All content © Bob MuIIins

MRS SHERCO TEAM

The MRS Sherco team lined up at the first BEC round at Helmsley for the start of the new season all kitted out and ready to go. The main championship was led by five times British Champion Tom Sagar along Frazer Norrie, Mark Roberts, Carl Jones with MPS Racing fielding riders Jake Subachus who won the Expert Class last year and Luke Flake. The expert line up consisted of top contenders Tom Ellwood, Jon Hunt, Lee Sampson, Luke Lusher, Shaun Buchan, Chris Bennetto and Hayden Maller.

This first round was summed up by Tom Sagar - 'It wasn't a great success for me. The bike ran fine but I was still getting used to the feeling of the Sherco but the rider was a let-down! I just didn't click with the tests at all which wasn't helped by an absolute schoolboy error of losing my time card which resulted in a 60 second penalty!"

Tom Ellwood stormed home in first place both days in the Expert Class and Jon Hunt was extremely unlucky being held up for ten minutes on the course, which resulted in a three mark penalty. Otherwise he would certainly have been in contention. Saturday results were Luke Flack, Jake Subachus and Frazer Norrie in 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Tom was 4th in E2, Mark Roberts 9th. In E3 Carl Jones was 3rd on the first day with Frazer Norrie 2nd and Jake 3rd in E1. Sunday, Frazer was second and Jake 3rd in E1, Tom was 6th in E2 and Carl Jones 2nd in E3 so all round a good result considering the conditions on the weekend.

Then Tom Sagar was off to the first European Championship round in Italy along with his sparring partner Frazer Norrie. Mick from MPS Racing was there with Luke Flack and Jake Subachus and Hayden Maller was having his first outing at Europeans with the backing of the ACU. This is very much a learning year for all the young riders but Tom Sagar put in some good results finishing 2nd in his class on the first day. By Sunday he was getting more used to his new stead and he bagged some important points finishing first in his class and 3rd overall.

No time to take breathe it was back for the first round of the British Sprint at Roger's Hill in Dorset. Once again we had a very good presence of Sherco MRS riders who all handled the tests very well, putting in some very good performances. Tom was up at the top end once again battling with Daryl Bolter on day one which gave him 3rd overall and second in his class. Day two was even closer with Tom coming out as joint 3rd over the weekend. In the Expert class Tom Ellwood was once again showing his potential coming second on day one and winning on Sunday in that effortless, stylish way which augers really well for the future.

Final trip of the month was back to France for Tom and Frazer, along with MPS riders Subachus and Luke Flack whilst MRS also had Tom Ellwood and Hayden Mallor. In Tom's (Sagar) words, "What an event, three brilliant tests although the enduro test was a hell raiser at times swapping times with Jartomiir Romancik and Roman Dumoniter over two days and seventeen tested which kept us all on our toes." Bringing home 6th overall with 1st in class day one and 4th overall and second in class on Sunday. In Junior E1 Jake Subachus is lying 5th after two rounds and Luke Flake 8th. With a few problems on day one Tom Ellwood came home a very respectable 9th in Junior E2.

Next event for all the lads will be the British Championship Sprint at Helmsley on 28th and 29th April and then it will be the usual dash from Oswestry to the Scottish Six Day Trial for Tom Sagar which starts on the Monday morning. We know Tom is now getting used to the Sherco 300 2T after many years on a 4t in Scotland but he is very much looking forward to riding this with his pal Lee Edmondson and his father Paul.

The ISDE model is now virtually sold out and the first batch of Factory enduro bikes have also been sold but MRS are expecting the arrival of the 2T models next week along with another batch of the 4T Sherco. With a good dealer network now Sherco is certainly on the up and everyone at MRS is putting in 100% effort to improve their market share and they very much appreciate all the efforts put in by their team riders and Mick Seward from MPS Racing.