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All content © Bob MuIIins | |||
 Dorset
EnduroMoreton Forest Round 4 Winter Warmer Series Sunday 28th January 2018 With Good Weather Forecast, Nobody Was Expecting Snow With most off-road riding venues here in the UK still struggling with the extremely wet winter, many riders have been reluctant to get their bikes out of their garage. However Dorset Enduro has been running Forest events since 2004 and their experience showed with the course they laid out in Moreton forest, Dorset. The riders could not believe how good the riding conditions where! The forests in south Dorset benefit from standing on a base of sand and gravel and drain fairly well. The full entry included a strong line up of riders looking to gain valuable Winter Warmer championship points; they were boosted by the appearance of a number of riders looking for a run out in preparation for the first round of the British Enduro on Feb 11th. With decent weather and a great course everything was set for a great event.
The Veteran Expert class revelled in the forest conditions were experience counts for so much, Jonathan TARR made the long journey and was rewarded with a fine win. At first it looked as though Dave COLES and Jack TWENTYMAN were in the mix as the three of them completed the first three laps wheel to wheel (4 seconds to be precise). However on lap four the pace began to tell and no one could match the pace that Jon TARR was maintaining and he built a commanding lead. Dave COLES was forced to retire which left Jack TWENTYMAN in comfortable second, behind him Adam BURT had held third for most of the race until Dan GROOM edged past on the penultimate lap to take third by twenty seconds. The Clubman A class saw Mark WOODFINE make a strong start, Brett ROWLAND and Nathan BAGGOTT were giving chase, Nathan was making fewer mistakes and in the middle of the race created a bit of breathing space from Mark whilst Brett was hampered by a ‘little’ bike trouble. Scott KING moved through into a strong third place with Finlay DAVEY never far behind in fourth. Dean REED, Steve DAGGER and Stephen TAYLOR set the tempo in the Clubman Veterans class, Dean was just a little quicker than the others and lead from the front to win with 11 laps. Behind him the two Steve’s were locked in a great battle throughout the race with the final positions being settled in the final minutes of the three hour race when Steve DAGGER managed to get ahead and pass through time control for an extra lap whilst Stephen TAYLOR had to settled for a fine third position on 10 laps. Paul JONES dominated the Clubman B class again and can’t be far off testing himself in the Clubman A class, Charlie WHITE claimed second place after pushing for 5 laps to catch and pass Mark ROBSON who got off to flyer and was running in second for a while, but just faded towards the end of the race which allowed Joel PROTHEROE to steal third place from him at the very end. The Sportsman class saw Nick GIFFORD set the pace, he was pursued by Rhys TROTTER for the entire race until Rhys lost 10 minutes on his penultimate lap, and there are unconfirmed reports of him being seen at the burger van? This allowed Lewis PHILLIPS to grab second place from Rhys with James WRIGHT claiming fourth. Another great event by Dorset Enduro, who had clearly spent a lot of time
planning and preparing the forest for this race. Championship positions to be decided it should be a great event. Rogershill have decided to open new sections of the farm for this final round, land that has not been used so far this series. They promise a new course and a fitting finale to the series. Entry for Rogershill is via the ACU on line system. |
Local
riding legend Brad KING is always the man to beat in Dorset and not many do,
however the Championship line up meant Brad was going to have his work cut
out this weekend. Honda rider Alex SNOW along with Richard TUCKER, Ricky
WIGGINS and Dylan BAYNTON would all be the mix. The first lap saw Brad King
and Dylan BAYNTON establish a small lead but the entire Championship class
were all in touch, at the end of the third lap these five Championship
riders were only 14 seconds apart! There was no sign of conservative riding
with the British only two weeks away, these guys were pushing and mistakes
were bound to happen and they did. Brad KING took a tumble whilst passing a
slower rider off line which lost him time and places he pushed hard to fight
back and climbed back to second but couldn’t reel in Alex SNOW who looked
comfortable all race and took a deserved race win with 14 laps. Richard
TUCKER managed to pip Ricky WIGGENS for third after they also traded places
several times during the race. Special mention must go to Brad ROWLAND for
finishing a race, well done.
Meanwhile
the Experts were riding like demons just behind the Championship class; the
number of young expert riders in the south is truly outstanding. Alan
Morrison was leading the charge and managed a clean ride, he pushed hard off
the start a built a lead which he managed for the entire race and sneaked in
for an extra lap right on the final hundredth of a second to win with 13
laps. However behind him riding like a pack of Tasmanian Devils were Jack
NIXEY, Josh PLAYER and Lewis RANGER again these guys were giving it
everything with trees, brash and stumps waiting to punish any mistake, just
running wide once could end a rider’s day. They swapped places so many
times, with each of them running in second place at some point during the
race. With four laps to go Jack NIXEY moved back into second and held it to
the end. With three laps to go Josh PLAYER squeezed past Lewis RANGER for
third which is how they finished.