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Dave Roper Memorial Trailcross/Scramble Enduro
SUDBURY MOTOR CYCLE CLUB EVENT REPORT

Last Sunday was the second Dave Roper Memorial Trailcross/Scramble Enduro stage by the Sudbury Motor Cycle Club at Tye Farm Great Cornard. The event was split into three classes of Evo/Twinshock/Pre 65 in class one and the Enduro machines split into two separate classes with the first 20 from these two classes going through to the qualifying final and the other riders going through to the non-qualifiers final. The first and second event for each class was a ten minute warm up for the riders to familiarise themselves with the course. In the Evo/Twinshock/Pre 65 Class the heats were between Jamie Roper, Paul Bennett, Gary Gladwin and last year’s winner Paul Owen and Roper manage to be the best qualifier however in the final Roper was left on the line and had it all to do and could he repeat his feat in the main event last year when he started last and went on to win. At the end of the first lap it was Gladwin in the lead followed by Bennett and Owen and to everyone surprise it was Roper in 4th place and with 18 more minutes to go could he win. For the next 12 minutes the positions never changed also Roper was gaining on the first three then Roper past Owen to take third place while on the next lap down the start straight it was Gladwin with Bennett going to Gladwin’s right and Roper to his left and at the right had bend Roper nudge into the lead and shortly afterwards Bennett overtook Gladwin. These three riders battled it out for the remainder of the final with Roper increasing his lead over Bennett and Gladwin.

In the first group class Alex Rampton was rampant beating the opposition with ease and Alex Gill finished 2nd and both along with 38 others qualified for the final event while in the second group class it was Jason Morland showing great form in winning with Jake Gregory 2nd and Jamie Roper 3rd. In the non qualifiers final Gareth Robertson took the lead from the start with Josh Kell 2nd and Andy Mason (Jamie Roper’s father in law) 3rd but after two laps Mason pass both Robertson and Kell and hung onto his lead for the next 5 minutes. Kell now in 2nd place pressurised Mason and slipped past him to take the lead and although Mason was on Kell’s tail for the rest of the race he could not pass him so it was a win for Kell, Mason 2rd and Tom Crees 3rd. In the Qualifiers final Jason Morland was unstoppable and lead from start to finish but there was a battle for the next four places. Jake Gregory was in 2nd place, Glenn Walsh 3rd, Nick Barrett 4th, Steve Mason 5th and Jamie Roper 6th. Mason and Roper passed Barrett honing onto Walsh but Walsh was determine not to concede to these two and fought them all the way. At the end of 20 minutes it was a runaway win for Morland while Walsh secured 2nd place pushing Gregory into 3rd and Mason was 4th holding off his brother in law Roper 5th.

Overall it was a great day for the Dave Roper Memorial Fund and the Cake Stall took over £300 this year compared to £200 last year.

Evo/Twinshock/Pre 65 Overall 1st Jamie Roper, 2nd Paul Bennett, 3rd Gary Gladwin.

Non Qualifiers Overall 1st Josh Kell, 2nd Andy Mason 3rd Tom Crees

Qualifiers Final 1st Jason Morland, 2nd Glenn Walsh, 3rd Jake Gregory.