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  Rock
Oil Championship Ellington Banks training area at Ripon hosted round 7 of the RAW Enduro Rock Oil Hare & Hounds championship, the north Yorkshire venue was in perfect condition for race day, and once again clerk of the course Wayne Braybrook paid attention to detail when planning a completely fresh new course to test all riders. A fantastic line up of youth riders saw Jamie Williams take a strong win in youth B, Christina Palmer make the long journey from Scotland and open everyone’s eyes placing runner up on her Rock Oil supported KTM65, and Sam Boyd was third on 10 laps. RAW team rider Saul Hirst got the job done in youth A despite pressure in the closing stages from Richard Moorhouse, Archie Wakefield was on great form on his Race 2 Off Road KTM taking a fine third place trophy home.
The super quick sportsman class now sees some fast riders ready for clubman upgrades for 2017, Graham Dickinson is no exception, he took the win in class and has his sights set on winning the championship at the last round. Harry Conner overcame a difficult week at home by netting runner up place, this could not have gone to a nicer family, well done H. Liam Ryde looked smooth all day, his pace is seeing more urgency as he took the final podium place. A really well supported Novice class saw lots of new riders competing; Nick Manger took the win with Ben Walker being the only other rider to stay on 15 laps. Carl Welford used his RAW Skills training session to great effect; now riding with more fluency Carl has upped his enduro racing game to finishing at the sharp end of the class. The over 50 class was a battle of 4 riders, in the end Brett Haley was victor ahead of Andrew Dean, Ian Heyworth placed third just edging out fellow Lancastrian Pete Fletcher by 10 seconds at the flag.
Without a doubt Kris Weston was the man on form in the clubman class, Kris out on his girlfriends KTM150 stuck to task despite some unscheduled goggle stops, he took the win in class. Carl Hollis has rattled the RAW regulars by leaping straight into the action placing runner up, and Mansfield based builder Marc Vardy cemented his place at the top of the clubman championship by simply being consistent. Marc thought his championship was over after a DNF at Round 5, in a bizarre turn the only other challengers for the clubman championship Dan Culkin and Doltan Shannon both retired at Ripon with injuries. Get well soon guys. Finally the Clubman Vets class saw Mark Cockfield and Andy Harvey having a great tussle, Cockfield was determined to not let Harvey out of his sights, lap after lap the pair were only seconds apart, in the end the clock beat Cockfield as he just missed the extra lap, so Andy Harvey took the win from Mark Cockfield in second with Andy Williams taking third place. To sum up Ellington Banks provided the perfect base for this critical race in the championship, some riders can relax a little going into the final round, where others need to stay focussed to keep their title dreams on track Thanks to all RAW crew and staff for a great job running another well organised popular event. Special thanks to our new RAW Quad marshals for policing the whole course, and thanks to Anton Craig for signing up as the new chief marshals apprentice. Online event entries now open for the final Round 8, this event will run
at the popular east coast venue Driffield and looks set to fill up fast. More information www.rawenduro.co.uk
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With
lots of day entries due to the almost summer weather conditions, the
efficient RAW sign on staff had all day entries in the system ready to go 5
minutes ahead of the scheduled start time. Neil Myers took a great start in
the sportsman vets, he was unchallenged all race despite riding the last 3
laps with a flat tyre. Darren Kendal was the man in form taking a surprise
runner up place in class with Andy Kirby taking third place just ahead of
Mark Vardy who was having a rare ride out for fun.
A
short break for morning event results and trophy presentation was the order
of the day at 1pm; this was followed by the start of the more experienced PM
riders. Chris Hughes was the holeshot man despite riding injured. After a
poor start Lee Sampson got his TM Sherco to the front of the expert field,
he then battled with RAW Team rider Brad Lilburn who was back on club duty
after BEC commitments. Sampson held on to take the win by around 3 minutes,
Brad Lilburn grabbed second, and Chris Hughes rode through the pain to get
the championship points he needed to keep his expert title aspirations on
track. Expert Vets saw the closest battle for a long time, John Bradford was
the pace setter all race, running on expert lap times Bradford skipped his
Eurotek KTM round ripon effortlessly, however in the closing stages Anthony
Ayrton just managed to pass him when Bradford “Looked behind him”,
something he maybe wont do again. Local ace Anthony Tempest had a great race
to take the final vets trophy back to Sprayzone HQ.