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Fast Eddy Winter Series
Second Round
At Hilton Moto Parc

A new venue awaited riders for the second round of the Fast Eddy Winter Championship last Sunday. Hilton Moto Parc near Wolverhampton provided something very different to the usual countryside setting of most Fast Eddy events. A sand based MX track was extensively incorporated along with plenty of the surrounding woodlands to provide a six-minute lap for most riders although just a couple broke the sub five-minute barrier.

Hilton Moto Parc MX track is reasonably large but when the woodland was added it provided a course with nowhere to rest and plenty of tricky sections even though only a handful of MX sections were used. Long sweeping corners connected by whooped out straights saw plenty of action, the sand proving to be a challenge to those riders who hadn’t experienced such conditions before.

Off the start line the sandy course headed for a tight and twisty woodland littered with drops and tricky rooted sections before reappearing onto the MX section through a rutted water splash, which most riders coped with very well. Although there was plenty of the MX course used, the whole set up could easily be described as technical, certainly not flat-out fast.

Ryan Mundell

The Youth race started the day and immediately Ryan Mundell blasted into the lead and dominated for the whole 90-minutes, posting an extra lap over the whole field of fellow competitors. Mitch Parkes kept pace with Mundell initially but settled for second overall and second in the 85-150cc class behind Mundell.

Cory Cookland took third overall and won the SW85cc class, quite an achievement as it was hard work for all the small wheel riders battling the deep sand sections. Lewis Hurdsman wasn’t far behind him and took second spot as Alfie Davies nailed the 65cc win ahead of Jack Sandland.

The second race of the day got underway and was stopped almost immediately following a hard crash by Jacob James, who broke his femur. It was good to see the response from riders who patiently waited for the medics to deal with the situation. Lets hope he has a speedy recovery. Following a lengthy delay and a slight change to the start the race eventually got underway once again, cut from two hours to an hour and threequarters duration.

Jack Ditchfield, Kalem Hicks and Dan Boam were side by side as the Expert pack disappeared into the first woodland section but Ben Murphy, Henry Yardley and Sam Nunn were close behind. Even in the first half of the first lap the lead changed hands several times as riders passed then crashed until Jack Ditchfield eventually took control. Ben Murphy was challenging hard but slight lack of race fitness, a loose seat and missing sub-frame bolts saw him retire. Henry Yardley and Sam Nunn battled it out until Yardley took second spot and seemed to be closing on the leader until he had to pit with brake problems allowing Nunn to jump up a place to follow the leader. Max Ditchfield took his chance and moved into a solid third place, unable to make inroads into the leading pair. Dan Boam nailed fourth spot ahead of Kalem Hicks in fifth as Yardley eventually took sixth.

Ryan Phillips had another cracking ride to win the Clubman class, the Experts surely beckon him next season. He had some serious competition in the form of Cole Cookland who had his first outing on a 125cc and certainly made the most of it. The move to a bigger machine had long been overdue for this talented youngster and he proved he was up to it with a terrific second place in the Clubman ranks. Another youngster was hot on his heels. Charlie Chater was flying on his new Husky and finished in third just over a minute behind Cookland.

Chris Wagstaff

There were plenty of veterans in attendance and they were split into Vets A and B. Chris Wagstaff managed to fend off a strong challenge by Gary Benniman to win the Vets A group with Dennis Harrison, out for the first time in many months, taking third. Kev Freeman had been up amongst the leaders for quite a while but DNF’d after 10 laps.

Stuart Gordon

In the Vets B class Stuart Gordon managed to take the win even though he had David Williams pushing him hard while Mark Plain took third ahead of Ian Smart.

Sean Taylor (right) finished just seconds ahead of a fast-closing Rob Myatt to win the Sportsman class as Nick Whitehead secured third spot, all three on sixteen laps.

Dan Leadbetter managed an extra lap to take the Novice class win with Shaun Cornwall second and Matt Adams third.

Getting a new venue is always a bonus these days and Hilton Moto Parc certainly provided a competitive course although it was very different from the norm in many ways. Some riders had their first taste of riding sand and they either loved it or earned invaluable experience.

It was a great day, marred slightly by the injury to Fast Eddy regular Jacob James, but overall it was somewhere new and it was a terrific course and an excellent venue.

Well done fast Eddy and his crew.

Results