South West Enduro Champs 2011 – Rnd2 Brass Monkeys

On Sunday 13th March Xmoor Enduro Club and the Broadhembury Motor Club combined to run a spectacular event that is the Brass Monkey’s Enduro.

Championship Class winner Chris Dustow exiting a bog in the test.

The 27 mile course at Huntsham in Devon was a superb blend of mixed farmland, forestry, various woods and open terrain. History shows that this has always been a tough event and due to overnight rain following a long dry spell, this years – the second round of the Thor Motorcycles sponsored South West Enduro Championships - was no exception.

Clubman E3 rider Steven Wood faces a daunting slippery climb.

The weather was perfect on the day as a hundred and forty two riders set off on their respective minute in groups of four, but the previous night’s downpour would take its toll as it had raised the levels in the stream crossings and also left the woodland soft and a thin wet layer over clay on much of the going, which proved to be oh so slippery!

Championship Class rider and eventual overall winner Chris Dustow immediately proved that his brand new Thor Motorcycles Gasgas250 2-stroke was ideally suited when he pulled out a thirty second lead over his nearest competitor on the first of the 12 minute tests. Bradley King also GasGas mounted pressed Chris hard through the whole event, but like many others couldn’t quite match his pace on the long test and eventually settled for second.

Matt Holcombe fighting his way out of a bog on the test. Quick action by marshal's meant that clubman and sportsman riders by-passed this on their tests!

Despite swapping places with Bradley throughout the long day and beating him on two of the tests, KTM mounted Steve Holcombe dropped ten seconds when it most counted on test four, which left him just one and a half seconds down and in third place overall. Richard Tucker managed to break his early season jinx at last and finished a creditable fourth. Wayne Mundell hurt his wrist on something during the fast check and decided to retire and watch the special test.

Bradley King blasting into the 'fast' second time
check desperately trying not to lose time.

But this was not an event to be decided entirely by test times. Thoughtful planning produced a track with a 15 mile first ‘slack’ check which contained the test and a small amount of roadwork, plus a second 12 mile ‘tight’ check of mixed woodland with linking fields. Despite mighty efforts from all the competitors only the very best from each class managed to clean this check and not drop time.

How not to cross a slipper bridge...

This fortunately unidentified rider demonstrated a perfect swallow dive.

Lucky the stream was low eh!

But someone will know who he is ;o)

Yamaha 250 mounted Freedie Broadway led the Experts from the start. Ross Blackmore on a KTM300 road a fine race to finish second with KTM250 rider Robert Carey a very close third.

The last mile was a fast blast into check two as riders
desperately tried to clean their times...

...as Over 35 Expert John Hinkley demonstrated in his determination. 

Expert Over 35 rider Steve Whetman lost time due to being stuck in a bog on lap one, even though it was a slack check! However marshals acted swiftly and wisely when parts of the track became what would have been impassable for Clubman and Sportsman entrants and made a sensible re-route after the top boys had all been through. The clubs had laid out a good course, but the heavy rain had softened the woodland in this part just a bit more than expected, so when the stream rose parts started to resemble the Somme. It was certainly impressive seeing how the Championship and Expert riders dealt with it mind you – although not without a little pain in some unfortunate cases. It’s not often you see championship riders buried!

Sun directly in the riders eyes didn't help when negotiating this climb.

...as this rider soon found out!

Honda 250 mounted Danny Hall took the Expert over 35 class win from Charlie Richards close by in second. Charlie’s test times would have given him the win, but losing 1 minute on the tight check put paid to that glory.

Steve Whetman on the test.

Gareth Marshall and Daniel Phillips were the only Clubman E1 riders to clean their check times and Gareth’s KTM125 managed to eek out just over a clear minute advantage on the two tests for the class win. Ali Gilbert followed in third. Andrew Smith jolted his back nasty during the first test and had to be escorted slowly back to the pits.

It's not often you see top Championship Class riders struggling like this.
But Adam Blake was unlucky enough to have chosen the wrong line...

...as was this chap!

Darrel Ciemo did the business in the popular Clubman E2 class aboard his KTM200 from Daliel Richards. While Martin Froggat followed suit in Clubman E3 on a KTM300 from Scott Medlyn.

Over 40 Clubman Geof Varker enjoying the woods.

The biggest class of the day by far was Clubman Over 40 and is one where Jeremy Goodier shone despite loosing two minutes on the tight checks. However his test times were just good enough to prize the win from Chris Williams – also KTM250 mounted.

There was also plenty of fast flowing open woodland.

The South West Enduro Series Twin Shock class is proving to be a very interesting one and in which it seems that many an experienced rider is entering for some fun upon a classic machine. Hence there are many stars to be seen amongst both the bikes and the riders.
However finishing doesn’t seem to be the strongest point, whether this is due to the aging bikes or aging mechanics/riders it is hard to tell, but the retirement rate for this class was well over 50%. Ian Spence had his Moto Gori engine fail towards the end of the fast check on lap two with suspected broken rings. Robert Poulton enjoyed his Maico ride but decided not to go any further ‘as it would spoil it’. And many were seen heavily buried in a bog early on in the day. For those to young to know - Twin side mounted shocks and under-hanging forks when in ruts, do not for an easy passage make!

Twin Shock mounted Jason Fraser battles
past Over 40 Clubman rider Steve Hill

Unsurprisingly Ex South West champion Jason Fraser took the Twin Shock win aboard a Husqvarna 250 and ever reliable Andy Elliot did well taking second spot on his Moto Gori from Suzuki PE mounted David Brick.

Should rare classic motorcycles be treated like this?

Pensioner Dave Muller enjoyed his day taking the Sportsman win from Simon Chilcott. Again both KTM mounted.

A final look at why the test bog was by-passed by quick acting marshals.

Riders interviewed - even those that didn’t finish, all reported that the clubs had done a fantastic job of running the event together and that the track was absolutely fabulous.

RESULTS

Local celebrity Buster may feel to old to race, but should fit
youngsters be expecting him to help pull them up steep hills?
(Well done Buster, you're a lot fitter than me!)

Full Results HERE