The first round of the Dave Barkshire Two Man Enduro Championship was not without drama; the original venue was waterlogged so the organisers Sudbury Motor Cycle Club moved the event to Foxborough Quarry Sible Hedingham and on the day before when the course was set up conditions were perfect. However, Mother Nature was not kind as it rained overnight making the conditions muddy, slippery, stamina sapping and very interesting.
It was a battle of the Ropers (three brothers and one cousin all riding for the host Club) in the Championship Class, they slugged it out all day despite the slipping and sliding and after four hours it was a win for Rick Roper and his cousin Craig completing 38.50 laps pushing the brothers Stevie and Jamie into second place on 37.67 laps. Out of Centre riders Jack Lee and Paul Field secured 3
rd place on 34.67 laps while there were two teams tying for 4
th place both completing 33.83 laps and the verdict went to Woodbridge pairing of Harvey Mutton and Toby Morley as they had the better special test time which relegated Chris Wright (Diss) and Dan Willis (Stowmarket) into 5
th.
In the Expert Class Glenn Walsh & Jack Berry (both Sudbury) pulled off a great win completing 35.83 laps with the TBEC pairing James Berrill and Dan Smith 2
nd on 35.17 laps and the Sudbury duo of James Barker and Lee Monger finished 3
rd on 33.17 laps while out of Centre riders Matthew Willis and Elliott Brooker took 4
th on 31.67 laps. Three teams tied on 31.00 laps and it was down to the special test times with 5
th place going 15-year-old Jake Roper riding his first Adult event partnered by his Dad Phil (both Sudbury) while another father and son team Darren and Jack Nicolaou (both Sudbury) secured 6
th pushing Damian Long (Woodbridge) and Julian Harvey (Ipswich) into 7
th.
It was a close finish in the Clubman Class with George Wolfe (Sudbury) and Luke Cain (TBEC) taking first place by .17 of a lap over Kane Fisher (Norfolk & Suffolk Juniors) and Lee Saunders (Woodbridge). Two teams tied on 28.50 laps which the special test times gave 3
rd place to James Hockey (Sudbury) and Steve Finch (Braintree) over Gary Vines/Will Packer (both Sudbury) 4
th. Raymond Otoka (Diss) and Michael Barker (Sudbury) finished 5
th on 28.00 laps followed in 6
th Luke Womack and Tom Morris (both Diss) on 27.67 laps and in 7
th Nigel Ross and Graham Mays (both Sudbury) on 26.67 laps.