Monday February 25, 2013 at 11:17am
Sunday 24 February saw 2013 enduro action kick off in East Anglia with Round 1 of the 2013 eastern centre championship - this year sponsored by GH Motorcycles and Husaberg.
194 riders including an excellent national entry plus all the eastern centre stars were faced with a wintry day with odd snow flurries but the ground was in stunning condition and offered a suberb days racing. Clerk of the course Andy Waters had laid out a 16.5 mile course with 6 laps for championship and one lap less for each of the other classes. He aimed for 3-4 cleans per class and as ever times were spot on with only the strong national class riders in the championship class raising the number to 6 championship riders staying clean.
Within minutes of the start riders were faced with the test - most of the planned Muntjac test was in use with Tom Sagar - Colwyn Bay KTM and Daryl Bolter, Crescent KTM both starting the day in determined fashion with Tom a mere 0.07 second in front. Jack Rowland MPS Husqvarna was a strong third from 2012 runner up Jamie Roper Walters/Aim KTM with multi eastern centre champion Chris Hockey in fifth on his Dr. Shox Yamaha - both showing great speed in the strong national class field.
Test 2 saw both Sagar and Bolter losing use of a footrest after hitting a deep rut for most of the second test but they still came out first and second - this time with Tom extending his advantage by a further 0.79 of a second - it couldn't have been closer... Whilst these 2 BEC stars battled for top honours on the test Jack Rowland again put in avery solid ride to finish the second test in a comfortable third. This time Mark Roberts looking ever more at home on his 250 Cadwel Electraction TM UK took fourth with eastern centre motocross star Jason Morland getting the fifth fastest time.
However it wasn't all over bar the shouting as the event has a real sting in the tail with the final lap for championship riders dropping to 29 minutes on lap 6 and that was going to be a real test as the sandy Thetford land had bumped and bermed like a world MX sand event.
Sagar showed his speed by slotting in a 29 minute lap on the third lap but that didn't count so all eyes were on the final time control and both Sagar and Bolter came a minute early both with about 30 seconds in hand. So with around 90 miles of racing a mere 0.86 seconds separated these 2 stars and sets both up for many more battles as the championship series get under way in 2013.
Rowland kept his pace clean and finished a strong third with the hugely experienced Hockey taking the highest result for a centre rider in a brilliant fourth from Mark Roberts and Ricky Mair in sixth all the way down from Elgin in Scotland recovering from a crash on his first test to be the final championship rider with a clean timecard and sixth place for his efforts.
In the expert class young Scottish motocross star Ryan McLean Danger UK/Jett/Feridax Yamaha crushed the opposition to take the expert win in his first timecard enduro - worth the long drive from Glenrothes!!! Charlie Evans, Tim Rose and Shaun Buchan finsihed in that order and the four riders topped the test times and were the only experts able to maintain a clean timecard on their 5 gruelling laps.
The clubman class was equally competitive, again with just 4 riders keeping a clean timecard - with Lee Green on the Steve Plain Beta taking the top spot from Lewis Bond Yamaha, Diss club rider David Stevens finished a strong third and Shane Tasker on the JJ Tyres KTM in fourth. However but for a few seconds young Katie Walker ET James KTM could have mixed it with the top 4 - the clock had just ticked over for a one minute penalty when Katie came in to the final time control - without the penalty Katie would have been in an outstanding third but still finished in a great sixth place - beating many more experienced riders in the process.
As ever Diss MCC would like to thank everyone for helping to layout and run this year's Santon enduro, to the riders for supporting us and of course the Forestry commission for use of the land. Results are online at www.dissmcc.co.uk.
Can't wait for the final round of the British Enduro Championship - 24 November - can't wait.