Sudbury Motorcycle Clubs first long awaited event of the season dawned bright and chilly after a record sell out of entries in 8 minutes. A venue change was made to accommodate a record number of 80 team entries in the 2-man Enduro across 3 classes for the first in the Eastern Championship Series.
The recent warm dry weather in the weeks leading up to Sunday’s event meant the 2.8-mile course over established farmland and woodland was fast and dusty with the bog claiming a number of brave entries who succumbed to its depths, normally a big crowd pleaser in more normal times, the riders had to resort to brutal strength sapping ways of getting unstuck without the usual help from marshals and spectators alike.
Championship Winning team Jamie Roper and Craig Roper made the bog look easy and sped across the black mass of deep ruts on each lap clocking up the most within the 4-hour race, James Cotterell and Dan Cummings were just 3 laps behind and third placed Ben Cole & Luke Parker were penalised by going over the allocated time despite clocking up 30 laps.
Expert placed riders Adam Durkin and Tom Sargeant were fractionally ahead despite identical times for the special test section and were closely followed by Shaun Palfrey and Toby Rogers.
Archie Gunton & Barnaby Knight repeated their 2man Clubman win from March 2020 at the same venue in much wetter conditions and were keenly pursued by Lloyd & Luke Barker who came second and Nigel Ross and Graham Mays third to them with just seconds in the special test separating the top three teams.
It was noted and reflected upon at the Sudbury Motor Cycle Club's event last Sunday of the passing of member Stuart Cooper of Great Cornard former competitor and supplier of photos to go with the Club's event reports along with His Royal Highness Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh who has been since 1952 the Patron of the Auto Cycle Union (ACU) the national governing body of Motor Cycle Sport to which the Sudbury Club has been affiliated to since 1958. Championship
1st Jamie Roper & Craig Roper 31 Laps
2nd James Cottrell & Dan Cummings 28 laps
3rd Ben Cole & Luke Parker 30 laps
4th Ross Taylor & Dan Willis 28 Laps
5th Stevie Roper & Ian Parker 28 Laps
6th Lewis Bond & Joseph Hall 28 Laps
Expert
1st Adam Durkin & Tom Sargeant 28 Laps
2nd Jake Roper & Phil Roper 28 laps
3rd Shaun Palfrey &Toby Rogers 24 Laps
4th Chris Bastick & Mark Sharman 28 Laps
5th George Eustace & Duncan Eustace 25 Laps
6th Fred Stern & Shaun Leggett 26 Laps
Clubman
1st Barnaby Knight & Archie Gunton 24 laps
2nd Lloyd Barker & Luke Barker 24 Laps
3rd Nigel Ross & Graham Mays 24 Laps
4th Daniel Wright & Max Monk 24 Laps
5th Andrew Arden & James Arden 24 Laps
6th Wayne Baker & Simon Clark 24 Laps