Aby Enduro Report

Banovallum MCC Lincolnshire Enduro Championship 4th Round

Venue: Aby Sunday 7th September 2008

This fourth round event was run on the land of Mr Jeff Traves at Aby. As at last year’s event the track was mainly laid out over stubble fields interspersed with ditch crossings; there was one wooded section, which followed the course of an old railway line. Unlike last year’s event the underlying soil was moist from heavy rain earlier in the week resulting in much less dust and much more grip.
Heavy showers were forecast for the day but due to Aby’s proximity to the coast, and an Easterly wind, the showers all fell further inland.
The enduro started promptly at 10.30 and after about five minutes the first half dozen riders completed their first lap. Unfortunately there was some confusion further down the field which resulted in a complete restart.
On the second start Richard Mason got the holeshot in Moto X, a feat he repeated in the afternoon. He rode superbly and won the whole event by a large margin. It was noted in the afternoon session that he had a 50 second lead after only three laps! Gareth Lodge and David Haith who finished second and third hotly pursued him. Adam Lovett was running second at one time and was really flying. He lost laps in the morning and but for that would have finished higher than tenth - a great performance on a 125.
Mark Godfrey got the holeshot in Enduro class but on the restart it was taken by Lee Cuthbert followed by Ben Hamilton, who was first himself in the second session. This class was closely fought and at the finish Mark Godfrey won but the first three all completed 25 laps with only just over a minute between the first two. There were hard luck stories in abundance; Mark Gauld was really flying in both sessions but in the morning ran out of fuel and in the afternoon lost a radiator pipe – how’s that for bad luck!
Of the three starts in Four Stroke Andrew Sykes was third second and first, he evidently benefited from the practise! Unfortunately he slipped to fifth in the final standings with Adam Ransom being the winner with an excellent 25 laps.
Trail class and Over 45s started together; Richard Bartle took the two morning holeshots and was second in the afternoon. Bill Howe was first in the afternoon following two seconds in the morning. Dave Thornton was Mr Consistency being third on all three starts. Kevin Bartle Snr was a comfortable winner of Trail class with Bill Howe leading home the Over 45s.

Report: Steve Vinter

Results:

Moto X 1. Richard Mason 2. Gareth Lodge 3. David Haith

Enduro 1. Mark Godfrey 2. Ben Hamilton 3. Lee Cuthbert

4 Stroke 1. Adam Ransom 2. Mark Gorman 3. Adam Rhodes

Trail 1. Kevin Bartle 2. Chris Lawson 3. David Munday

Over 45 1. Bill Howe 2. Dave Thornton 3. Richard Bartle

Posted on 11 Sep 2008 by Banovallum MCC

North Willingham race report

Banovallum MCC Lincolnshire Enduro Championships Round Three
North Willingham – Sunday 15th June 2008

I always eagerly anticipate the enduro at North Willingham as it is in such a beautiful location in the Lincolnshire Wolds. When we arrived on Sunday morning we were confronted by the sight of about eighty bikes lined up in their various classes, with about thirty cows munching grass in the adjacent field, completely ignoring the proceedings. This is Lincolnshire!
The forecast was for a dry morning with occasional heavy showers later in the day - an accurate forecast and the Met Office are to be congratulated! The course utilised many of the tracks around the farm and also several blocks of woodland. One of these woods contained a very boggy section, which became impassable and was bypassed for the afternoon session. A very heavy rain shower during the afternoon made many sections extremely testing and led to the early exit of several riders.
Moto X got off first at 1045 and Ben Askew got the holeshot ahead of Gary Aitchison and David Broughton. In the afternoon session Ben repeated his success of the morning with Mark Flint separating him from Gary in third spot. Ben was overall winner of the MX class with Mark Flint in second place and Richard Mason third. Ben and Gary were only riding because their MX meeting was cancelled so this was an excellent consolation for them.
In Enduro the consistent Mark Godfrey took the holeshot ahead of Lee Cuthbert. Lee was second again in the afternoon start but that was where his luck ran out – his bike overheated after the first lap. Lee actually beat Mark in the morning session: if he can achieve better reliability he may get closer to Mark. The quickest “off” ever was achieved by Mark Liney who was shunted off his bike about 50 yds from the start. He restarted after a short recovery period and managed to complete three laps, which was an excellent effort.
Martin Rhodes got the holeshot in 4 Stroke ahead of Andrew Sykes and Adam Rhodes: Andrew Sykes got it in the afternoon ahead of Robert Cabon and Martin Rhodes. The Rhodes family look like sewing up the 4 Stroke class on current form.
In Trial and Over 45 Class Pete Cole was first away, closely followed by Richard Bartle, with Richard beating Pete for the holeshot in the afternoon.

Report: Steve Vinter

Results:
MX 1.B Askew 2. M Flint 3. R Mason

Enduro 1.M Godfrey 2. B.Hamilton 3. A Ransom

4 Stroke 1. A Rhodes 2. A Sykes 3. M. Rhodes

Trail 1. K.Bartle 2. C Lawson 3. D Munday

Over 45 1. J Brindley 2. P Ryan 3. A Long

60 Comments

Posted on 18 Jun 2008 by Banovallum MCC

Manby – Sunday 11th May 2008

After a fortnight of mostly sunny and dry weather, the track at Manby was rock hard with just occasional wet spots, which the organisers had tried to avoid. On the longer straights many riders were travelling flat out through a thick dust cloud with virtually zero visibility – they were either very brave or foolhardy depending on your point of view! Fortunately no serious accidents ensued.
In Moto X Jason Phillips took the holeshot in the morning session with D Parks second and Richard Mason third. Richard went on to win his class, continuing his great form from last season.
The entry was considerably down in Enduro with a total of only 13 riders, so great opportunities were on hand for points scoring. Mark Godfrey extended his winning streak and Ben Hamilton came an excellent second after his eighth in the previous round. Third place went to Paul Mulholland
There was some very close racing in 4 Stroke class with the first three riders all completing 16 laps and only 5 minutes difference between first and third. It was an all Rhodes affair apart from Steve Dickinson in second spot.
Trail and Over 45 classes started together with Kevin Bartle Snr getting the holeshot in the morning and Richard Bartle in the afternoon. Kevin Snr again won the Trail class, narrowly beating his son Kevin into second place with Matty Parkinson third.

Report: Steve Vinter

Results:

MX 1. R Mason 2. J Phillips 3. A Kibble

Enduro 1. M Godfrey 2. B Hamilton 3. P Mulholland

4 Stroke: 1. I Rhodes 2. S Dickinson 3. A Rhodes

Trail 1. K Bartle Snr 2. K Bartle Jnr 3. M Parkinson

Over 45: 1. P Ryan 2. J Brindley 3. R Bartle

12 Comments

Posted on 17 May 2008 by Banovallum MCC

Manby Race Report

The opening round of the Championship took place today in very unseasonable conditions. A bitter Northerly wind was blowing showers of snow and hail across the county, which fortunately did not bother us until the afternoon session. The track was rock hard with occasional wet patches after several mostly dry days with overnight frosts. A fortnight earlier the TBEC club ran their enduro in an absolute quagmire so I think we were quite lucky.

Twenty-three riders contested the Moto X class and Chris Vines was the overall winner with an excellent 17 laps followed by Derek Shaw and Steve Bullas in second and third. places. Further down the field Ryan Bell finished eighth but put in a great morning session to be second on his 125 – also on a 125 young Ollie Taylor persevered and put in a creditable 12 laps which included extricating himself from a “bomb hole” in which his bike was all but lost beneath the water.

Enduro was the biggest class as usual and Mark Godfrey carried on where he left off last season. He rode well and consistently to win with 20 laps; Alan Taylor and Kris Hallam were second and third. Lee Cuthbert did not have one of his better days but still came 5th with his fellow Gear 4 rider Martin Rushbrook in 6th place. The brothers Kris and Richard Hallam from Sheffield look like a force to be reckoned with coming third and fourth on their first visit to these championships.

The ever-reliable Steve Dickinson won the 4-stroke class riding the only XR600 which I saw at the event. He was followed by Andrew Sykes who had taken the holeshot in the morning session and C Roebuck in third.

Trail class was run concurrently with the new “over 45” class and John Bowden from 45+ took the holeshot in the morning, nearly repeated the feat in the afternoon, and went on to win overall with a very creditable 17 laps. No prizes are on offer for guessing the winner of the Trail class who was of course Kevin Bartle Senior with 15 laps, the same number as Kevin Junior in the Enduro class!

Report by Steve Vinter

2750 Comments

Posted on 14 Apr 2008 by Banovallum MCC