Tuesday March 1, 2011 at 11:25am
Metzeler – ACU British Enduro Championship RD1: Muntjac Enduro
On Sunday the Diss MCC club held the Muntjac Enduro for the opening round of the METZELER – ACU British Enduro Championship in Thetford Forest. The 22 mile course suffered heavy rain on the Saturday leaving the course very wet and slippery, but fortunately the Sunday morning saw bright and clear weather for the 9am start. With the first Special test of the day being held at 9:10am, it was Multi World Champion and 2010 British Enduro Champion David Knight that was first in to record a time, and Knighter immediately set a blistering pace on the factory Red Bull KTM, with a time some 7 seconds faster than Greg Evans on his KORR KTM with Stuart Edmunds surprising many by taking 3rd spot on the TM 250.
From this point onwards David Knight set out his stall for the day, setting the fastest time not only in the opening test but in all other tests of the day. After test 2, Si Wakely on the Midwest Husaberg sat in 2nd place while motocross expert Stuart Edmonds came through in 3rd place and U23 rider Alex Rockwell on another Midwest Husaberg was also starting to fly. The slippery conditions caught out quite a few of the riders with many finding just a small mistake proved costly. The Special test proved to be an action packed focus for the spectators and along with the commentary supplied by Richard Snowden the crowd were kept well informed.
At the end of the first couple of 22mile laps most of the riders had settled into a steady pace and were arriving back to the time check more or less in order. There was no Special Test on lap 3, so it was not until the back to back tests on lap 4 that things began to change. Knighter continued to dominant the times and was setting the fastest time of the day, which was 6 seconds faster than Si Wakely. Under 23 rider Alex Rockwell was producing some fast times and had clawed his way back up to 3rd place.
As the day went on the lap times got shortened, with Andy Waters cutting 2 minutes from laps 5 and then a further 2 minutes to lap 6, this was to prove a tough end to the day for all the riders except for David Knight. Knight proved to be the only rider to complete the final test on time. Under 23’s winner and second overall on the day Alex Rockwell finishing just a minute late. Third overall on the day was to be Paul Edmondson who only just missed out on finishing with a clean time card by 16 seconds. Greg Evans rode well to return in fourth place and also only dropped one minute while Si Wakely finished in fifth place after losing 2 minutes in the final check.
Daryl Bolter’s crash earlier in the day had left him with too much work to do to recover and finished down in ninth place. Riders like U23 Daniel McCanney put in strong results in his first ride in the Championship class to finish 13th, while Ashley Wood finished second in the Under 23’s class on his 125cc KTM ahead of third placed Under 23’s rider Ben Burrell. Top motocross rider on the day was to be Jamie Lewis with a well-deserved 10th place ahead of Carl Nunn in 15th and Aston Bird in 16th.
The Expert class saw Jack Rowland MPS Husqvarna take the win ahead of Lewis Belfield KTM, ahead of Alun Jones.
In the Clubman’s class the win went to Robert Johnson, while Wyn Hughes took the win in the Veterans class.
As always the Diss MCC club produced a superb event which was a fitting start to the 2011 championship and the championship now moves onto the Putoline Harwood Enduro on the 21st and 22nd May.