All content © Bob MuIIins

Enduroland's superb Rock Solid series finally returned to the Q1 quarry venue last Sunday for a tight, technical, slippy and muddy race that was to test all riders to the maximum.

The venue also staged the opening round of the series but this time the course was reversed and seemed to be significantly harder than before. The climbs were steeper and the conditions wetter with many standing pools of water all around the course but the riders were keener and raring to accept the challenge the course had to offer.

Stretching into the far distance the long and narrow quarry provided plenty of challenges with numerous bomb holes, piles of stone, rock gardens and steep ascents with equally steep descents. The area around the car park looked relatively easy, a few small climbs, but proved to be very tricky as the race wore on. With no run up to some of the hills it was down to experience to make it to the top unaided.

Within yards of the start the first tough climb presented itself, a steep hill with a tight right-hand turn at the bottom, which sapped momentum and saw many riders scrabbling to make the top. Young Nathan Upton tried a stylish Superman with seat grab, minus the seat grab and flew in spectacular fashion to the ground. Scott Bates didn't quite make it as far as Nathan. His front wheel was taken out just yards from the start line and he began his race with his left side covered in mud following a dip in one of the many puddles around the course.

In the Elite class, lone rider Jason Bowen made great use of his head start and built a four-minute lead approaching the halfway point of the two-hour race. Suddenly he seems to fade as Veteran class rider Lee Allis-Smith caught and passed him, closely followed by Clubman Josh Buckley, both riders were on a charge but all of the top three were caught out at some point around the tricky course and it wasn't until the final few laps that it was possible to try and predict who would win.

Lee Allis-Smith was completely unaware that he had won, it was a case of head - down - and - keep - going, plus the fact that after two hours it was difficult to recognise many of the riders. Second in the Vets was Darren Bedford, who also took fourth overall, on a brand spanking 250 Husky. He used the event to run the bike in so didn't go too mad but still beat Mick Belcher who spent much of the race avoiding puddles but did get a bit of a lick on along one of the straights and scared himself back to a steadier pace to take third in class.

Jason Bowen took third overall and top Elite spot (he was on his own in the class) but Josh Buckley had a terrific race trying to catch Allis-Smith and was rewarded with top Clubman spot as Chris Hill took second just ahead of Tim Hammond in third.

The Rilings family had a great day. Hayley Rilings won the ladies class and was matched by son Ash who took the Sportsman class victory. Ash's performance was impressive considering this was his third or fourth competitive outing, taking the class win and fifth overall. Jordan Tuffy managed to pull a few places clear of third placed Les Hubbard to take second place in the Sportsman ranks.

Only two riders competed in the Masters class and Darren Hill posted 15 laps to take the win as Ross Dover posted 13 laps for second spot.

Nathan Upton was the only Youth 14-17 rider and he had nothing but bad luck all day long. Following his initial crash he nearly completed a lap before his bike died. It was resurrected and he rode steadily onwards but it was a very tough course for a small wheel machine and he posted 3 hard earned laps to take first in class.

It was a great race in tough conditions. Q2 once again proved to be a terrific venue no matter what the weather and Nigel Wheatley and his crew did a great job marshalling, strategically placed around the course. With one final round to come the event may move to Q1, a bigger and faster quarry venue.