Brilliant Sunshine and dry weather greeted commpetitors to the Army's First British Championship at their Catterick Camp. Although they have been running Army Championships here for many years this was their first attempt at running a British Championship Enduro. Catterick Camp is the largest Army Camp in the UK so there was plenty of terrain available. Unfortunately the planned lap of around 50 miles was cut down to 38 miles in the week leading up to the event due to Military Operations. The course consisted mainly of open moorland with plenty of soft patches and ditches to catch the unaware. There was also some tight wooded sections and some fields to ride through. Almost the whole course was off road and appeared to not have been ridden on before - A welcome site for a British Championship Enduro. The majority of competitiors appeared to enjoy the terrain. I certainly did and likened it to some Scottish Enduros. Only one special test was on offer. It was quite short, around 4 mins for most riders, which in itself would have been disappointing were it not for the fact that the test offered nearly all types of terrain. There were hills, both up and down, soft patches, loose terrain, long grass, short grass, tight corners and some really fast bits. There was even some hard pack. The test was timed 3 times on Saturday and 4 times on Sunday.
David Knight once again dominated proceedings - stop press - For a change David didn't win. After winning the first timed test by 5 seconds he collected some wire on the first check of the third lap. The wire somehow managed to get caught in the chain and when it came round past the front sprocket it caught on the gear lever and ripped it out of the casing losing all the oil in the process. Unable to make a repair as a new casing was required, David's weekend was over and he travelled home early- without a winners trophy for a change.
Instead it was left to David's brother Juan and I to battle for the trophy. And battle we did. At the end of the first day I led Juan by just over 1 second to take my first British Championship day win. On Sunday I beat Juan by 2 seconds on the first test. On the second test we had the same time and on the final two tests Juan beat me by 2 on each test to take the day win and the weekend by 0.8 seconds. I was gutted but knew that I had gave 100%. From spectators on the test it seemed that Juan was trying his best aswell! I am getting closer to him every weekend so hopefully at the Epynt in a fortnight I will claim my first Overall win. We'll see.
Third place on both days was Wayne Braybrook on the CRF 450. Army rider Steve Hunt was a suprise winner of the 125cc class on Saturday and finished 4th overall. He repeated this feat on Sunday after Stevie Roper retired with a broken rear wheel.
Another suprise and well deserved result was that of Chris Tett. He won the 'man's' class on his Husky 570 after Richard Hay crashed out of contention on Saturday.
Tim Lewis easily won the little 4-stroke class on his TM 250 as Rowan Jones also suffered from crashes.
Kevin Murray continued his domination of the expert class and his return to speed after a season off when he comfortably won the class on both days on his KTM 125. Look out for Kevin in the future. He is very fast if he can keep away from injury.
Darryl Bolter on his Rangers Huskysport WR 125 again won the Clubman class. This time he was put under pressure from Gizz Edmunds. 16 year old Ricky Mair was third on his Husky 125
Also worth a mention is young Jeff McCleary. Jeffro, in his first season of Enduro, is improving at every event and finished both days inside the top ten. Its good to see some young riders coming into the sport. Lets hope they get the support they deserve.
Finally, ten out of ten for crashing style to Simon Evans. Riding on the same minute as Andrew Edwards and myself Simon dropped the front wheel into a ditch and went over the front. His legs got caught under the bars and the bike came over and trapped him on the bank of the ditch. The bike was completely upside down and vertical. Simon was unable to move. When Andy and I realised he was okay we were in stiches. Nice one Si.
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