Desert Rose Racing, Hare & Hounds, Round 1

Sunday 25th May saw the first of 4 rounds of the Desert Rose Racing Hare & Hounds Series. The race was at the home venue of Westfield near Battle in East Sussex, and had a total entry of 87 riders on the day, split into 6 classes: Expert, Clubman, Sportsman, Beginners, Over 40s and Over 50s.

Terrain was mixed, due to overnight rain at the course combined with glorious sunshine and breezy conditions on race day. This left the woods sections (typically made of Weald clay) extremely greasy with plenty of thick slowing mud in low spots of the track. The exposed field sections were greasy for the first lap (being hard packed, sun-baked clay, with a slime over its surface) but soon glued up as the riders cut the track in with their first laps.

There were 4 special sections: The Log Pit, The Tyres, The Abandoned Cars and The Big Rocks.

With an 11:30 start, riders had ample time for a sighting lap beforehand with a few riders sizing up (with a fair amount of apprehension) the extreme routes available in order to cut down some of the course distance.

Running starts for all, the Expert group got away at a blistering pace with Steven White leading through the first turn off the field into the first woods section.

Expert: Despite his best efforts, Gavin Maggs harassed and passed him to take the lead early in the first lap, followed smartly by Simon Bird and Chris Stanger, leaving Steve Haselden guarding the rear of that group. Mags took a firm lead of the class early on ending the first lap with Bird just 4 secs from his rear fender.

With White out after 7 laps and just 1hr 46 mins in, the battle was between Maggs and Bird for 1st, and Stanger and Haselden for 3rd.

Maggs held strong for the entire race steadily consolidating his lead lap by lap, finishing in 1st of his class (and overall) with 12 laps in a time of 3hrs 12min 57s.

The only riders to match his distance were: Bird finishing 2nd just 3 mins behind in this class, and Jack Barwick (from Clubman class but finishing 2nd overall). Haselden kept a consistent gap of a minute ahead of Stanger, until Stanger's 10th and final lap which came in close to 30mins, and giving away 3rd to Haselden who managed an extra lap finishing 11 in total in 3hrs 3min 14s. Special mention goes to Stanger finishing just 12 secs over the full 3hr race time.

Clubman: Jack Barwick (Motopix's man of the race) took the holeshot from the rest of this pack on his 250 Freeride, and stayed out there for the full time, setting a blisteringly fast pace, and slicing through all bar one of the Expert group by Lap 6 (and second placed Expert Bird), to go on and match Magg's distance just over a minute and half behind, finishing in 3hrs 10min 34s.

Has he graduated to Expert class for his next round?

Tony Fletcher and Jake Szabo (son of Lee who took 3rd in the Over 40s) placed 2nd and 3rd respectively, an even match for each other covering the same distance of 11 laps, though Fletcher managed it over 7 mins ahead of Szabo, which could have been a half lap in the Expert class!

A worthy mention here was Terry Gower finishing closest to dead on 3hrs in this group but with just 10 laps, but a solid effort all the same. One to keep an eye on in the rest of the series?

Honourable mention also is Ross Noble finishing 8th in class with 9 laps and just 2mins off the 3hrs race end time. A good start to the series.

Sportsman: Had 2 great young riding brothers Brian and Joseph Till dominating the final places, and who both put in distances and times worthy of the Clubman class. Great to see enthusiastic and hungry young riders going for it on the extreme sections too!

Brian finished top of the class with 11 laps just 48s over the 3hr race time. James Chattaway took 2nd covering the same distance just 5mins behind, and Brian's brother Joseph took 3rd place with 10 laps over 3hrs 16min 27s.

Looking forward to see these guys in dry fast conditions! Well done too to Harvey Bish who came in less than 30secs behind Joseph and matching his distance covered.

Over 40s: 1st was taken by Ben Mayhew covering 11 laps in 3hrs 14min 4s with John Wooding 2nd covering a lap less in distance, with Lee Szabo finishing 5mins behind covering the same ground. After a great start by Brian Giles, taking the holeshot, it was disappointment on the chequered flag finishing just 41 secs behind Szabo and settling for 4th. Better luck in the next round.

Over 50s: Saw slightly less distance covered by this group with 1st going to Alan Paton with 10 laps in 3hrs 5min 4s. Next was Carl Smym, 1 lap shorter in just 7 secs over the full race time, with Ian Wilson taking 3rd matching Smym's distance in a time of 3hrs 1min 40s. Chris Barwick (father of Jack) came in 4th in class.

In the non competitive Beginners Class, Matt Ripley covered 9 laps in 3hrs 16min 47s to take 1st, Francis Jones took 2nd with 8 laps over 3hrs 17min 25s, and Tommy Griffin took 3rd with 7 laps over 3hrs 7mins 59s. Will we see these guys move up to Sportsman for the next event? With times and distance covered surely that is on the cards…

All in all, it was a great event, and was a pleasure to watch every rider in attendance put in a performance to the best of their abilities, especially in the heavy going woods sections.

We look forward to the next race in the series, and wish all entrants good luck.

The final results will take the riders' aggregates from their best top 3 finishes from the 4 rounds they compete in, so there is still time to enter as there are 3 rounds left to run.

Photos motopix.co.uk