Paul bolts to win Dalton XC
The Putoline Dalton XC 16th November
Report dba media , Picture Chris Hudson

Despite the recently poor weather Dirtbike-Action set out a great cross country course at Dalton utilising the existing mx track. Track designer John Kerwin devised 2 enduro loops which allowed the mx track to be used in its entirety. The enduro loops were broken up with a selection of man-made obstacles rock garden, logs, pipes and tyres. John made the decision to use the 2 race format for the adults a format he used in the successful Dirtbike-Traxs era.

Race 1 started 9.30am with the Sportsmen and Novice/beginner classes competing for 2 hours. The Sportsman lead the field away around the mx track with sportsman Mark Smith first back to lap scoring, a lead he held for several laps. Veteran Brett Haley had a poor start but soon got into his stride and moved up to 2nd place. As the race developed sportsman Matt Redman pushed to the front and at the chequered flag had pulled out a 5 minute winning margin over Mark Smith who both finished on 16 laps, with Brett Haley in third on 15 laps. Rob Little topped the novice/beginner group with Martyn Dawson in second, both riders completed 14 laps. Ryan Johnson filled the final podium place with 13 laps. Only a few of the riders in this race tried the big ash log the majority opting for the detour.

Race 2 Expert, Clubman & O40

With a good line up of expert riders 16 in total, which included Eurotek KTM rider Paul Bolton, Biff Smith, Zac Sherwin and a handful of local expert mx riders having a go at xc racing on their local track, it was going to be interesting to see if there would be an upset to the form book. But from the start Eurotek’s Paul Bolton was looking good, initially in second place then taking the lead with Biff Smith and Zac Sherwin not far behind. On lap 6 leader Bolton came in to the pits to fix a puncture, Biff Smith on the Sandiford Honda then took up took lead but on lap 7 Biff snapped off the gear change lever and dropped well back while it was sorted costing him several laps on the leaders. But Bolts with his super smooth riding was soon back in the lead building up a convincing lead on board the Eurotek KTM exc 300 over Zac Sherwin in second and Phil Hancock taking 3rd place. Biff Smith put on a hard charge and fought his way back into forth spot. At the chequered flag Bolts was the clear winner from Zak Sherwin and Phil Hancock 3rd with Biff 4th

Meanwhile the battle for victory in the 040 class was won by Kyle Deswert 3 minutes ahead of Ross Hall who was minute up on Howard Blundell, all completed 16 laps. In the Clubman class Liam Ward and Mike Pye were very close at the end of the 2 hour race only 35 seconds separating them in favour of Liam Ward, both riders complete 17 and look set for the experts in 2015. That completed a great days xc racing at a new venue.

Results

John said at the end “Talking to the riders they enjoyed the Dalton course but they especially liked the 2 race format. This is something I used years ago and as Dirtbike-Action will be running a major cross country championship next year we will continue with it where possible. We still have at least 2 more xc events this year Saturday 27 December The Moonshine xc, a 2 hour race starting at 4pm and The Hangover xc on the 28 December. A big thanks to everybody that helped, roll on 2015 and The Northern XC Championship”