All content © Bob MuIIins

Cotswold Enduro Club
Slow Pete Series Rd.2
Shuckburgh Hall
Northants

If you have never gone to Shuckburgh Hall for a Cotswold Enduro Club event, then its time you did! The venue is huge and simply amazing, full of fields, forests and dozens of sections that could grace an EWC round.

This venue is so big that Cotswold Enduro Club organise three events each year at the Shuckburgh Hall, all two weeks apart, using completely different courses each time.

Last Sunday’s event, the second round of the Slow Pete Series, took in plenty of the abundant forest sections, making for a technical course with a handful of open stretches in between and only one small muddy section. It was in complete contrast to two weeks earlier, which was very slippy.

The Slow Pete event enjoyed perfect conditions, the course was superb with weather to match. The dense woodland hid plenty of small trails, dotted with climbs and descents, which suited the more experienced technical riders down to the ground. With no Pro or Expert riders allowed it was up to the old boys to step up to the plate and yet another large entry by CEC’s faithful Shuckburgh fans made for some cracking racing.

Looking at the results will give you a good indication, the top three places were filled by very experienced technical riders, all Veterans, with seven of the top ten places occupied by vets. Keith Jenkins, in the over 50’s class took the overall win and although he didn’t post the fastest lap of the day, his consistency and silent but stealthy approach gave him the victory. Colin Griffiths and Rob Sewell had a real ding-dong battle for second and third in the over 50’s class with Griffiths taking second spot by 30 seconds over Sewell.

Kev Freeman, in the over 40’s Vets, finished over two minutes behind overall winner Jenkins, winning his class in the process. In third place overall was Martin Jakeman, over 40’s Vets, always near the front in every race and a true Enduro competitor who never quits, posted the fastest Veterans lap of the day but wasn’t quite as consistent as the two riders ahead of him and had to settle for second in class on this occasion. Andrew Keyte took third in class, just 30 seconds behind Jakeman.

Adam Castledine climbed to fourth overall and won the Clubman 4T class by quite a significant margin over Ricky Tropman and Sam Keen in second and third spots. Castledine was followed to the finish flag by Clubman 2T winner Josh Brown, just two seconds separated the pair after two hours of racing. Luke Bradford firmly held second in the 2T class while Tom Collett was around 30-second adrift in third. Graham Ayliff was the only competitor in the Clubman plus class and completed 10 laps.

For once, Jerry Adams, in the Classic Pre-86 class, had some competition. He was joined by John Brown and Sean Price and between them they clocked up 28 laps. Price took the class win on 10 laps with Adams in second place, just over two and a half minutes clear of third placed Brown.

Anne Cherry was out on her own in the Ladies class, fellow female competitor Kate England only managed one lap before retiring but Anne went on to complete eight challenging laps.

Guy Britton climbed into the heady heights of the top 15 overall competitors with his win in the Sportsman Novice class. Ellis Frend was some way behind in second place, maintaining a good gap between himself and Tim Woodhouse in third.

Ian Jones once again ploughed a lonely route as the only trail class competitors but this never worries this old hand. He plugs away regardless and notched up eight laps.

The course was set just right, technical with a few places to gather speed around one of the most picturesque venues in the country. The 10-12 minute lap for the faster riders was just right, weaving through ancient woodland and along tracks, past trout pools and deer reservations, all overlooked by a magnificent stately home.

A terrific setting and a fantastic course, plus excellent weather, made for a superb event from Cotswold Enduro Club.

Results