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All content © Bob MuIIins |
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 Cotswold
Enduro Club
Club Championship &AMCA Rock Oil Hare & Hounds Championship Rd.2 Edgehill Quarry. Banbury Cotswold Enduro Club made the tough decision to switch venues a week before the second round of the AMCA Rock Oil Hare & Hounds Championship, moving from the wide-open, slightly technical but sodden, Haresfield to Edgehill Quarry near Banbury. It was a great move as the quarry provided an excellent technical challenge that was very different to the usual rounds of the series. The course around the small quarry was relentless, full concentration was needed for the whole of the two and a half hour race and there were plenty of hard and easy routes scattered around the course. Cotswold guru Pete Carter and his team had made the most of what the quarry had to offer and there were plenty of climbs and drops, some quite impressive in stature, with a handful of off-cambers thrown in for good measure. The going was absolutely spot-on, a couple of the tougher climbs were slightly challenging but racing was fast and furious across all classes. A relatively steady start by most of the field for the first couple of laps saw the Pro and Expert classes gain ground and catch backmarkers early on, so to add to the technical terrain traffic was also thrown into the mix but there were plenty of different lines and congestion wasn’t a problem once the riders had strung out. Beta mounted Pro class rider Matt Porter continued his form from last season by taking to the front and building a sizeable lead but Ben Adams, on a brand new KTM, rode hard to try and keep the leader in sight while Tony Griffiths kept within touching distance of Adams for the first half of the race. Porter took the win followed by Adams and Griffiths, both a lap adrift of the leader.
The Expert class was very tough. Luke Gorse nailed it but only just as Zeb Rhodes was just eight seconds behind him at the finish flag. Kirk Giles was a lap down on the leading Expert pair but still managed a solid third in class. The most impressive ride of the day was in the Clubman 2T class. Rob Clark, who obviously loved the technical nature of the course, really was riding like he stole it! Not many riders were so flat-out fast, especially on the one and only flat piece of the course where he was drifting around the corners Speedway style on his way to posting 20 laps and finishing 11th overall. A lap behind in second place was Josh Brown who had just over a minutes gap from third placed Chris Bushnell at the chequered flag. The Clubman 4T class saw an emphatic victory by Paul Tomkins as Andrew Whieldon and Paul Parry were strung out around the course in second and third places.
As the race progressed the hard routes became harder because more riders were attempting them so the easier routes became a better option at times and the riders who used their heads managed to gain quite an advantage a times. Mick Belcher definitely used his head on the way to winning the Veterans over 50 class but he was pursued hard by Roger Griffiths throughout the duration of the race with Griffiths eventually taking second spot while Simon Chelener grabbed third in class. Jerry Adams once again amused onlookers with his Pre-86 antics. Starting on a Honda he finished on something completely different, bringing two bikes certainly has its advantages at times. Ian Jones plugged away to take the Trail class win while the sole female entrant Gemma Holtham posted 16 laps to win her class, finishing 74th out of a field of over 100 riders.
Results
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Fourth
overall ahead of some pretty quick Expert riders was Derry Milling who put
in a great ride to win the over 40s class by quite a margin from Andrew
Keyte and Carl Harmston. All three showed just how much experience counted
in the tricky stuff.
Most of the Sportsman Novice riders opted for the easy routes initially
but not Ellis Frend who pulled a three-minute lead over Daniel Griffiths and
held it until the finish while James Flannigan cruised into third in class.
Edgehill Quarry was certainly different from the usual CEC venues but it
was great to see the more technical riders shine for once. The Veterans took
it in their stride, as did the Pro and Expert riders and this venue seems
sure to be visited in the future during one of the Cotswold Two-man Extreme
events planned for later this season. The venue also gave many Sportsman
riders a chance to experience something completely different and proved to
be a good training ground for future events.