With all the rain, rain and more rain, plus the countless meetings that have had to be cancelled due to waterlogged courses – I’m pretty sure that anyone with a gambling streak would have bet against a bright, summers evening for the 2^nd round of the Southern Counties Enduro Club/Crescent Suzuki Wednesday evening championship. But, luckily, that’s exactly how it turned out.

The course for the 11^th July meeting promised to be reminiscent of the Rogershill Raceway course of the late 1990’s and with a memory that can’t seem to remember what happened last week, parts of the course brought these memories flooding back in a most familiar fashion. Very strange.

The first part of the course was the main Motocross track plus a short rutted track, which in turn led to a telegraph pole/ditch combination that seemed to catch more than the un-wary. From here a whooped track led to a concrete pipe (of the junior Kickstart variety) where it was a case of up and over, along another stretch of track, before a meander around a copse of trees, a twisty banked and berm'd section and some more tree action. From here it was back to the 90’s and into top gear as the course followed the river, over the access road and into another small plantation of trees. Once out of the tight stuff, it was time for more top gear action before ploughing through a small river section, across a field and rejoining the other Motocross track. It was hard on the brakes after the double jumps before another tight tree section which in turn led to a mini-bike track where the full-sized bikes went from lock-stop to lock-stop in an effort to negotiate it. Into top gear once more, before re-joining the main Motocross track where another lap began. Pheww!

Daryl Bolter takes the win

As with previous events, the Championship class were the first away, where Mark Cornick in his first race in the Championship class took the initial lead, before being passed by Daryl Bolter. At the end of the first lap it was Bolter who led Cornick and Andy Frost, who dropped valuable time after having to swap the lap transponder to the other wrist in an effort to be scanned. The top three stayed in this order until Frost (who now had the transponder on the correct wrist) passed Cornick to take second spot, but Bolter had an untouchable lead (well, I guess he is a World Enduro Championship Husqvarna rider) and Frost and Cornick kept battling away to finish second and third respectively.

Unknown to the leading three, 2006 Champ class winner Danny Hall, who was on the In-Chains TM250, was forced to end his race prematurely after discovering the course blocked by another rider who had trailed the marking rope from a tree, across the track and around his back wheel, forcing other riders to queue behind him. Danny (who is the course owner) had to repair the track, ending his chances aboard Ben Milward's TM machine.

For me, things were going pretty well even after a poor start. I’ve had uncharacteristically good starts at the last couple of races and I’d decided this was to be no different. At the drop of the flag, I had gone from first (in my mind) to mid-pack, but managed to stay sunny-side up (this time) and picked up a few places. At two-thirds race distance, I was second (in class) and had managed to (very) slowly catch Matt Guppy who was leading. Now, with all forms of racing, the most important people to beat are your mates, and with Matt being a good friend, it was imperative that I passed him. Sadly for me, Matt spotted me directly behind and this seemed to propel him along at a super-sonic pace, never to be seen again. Damn, second for me then.

Matt Guppy rounds the tree section

With the Crescent Suzuki Wednesday evening series seemingly blessed with glorious weather each round it came as no surprise that the event was fit to burst with 130 riders, some of which had travelled to Bere Regis in Dorset from as far away as Wales! I’m sure yet more good weather has been booked for the final Wednesday evening round on the 5^th September.

In a serious attempt to go one better next time, I’ve thrown caution to the wind and embarked on a startling fitness regime. Gone are my lunchtime treats of whiter than white bread and a chocolate biscuit, to be replaced by Hovis best of both (one step at a time) and a Banana. If nothing else, I should be able to coax a few more MPG’s from the bike.

• Championship: 1^st Daryl Bolter, 2^nd Andy Frost, 3^rd Mark Cornick.
• Expert: 1^st Gavin Flagg, 2^nd Sean Tranter, 3^rd Darren Hounsell.
• E1 Clubman (up to 125cc 2-stroke, 250cc 4-stroke): 1^st Marcus Feltham, 2^nd Tommy Layzell, 3^rd Brad Parrett.
• E2 Clubman (over 125cc 2-stroke, 250cc 4-stroke): 1^st Matt Guppy, 2^nd Lee Davey, 3^rd Barry Mitchell.
• Over 40: 1^st Karl Phillips, 2^nd Simon Dobinson, 3^rd Steve Cook.
• Sportsman: 1^st Brendan Reece, 2^nd Jason Coombes, 3^rd Steve Green.