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Fast Eddy Racing 
Rock Oil XC
Round 4 - Brake Hill Farm, Northants
Report by Tim Tighe Pics by Tilde Tighe

The fourth round of the popular Rock Oil XC Championship, organised and run by Fast Eddy Racing, took place at Brake Hill Farm near Brigstock, Northants on Sunday.

Brake Hill Farm is a cracking venue that has two open sections with a sizeable woodland in between, giving riders a mix of both fast and technical challenges around the undulating course.

The open area that held the start ran around an MX track, which was dusty initially until the packs spread out, but the woodland was excellent with plenty of grip, tight turns and many hills. At the far side of the venue a large open field section saw the track weave its way around long sweeping turns before heading back into the woods.

As with all Rock Oil XC events, three races were scheduled and the day started with the Youth riders taking on the full course. Bridgestone backed Charlie Chater gave a fantastic display of total dominance as he led the race from start to finish while Dad Martin ran a marathon around the venue trying to see him at every possible location. Charlie took the overall win and the BW85-150 class win ahead of Josh Lucy. George Yardley rode impressively ion his SW85 to take second overall and head his class with William Farrow in second and Jamie Williams third. Adam James topped the 65cc class from Bert Boam and Jack Sandland.

The first of two adult races saw disaster strike two of the Youth class frontrunners right at the start. The uphill slope off the start proved tricky and Cole Cookland snapped his chain while James Palmers bike refused to start and had to be bumped. Jacob James had the start nailed and was followed by Rosie Rowett into the first corner with Harry Edmondson third and Henry Yardley fourth.

As the race progressed Yardley took the lead as Edmondson and James fought for second and third. Harry Edmondson was out of sorts but rode really well considering he had to make toilet stop part way through the race but he couldn’t catch Yardley who took the overall win. Edmondson was second with James third as the Youth riders dominated the top six places. Cookland and Palmer had a terrific battle against each other and did well to get back to fifth and sixth overall considering their terrible starts.

Chris Povey did well in his first Enduro. He topped the Sportsman class although he is an AMCA Expert class MXer who turned up last minute to try XC racing. He bounced off a few trees but made it to the finish ahead of Tim Miller and Nick Whitehead.

Royce Machin nailed the Sportsman Vets with 18 seconds to spare over Shaun James while Shane Marriott took third place, a lap behind the class leaders. Frankie White-Edwards was on form in the Novice ranks and took the win despite being pushed hard by Ben Martindale throughout the race and the pair dominated the class as Cain Tailfod just beat James Bright into third spot.

The final race of the day had two Edmondsons head-to-head in the Pro class. Jack Eddy was alongside Lee Eddy who made a long-overdue return to racing, mainly to get some bike time before the fast-approaching Welsh 2 day in a few weeks time.

The pair left the start in a cloud of dust with Ben Murphy stuck close behind and surprisingly, Jacko couldn’t shake them for the first few laps. He had the lead but both Lee Eddy and Murphy were hot on his rear wheel, not the normal runaway start he is use to. James Jackman had a poor start once again, or he ‘let them go before catching them’ as he likes to put it.

By the mid point of the race Jack Edmondson was free and clear but Murphy was too far adrift of the leader while Lee Edmondson had retired gracefully and returned near the end to put in a couple of fast laps. Jackman had moved to third and stayed there until the end of the race.

Jacob Bowden worked hard to close down Jack Ditchfield who had led the Expert class for much of the race. Once Jacob Bowden had managed to overtake brother Ash he set about reeling in Ditchy and taking the class lead as Jack Lee rode hard in the final half of the race to climb to third in class.

Max Ditchfield nailed the Clubman class, just over two minutes clear of Rich Cookland. It was surprising that Cookie even ventured out for the race following disaster for both of his offspring; Cory crashed out in the Youth race and Cole snapped his chain at the start of the AM race. Miuke Dutton had a terrific race to finish in third.

Chris Wagstaff and Kev Sandland made the Clubman Vets interesting and there was only twelve seconds between them as Waggy took the win with Kev second and John Bradford third.

Luckily the weather was a little overcast for most of the day making for excellent racing conditions although the sun did break through in the final race for a few minutes. It was a long day of racing but to a very high standard and extremely enjoyable to watch as well as participate in. Another cracking Rock Oil XC from Fast Eddy Racing!

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