The 2013 ACU British Enduro Championship sprung back into vibrant life at the weekend as under clear blue skies Jamie McCanney – newly crowed World Youth Enduro Champion – created a major upset by stealing a win and a runner-up on his Midwest Husaberg TE250 at the Knighton Enduro in Wales.
The Manx teenage sensation swapped from his usual 125cc two-stroke for an E2 class 250cc two-stroke and the change-up made a huge difference as McCanney could at last challenge the best in BEC on an equal footing. However, a mistake in the first test on the Saturday meant McCanney had to play catch-up, and the deficit to the lead proved too great with championship leader Tom Sagar (Colwyn Bay KTM 450EXC) able to sneak home to the win by a narrow 2-seconds. On the Sunday McCanney made no mistakes and dominated every test, taking the win by nearly half a minute.
McCanney and Sagar may have fought to make the headline news, but they were closely shadowed by an on-form Jamie Lewis (Edmondson Racing HM Moto CRE-F450R) and back-from-injury Steve Holcombe (Crescent KTM 250EXC-F) both showing why they’e been selected for Team GB at this year’s ISDE in Sardinia. And mixing it with these two were world extreme racer Jonny Walker (Red Bull KTM 300EXC) and four-time world champion Paul Edmondson (Fast Eddy Racing). The class didn’t want for quality.
The Experts remains a hotly contested class and while Joe Wootton and Brad Freeman shared the wins it was Ryan McLean’s consistency (2-3) that has seen him take the championship lead ahead of Rob Johnson who suffered a DNF on day one with fueling issues.
Meanwhile Lee Sealey has extended his lead in the Clubman championship with two solid second place finishes. Andrew Bull was the highest scorer with a 3-1 that lifted him to third in the standings behind Sealey and Jack Staines.
THE KNIGHTON ENDURO
Jamie McCanney: “I’m very happy with the weekend. Having won the Youth EWC title (where riders are limited to 125cc two-strokes) I’ve been able to change to the Husaberg TE250 two-stroke for the rest of the season – in fact I’ve used the 250 for training all year, so I’m no stranger to it. Being on the bigger bike it meant I was better able to challenge Tom (Sagar) for the overall. I possibly could have had the win on the Saturday but I overshot a corner in the thick dust on the very first test and probably lost a good 15 seconds there. To have puled Tom back to 1.9 seconds by the end was very satisfying. On the Sunday I didn’t make any mistakes and it was great to be able to pull a good six seconds on everyone each lap in the cross test. I’m going to keep pushing hard to the end of the BEC – Tom has a good lead on us, but we’ll see what we can salvage.”
Dusty Martin, ACU: “A great weekend’s sport and with Jamie McCanney’s switch to the E2 class the fight at the head of the championship has become even more intense. We were unlucky to lose Daryl Bolter to injury before the weekend, as his win at the Welsh Two Days shows he’s on fantastic form this season, but with Jamie Lewis and Steve Holcombe riding so well we can see the top-five in BEC are setting the bar very high.
“The Central Wales Auto Club put together a fantastic event having taken a big risk to go ahead given that so many riders opted to enter late. The 140 entry was a healthy number but with the forthcoming Abbey and Natterjack Enduros in mind I’d like to see riders commit earlier, to give the clubs an easier time in making their considerable commitments.”
2013 ACU BRITISH ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND THREE RESULTS
DAY ONE
Overall
1 Tom Sagar KTM 450EXC
2 Jamie McCanney Husaberg TE250
3 Paul Edmondson Honda CRF450R
E1/2 Championship
No entries
E1/4 Championship
1 Steve Holcombe KTM 250EXC-F
2 Jack Rowland Husqvarna TE250R
3 Gethin Humphries Sherco 250i
E2 Championship
1 Tom Sagar KTM 450EXC
2 Jamie McCanney Husaberg TE250
3 Paul Edmondson Honda CRF450R
E3 Championship
1 Jonny Walker KTM 300EXC
2 Frazer Norrie KTM 300EXC
DAY TWO
Overall
1 Jamie McCanney Husaberg TE250
2 Tom Sagar KTM 450EXC
3 Jamie Lewis HM Moto CRE-F450R
E1/2 Championship
No entries
E1/4 Championship
1 Steve Holcombe KTM 250EXC-F
2 Jack Rowland Husqvarna TE250R
3 Gethin Humphries Sherco 250i
E2 Championship
1 Jamie McCanney Husaberg TE250
2 Tom Sagar KTM 450EXC
3 Jamie Lewis HM Moto CRE-F450R
E3 Championship
1 Jonny Walker KTM 300EXC
2 Tim Foreman
2013 ACU BRITISH ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP
Championship standings after three rounds
Championship overall
1 Tom Sagar (Colwyn Bay KTM 450EXC) 117
2 Jamie McCanney (Mid West Husaberg TE125/TE250) 89
3 Jamie Lewis (Edmondson Racing Proseal HM Moto CRE-F450R) 86
4 Daryl Bolter (Crescent KTM 350EXC) 64
5 Jack Rowland (MSR Husqvarna TE250R) 61
Championship E1/2
1 Jamie McCanney (Midwest Husaberg TE125) 80
Championship E1/4
1 Jack Rowland (MRS Husqvarna TE250) 109
=2 Rheinault Davies (KTM 250EXC-F) 69
=2 Gethin Humphries (Sherco 250i) 69
Championship E2
1 Tom Sagar (Colwyn Bay KTM 450EXC) 117
2 Jamie Lewis ((Edmondson Racing Proseal HM Moto CRE-F450R) 92
3 Daryl Bolter (Crescent KTM 350EXC) 64
Championship E3
1 Frazer Norrie (KTM 300EXC) 106
2 Jonny Walker (KTM 300EXC) 80
3 Tim Forman 32
Expert overall
1 Ryan McLean (KTM 250EXC) 95
2 Rob Johnson (Husqvarna TE250R) 85
3 Brad Freeman (KTM 125EXC) 78
Clubman overall
1 Lee Sealey (Husaberg TE125) 111
2 Jack Staines 86
3 Andrew Bull (KTM 250EXC) 76