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All content © Bob MuIIins | |||
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DAN's THE MAN Before Lincolnshire Enduro club's first race of the year on Sunday, a
minutes silence was held due to the death of the ACU's patron, His Royal
Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. A minute later, that silence
was shattered. Held at Willingham village near Market Rasen, the 7 mile course consisted of several wooden sections linked up by some super quick field areas. Apart from one or two fairly easy wet ditches, the terrain was dry, with no real "stoppers". The weather was also pretty favourable to the riders with cool winds and mostly blue skies. It was only as the race was finishing that the heavens opened up for forecast hail/snow showers. Perfect timing in the end. Booked up and full well before the closing date, the club used the 3 hour race format that proves popular with a lot of riders. Due to the obvious, and lack of practice, most of the 187 racers that took to that start line will probably have been somewhat rusty. It didnt seem to show though !
In the Clubman class, Ryhan leighton came home first, two minutes in front of runner up George Pearce. 25 seconds adrift of George was Karl Day in the "Bronze medal" position. Half of that class attained 9 laps of the Lincolnshire course. In the Sportsman 2T class, only two riders grabbed 9 laps; Carl Smalley beating Aaron Flynn by another close margin; just nineteen seconds. Ryan Overton was a lap down in third spot. This class was the biggest on the day with 38 riders on the starting grid. In the other Sportsman class, the 4 strokes; only one lad acheived 9 laps on his way to victory. local lad Joe Tapper came home with a win, from Alex Shaw in runner up spot. Scott Flynn was third. With his win, Joe was the only rider in class to dip under the 20 minute barrier for one full circuit. lee Hattersley won the Over 40's class once again, beating Darren Thorpe into second place. Their lap times were all pretty similar but in the end, Lee was the stronger, winning by 90 some seconds. Michael Harris was a distant third. The ever popular Over 50's not only had another big list of entrants but produced the narrowest of wins in a very close race. This time, the winning margin after 3 hours of racing was only 4 seconds. Alan Vissian was the eventual winner with Neil Tapper coming home in runner up spot. Ian Shepherd was third. The Over 60's class was the largest its ever been with Kevin Bartle Sr winning, from John Cotteril in second and Mark Gorman in third. Whilst there are no points given out in the Beginners group, it still remains a healthy class. William Sheehan won the days proceedings with William Sharpe in second and Alexander Richardson in third.
The next race, round two, is at the same venue North Willingham in the North of the county. That date is the 9th of May. Meanwhile (And also at the same place), the club is holding a practice day on the 25th of April. Details of those two events and anything else to do with racing with LEC can be had from here for members . . . https://www.facebook.com/groups/LincolnshireEnduroClub . Or here for non members . . https://lincolnshireenduro.wixsite.com/lec2016 Photos are of Expert Danny Catlin on his way to an early season victory (No. 16), A flying Beth Borley Stow (No. 414) and (No.255), Karl Day on his way to a third place in the Clubman class. Report by Martin Southwick
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First
out of the blocks and a rider who lead from start to finish was Experts winner
Danny Catlin. Even though the first four riders in that group were all on the
same amount of laps, (10) Danny's margin over second place lad David Rushton
was a little over 5 minutes when the chequered flag came down 3 hours later.
In addition to his win, Danny was the only rider on the day to dip under the
18 minute barrier for one single 7 mile lap. The race for third place could
not have been closer however. Whilst Mark lonsdale and Jonathan Pearson may
have been some seven minutes adrift of the runner up spot, Mark beat Jonathan
into third spot by just a single second.
Another
note should be made of the fact that in a very much male dominated domain, the
club was blessed with a number of lady riders again. Indeed, the Sportsman
class may have to be renamed "Sportsperson" in the future ! Beth
Borley Stow finished well in her class, the 2 strokes, whilst Leah Tokelove
had her eye very much on the podium, with a fifth place in the 4 stroke
division.