away from a rejuvenated William Forgie to take the final place on the podium.

Heat two saw a tremendous scrap between Haybyrne and Forgie for third place. Haybyrne managed to get past Forgie in the Hairpin section on lap four and rode extremely hard to hold off a determined Forgie by less than half a bike’s length on the line.

The final saw a repeat of heats one and two with the same first four finishers. A race-long tussle between Peter Kirkham and former Supermoto competitor Joe Tiernan was settled in favour of Kirkham, getting the verdict by less than 0.4 seconds on the line to claim fifth spot.

The junior pitbike class saw only three of the original four riders take to the track for heat one.

Unfortunately, young Layton Murphy took a heavy tumble during qualifying at the Hairpin, ruling him out of the action for the day.

The junior category has belonged to one young rider in 2026: Toby Melvin. Before round five action began he had won every race and heat - 12 in total - and the winning streak continued under the blazing sun with another three race victories.

Each time he was followed home by impressive newcomer Oscar Griffiths, with the majority of his laps under the magic one-minute barrier.

Josh Hunt, also making his first appearance in the perfect conditions, pushed his personal best to a sub one-minute time.

Melvin left the JCK Kart Track having now scored 15 wins in 2026.

The next round is the bank holiday weekend at the end of Manx Grand Prix week on Sunday, August 30 which will also include a pitbike match race event, with teams from the UK competing against locals.

Spectators are welcome to come and watch all the action – entry is free and there will be a catering van on site plus full race commentary.

PAUL COPPARELLI AND PETER MYLCHREEST