All content © Bob MuIIins

Woodbridge Motor Cycle Club laid out a special course at their Blaxhall Moto Cross venue for round 5 of the G H Motorcycles / Husqvarna / ACU Eastern Enduro Championship. This event was run on the Sprint Enduro format which included parts of the Moto Cross track and woodlands together with a log section which caught many a rider out.

The Championship Class faced eleven runs and Class leader Jason Morland (Halstead) was in top form setting the best times in nine of the eleven runs which Rick Roper (Sudbury) having the ride of his life won the other two runs however overall Morland took the win with a time of 43 minutes 47.68 seconds beating Roper by 1 minute and .0073 seconds. Further behind these two were Tim Rose (Diss) 3rd, Craig Roper (Sudbury) 4th, Lewis Bond (Lowestoft) 5th and Harry Clark (Sudbury) 6th all struggling with the logs section. With this win unofficially Morland takes the Championship Class Title for the second year running.

Kevin Palmer (Norwich) started in top form winning the first four runs and held a good lead but over the next seven runs Myles Saunders (Sudbury) gradually reduced Palmer’s lead and at the end was 41.38 seconds faster to secure his first win in the Contest. Unfortunately for Palmer he incurred a one minutes time card penalty which relegated him to 5th place which gave Ben Grice (Lowestoft) 2nd place, Jack Berry (Sudbury) 3rd and Tommy Clark (N&S Juniors) 4th. Palmer’s lead over Saunders has been reduced to 5 points and there is everything to ride for in the last round.

This year’s series has not been a happy one for Contest Sponsor Gavin Hockey (Sudbury) he needed to be in top form to beat Class leader Michael Ridge (Stowmarket) on the day, he couldn’t quite match the times set by Ridge and disaster struck him over the logs on the last run which resulted in a time of 10 minutes where the average times were 4 minutes 20 seconds. Hockey finished 5th and above him were Carl Honeywood (Lowestoft) 4th, Paul Spurgeon (Woodbridge) 3rd, Phil Roper (Sudbury) 2nd and Ridge first which means unofficially Ridge wins the Class Title overall.

The closest contested Class is the Clubman being at the start of the day only one point separated the top two Sudbury’s James Barker and Lee Monger. Barker set the pace from the start winning eight runs with Monger winning the other two and the aggregate times gave Barker the winner over Monger by 1 minute 2.07 seconds. The up and coming youngster George Eustace (Sudbury) securing 3rd place by 23 seconds over Joe Marsh (Halstead) 4th. Barker now has a four point lead which Monger could easily pull back in the last round.
Clubman Veteran Class leader Dean Curry (Sudbury) struggled a little on the day but kept his cool and rode steadily in order to finish however he took 4th place just over one minute than the winner but the good news is unofficially he wins the 2017 Clubman Veteran Class. Winner on the day was Kevin Gore (Norwich) with Mark Tuck 2nd, and Michael Wyatt (Diss) 3rd.

James Barker

Andy Mason

Andy Mason (Sudbury) was back in top form in the Clubman Super Veteran Class beating Graham Mays (Sudbury) by nearly 58 seconds and behind them were Nigel Ross (Sudbury) 3rd and Richard Squirrell (Stowmarket) 4th. Mason needs just six points to win the Class Title this year.

Photos of Brad Freemna Myles Saunders & Andy Mason - Charlie Mann  

Photo of James Barker - Sophie Whymark.