RORE “The Big Reach Enduro” James Wright Memorial
24-08-2014
Charborough Park Estate
Report & Photo Teamsnapper

What a glorious day to run such a special event in memory of James Wright 42 commando and in such spectacular surroundings the renown Charborough Park Estate in Dorset and to make it that bit more special James’s Dad David was competing and if that wasn’t enough the best event catering van ever was present “Kingsbere Kitchens”.

An awful lot of work had gone into the track preparation by Danny and Danielle Hall and the RORE team, The lap was approx 5.5 miles of pure forest with some naughty little climbs to add to the excitement and plenty of hidden perils like broken brash, tree stumps galore and virgin undergrowth, 89 riders started the day for the 3 hour Hare and Hounds Enduro format.

Gentleman and Lady Emily please start your engines

Championship Class
I had my money on Daryl Bolter as being relatively local and plenty of support for him and watching round the pits he had the swagger although with hindsight he may have been a bit drunk still from the night before as first lap he went tree hugging and damaged his leg but continued chasing the leader until he blew a fork seal and proper blown it was so it was feet up in the pits to enjoy the rest of the event and watch his team mate and prodigy Steve Holcombe take the victory from start to finish with some breathtaking skills that left many of the spectators open mouthed although pushed all the way by Bradley King who despite not riding much lately rode like his life depended on it and is without doubt his best ever performance i have personally witnessed and once he had shaken the wee man Si Wakely off his tail he seemed to be catching Holcombe but the leader had it all under control for the victory but both riders did a very credible 13 laps each, Si Wakely on his sister Katie’s bike 3rd and 12 laps completed, 4th also on 12 laps was MX ace Ashley Scott who did so much better than i thought he would and seemed to having a ball, Sadly Ashley’s brother Ben posted a DNF but was riding awesome prior to his early bath, 5th Neil Hawker who used to a very smart respected member of the Armed Forces and now look at him......an ageing hippy losing his hair with an Adolf Hitler Moustache and as for his performance which has been echoed by his loved one Stroma “He’s quick out the gate and great for a few seconds but leaves you feelin a bit let down and deflated”, great to see some of the older MX boys come out and play like Gary Wright and Ross Sturmey.

Expert Class
Great to see The Royal Engineers represented by Tom Ellwood who is having a great season and riding high on confidence and it didn’t stop here with 12 awesome laps to take the win, runner up The Kirbinator Mark Kirby who really should not have been riding due to serious knee injury that requires surgery but as i have said many times there are warriors and there are warriors and The Kirbinator is truly one of those and James Wright would have been happy to have had him in 42 Commando and to get runners up and 11 laps just about sums the man up, If Bradley Rowland Had been born green he would have been an elf but luckily for us he wasn’t but he is still a tad short but that has not hampered his ability to ride fast and today he got a well deserved podium in 3rd spot, 4th went to Steve O’Keefe whom i personally thought had retired as not seen for so long and has probably been riding secretly somewhere as rode damn well and had a great battle with Witley MCC rider Rob Carey 5th, another stranger was Karl Langford 6th who has had many disruptions this year made a special effort to support this event and looked totally shagged in the closing stages but held off Alan Stringer who to me looked a lot faster than his finishing position of 7th.

Clubman Class
Family rivalry at its best here with Dad Peter King taking victory over his son Scott King (Runner Up) with both posting 10 laps and sure Dad will not let son forget about it for many years to come, 3rd down to 9th were separated by a very small margin and all on 10 laps, and mistakes made could have made the difference between podium and 9th, the lucky one was Jack Sherwin 3rd, 4th Nathan Baggott who put in an excellent show and will be angry with himself at some of his errors that cost him a podium and i had the pleasure of Mrs B for a while which i enjoyed very much while Mr B went on walkabout Baggott style, 5th and i know when Shane Babey is having fun and i can tell you he loved every minute of it and despite being a clubman rider he was one of the most spectacular up the climbs, 6th Tim Hewlett, 7th Ross Kerr who despite his young years rides with a very mature mind and has a good future, Batty Batstone ironically did his fastest lap at the end of the day came home 8th, 9th the workaholic Paul OConnell whom we see very little of these days but managed to keep inside the top 10 and if it had been a fit Paul he would have been top 3 for sure, finishing off the top 10 with a great ride and was very much the entertainer for me with his riding style was Tim Rees-Eggert, Guy Dix 11th, Paul Sheehan 12th, Mark Schofield lucky 13th who at times with his green and black helmet looked like he was part of the forest and when i am in the deep spooky woods on my lonesome it gets a bit eerie, 14th for PMCRC rider and good friend Lee Whitcombe who will find something to moan about his day, 15th Graham Eke, 16th Simon Blundell, 17th Ben Murrfit, 18th Paul Andrews with 8 laps completed, 19th Gary Rutter, 20th Adam Savage who travelled down from Hertfordshire, 21st David Holt, 22nd The Mad Russian Oleg Savochkin, 23rd Richard Stark, 24th Shaun Weston, 25th Stuart Bowers on his immaculately prepared Bournemouth Honda CRF250, Paul Gentle snapped his footrest on the first lap and continued for 6 more until cramp got the better of him, Charlie Blundell seemed to be going well but posted a DNF after 5 laps as did Adam Franks and Adam Jameson.

Veteran Class
What a great top 3 podium 3 equally talented riders, 3 very different styles and strengths and 3 very good friends but it was the younger of the 3 that took the top spot John Horton, Steve Bird 2nd and Euan Harrison 3rd, Birdy got the holeshot and kept John at bay for as long as he could but i felt John had the best machinery for the course a 150 2T which i felt was his ace card, Euan i felt was the frustrated one of the 3 as every time i saw him he was caught behind slower riders and Euan is the Mr Angry of the Southern Enduro scene and i could see the puffs of steam as he went by, all completed 11 laps, not far behind also on 11 laps was Andy Claxton who does not get to ride that often rode a blinder and without his Dad as his pit man due to being in hospital in a poorly condition he can be happy with his days riding, 5th and a very exciting man to watch and probably more so today as conditions suited Courtney James (Yes the wild man with no hair), Jim Hawkins 6th started off very quick and was quite aggressive but as the laps wore on i felt his pace dropped a bit (Maybe an age thing), 7th Michael Brooks with 10 laps with a riding style that looks very lazy and effortless although i am sure he will disagree but never less it works for him, 8th Kevin Bramble whom i know very little about except he knows how to ride and was a bit cautious for first 2 laps and once he had found his groove he upped the ante and put in a solid ride, 9th Tim Newman who was running top 5 for a while looked as happy as a pig in shit out there and Tim was actually on holiday just up the road in Fordingbridge so it was great he made the effort, 10th Graham Reid whom i must apologise too due to my bad quad riding, 11th Steve Taylor whom has not ridden for while would have felt it on Monday with a great ride and an air of confidence especially on the big climbs, 12th Dave Grover who took a couple of laps to find a rhythm but once he did he picked up a few places, 13th Adam Burt with 10 laps completed,14th Neil Marshall whom will be well pleased his result in such a big class with some top names, Steve Cook 15th with only his second ride of the year did look a bit worn out with elbows down by the end of the day, 16th can’t remember his name but one thing for sure is he ate all the pies, Ivan Finkelstein 17th with his usual gritty performance, 18th Steve Davey, 19th Nick Littlecott, 20th MotoDen’s George Dennison on his trusty CRF Honda i feel was only out there to get me and more than once he got that close i could smell the mixture of whiskey and Brut 33 (Great to see you George), Al Turner 21st ..... i hear all the ladies shouting is that the fit one with washboard abs and a penthouse...... sadly not short, fat, sponsored by Benson and Hedges, lives in a shed and is surrounded by his dysfunctional family, 22nd Fuck knows what Adrian Wilkins is doing down here despite propping up Al Turner, Craig Redmond 23rd and we all know he is a far better rider than that but that’s not really an excuse to be that slow eh Craig, yes i know you had to go to work at 4pm and you did scrutineering in the morning and you had a lap of 18 minutes which meant you should have been in the top 12 so what happened Craig and we do require the Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth, 24th Steve Head whom i thought would have liked this course and excelled into a decent top 15 position.... how bloody wrong can i get it and i do recall lapping him twice which is quite a shock especially as i was walking, 25th Steve Cormack, 26th Alan Wakeley who may not be the quickest or fittest but he is by far the brightest, 27th John Anderton and 28th Jon Gilbert.

Sportsman Class
Three Cheers for Pete Nash and a memorable and popular victory and i can only hope my shouts of encouragement helped, not far behind was Paul Delaney, and 3rd to Glen Newland, do i hear a fanfare or a drum roll........ 4th place Dave Wright (Nothing needed to say), 5th Zac King whom i am sure is related to Scott and Peter King from the clubman class and think there may have been another as kept hearing people shout Kin Hell (Yes i know comedy is not my strong point), Put motorcycles and women together and you get a great combination, put Emily Hall and a motorcycle together and you get a SEXY combination with a hint of passion as this girl so has the want and determination so hell will have no mercy on any man who stands or rides in her way (Go Girl Go Girl)6th place for Emily, 7th to Paul Cooke whom i thought rode great especially the first 4 laps, 8th Michael Bosak, 9th Paul Feltham who spent more time off his bike than on it and he surely must has been feeling it on Monday, 10th all the way from Bristol Tich Marshfield whom i thought would struggle on some of the climbs due to his height but luckily for him his 6 brothers and Cinders were there to support, 11th Stuart August from Bournemouth Honda, 12th paul Whitmarsh, 13th Matt White, 14th Andy Wright whom as always digs deep and puts in a great performance with 6 completed laps, 15th and a very happy Chris Dello also on 6 laps, 16th Shay Barnett what can i say Shay..... Beaten by a girl..... wimped out on the hard routes.... i really did not think you would follow in your father’s footsteps lol, Josh Spence 17th.

What a cracking event, hope you all enjoyed riding it as much as we did snapping and having a laugh with you all.

Photos