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All content © Bob MuIIins | |||
  Billy
Bolts tames a tough TongSunday 12th January Billy Bolt won the opening round of the 2020 ACU British Extreme Enduro Championship at Tong near Bradford on Sunday. The 10th edition of Eddy's Xtreme attracted a huge crowd to the Parkwood Offroad Centre eager to see a World class entry tackle the challenging course laid out by British Enduro Champion Tom Sagar. The ground and weather were wet but Polish legend Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) brought along his unquenchable enthusiasm and his army of fans. Despite retiring a couple of years ago Taddy still rides and he was in Riesa Germany the previous weekend winning the 2nd round of the 2020 SuperEnduro. Before the race Billy Bolt (Rockstar Husqvarna) admitted he had not had a lot of luck at Tong. In 2019 the WESS Champion had been a spectator in a wheelchair with a broken leg but he was back to fitness and relished the tough conditions. 2019 winner Jonny Walker (KTM) and Paul Bolton (PAR Homes) were also off the injury bench and ready to ride. The main race was flagged away at 12.30 pm by Hollywood A Lister Paul Edmondson just as the sun broke through the rain clouds and just in time to be replaced by clouds of steam. Within yards the field was plunged into a bog that stretched out the riders and avoided a bottleneck as the entry faced the Waterfall. Local rider and 2019 SuperEnduro Junior Champion William Hoare was the early leader but he was to retire later in the race, One of the great advantages of Tong for spectators is the forest road that rings the valley and links the sights of special interest like the Waterfall and the Jump. Despite the compact nature of the course there were plenty of alternative lines so if a rider struggled on a hard climb he could easily find a harder one. This year the stream - filled with rain water and tears - was the place to have a plug spanner. Billy Bolt took the lead and - despite the constant pressure from Jonny Walker which at times gave the impression that Billy's Rockstar Husqvarna had twin exhausts - he took the win. Speaking later he said "It was tough from start to finish. Absolute carnage. I had a few battles with Jonny up to the fuel stop. Every mistake I made he was on my case, I felt I was riding as good as I could so he was obviously on it but I rode my own race. I took some easy lines and I am delighted to come away with the win".
Taddy Blazusiak in 3rd was testing his set up and Paul Bolton in 4th was testing his ligaments, All good. Keelan Hancock (St Blazeys MX) was 5th and Charlie Frost (Eurotek KTM) was 6th. Ricky Wiggins in 7th was the Best Expert. Ben Wibberley was runner up and Shane Carless was third. Harold Crawford topped the Elite Vets class in 16th closely followed by Stephen Dixon in 18th. Mark Houson - who is 2 weeks shy of his 60th birthday - led the 2 hour morning race from start to finish - lapping the entire field. Alex Owen was runner up, Round 2 of the ACU Extreme Championship will be at Cowm Leisure on the 16th February. Results AM RACE PM RACE Photos
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Jonny Walker was runner up.
He said "Billy was riding solid and towards the end I had nothing left.
I'm happy to finish 2nd."