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Wyre Forest Offroad |
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WFOR Summer Series Final The WFOR team excelled again in producing a track that would suit all abilities but also challenge the most competent rider. The course had a everything from extreme sections ,fast open going, MX track, Woodland & 3 stubble cross sections. The 2.5hrs race started just after 10am to the thunder of the Expert & Vets class blasting off the line, Veteran Sean O'neil although very late away soon found a route through all the riders to come through lap scoring on lap 1 in the lead with Martin Jakeman never more than a few seconds behind in for the whole race, they battled till the end with Sean being the Victor & Martin having to settle for 2nd wth the 3 rd place spot going to the recent Dusk 2 Dawn 24hrs Vets winner Jon Gaunt.
Off next were the Clubman riders, the battle of the day had to be between Ross Truszkowski & Vinnie Brown, Vinnie decided it would be a good idea to go to the toilet just as the Experts started, leaving Dad to hold the bike as the Clubman riders shot up the start straight leaving Brown to ride from the back of the class, Ross Stamped his authority on the race from the drop of the flag looking more than confident to take the win with Vinnie slowly working his way towards Ross, Then it was down to his pit crew to decide wheather to pit Vinnie for a splash of fuel or chance it that he might run out, they left him out but in the last couple of laps Ross's clutch started slipping allowing Vinnie Brown the chance to take the glory and the win with Ross in 2nd, Tom Owens took the 3rd place.
Last away were the Novice riders, many of which were very new to the sport and did a fantastic job of completing the race. Paul Freeman won his class a full lap ahead of 2nd place rider Josh Bird & Rob Parry in 3rd. I would like to thank everyone for supporting the club, the WFOR team for all their help & the riders for helping clear the track in... RESULTS
Wyre Forest Off Road XC Championship Rnd 2 After not having the greatest start to this years season of racing with cancellations due to weather the tables certainly turned for this weekend battle, with 22 degree temperature on the Saturday track building was hard work but the WFOR task force yet again produced another top quality course for the riders the following day at the Cymithig Hill venue in Rhayader. ET James the countries leading off road dealer very Kindly sponsored the event by providing all the track marking tape . Sunday morning the sun was shining yet again, the paddock was filling fast and an air of excitement was flying around with all the banter of who would clear the table top, how the best way to clear the log jumps. The loyal WFOR band of marshals did their sighting laps to check track was still all as it should be, Riders meeting completed the rider were poised ready for the flag to drop.
The Clubman class saw Aaron Martin take the winners spot ahead of Chris Morris in 2nd place & Ryan Phillips in 3rd. Novice rider Paul Freeman nearly choked on his burger when he read the results at the end of the race finding out he had just taken his 1st ever win, A big well done to him. Matt Davis took 2nd place Jeff Morris in 3rd & Brett Griffiths in 4th with only 10 seconds separating these 3 places. Piers Kirkpatrick-Jones made good use of his previous days training from Liam Garbett and took the win in the open youth class with Dean Edwards in 2nd after battling the whole race with Vinny Brown who had to settle for 3rd place. Trevor Humphries took the hole shot award in the adult quads but Dexter Langford took the overall win despite coming off over a jump and later finding out he had broken his wrist, Aled Evans took 2nd place with Rhydian Owain in 3rd. Aaron Davies took the win in the open youth quad class a full 2 laps ahead of 2nd place finisher Marco Zaffino & Lewis Humphries finishing 3rd. After 2.5hrs of constant position changes in all the classes on a tough & demanding track the final flag dropped at the end of the race, although they were all very tired every rider that crossed the line at the end had a smile on their face... A huge thank you to all the support from the riders & the WFOR team who never fail to raise the bar at each event, for those that didn't attend you missed out big time....
RESULTS
Photographs by Gemma James
Sending the little auto 50 cc and 65cc riders out first
race into what seemed and endless stream of mud was a big risk but the
flag dropped at 10 am and they were off, Joseph Davies took the hole shot
in the 65cc class with Sam Davies right behind him but within a few
corners Sam was past his cousin and looked destined to take the win but
with a few laps to go Sam got took out by his younger brother Alfie in the
50cc class as he tried to lap him so in the end Sam had to settle for 2nd
place with Joseph Davies taking the win after a hard fort battle with Sam,
Patrick Borge did an outstanding job staying with the two front runners
during the race but was forced to drop back a little with the constant
barrage of mud being shot at him by Sam & Joseph leaving him to fill
the 3rd place slot. Max Lewis was the first rider
Last race of the day was to the youth quad riders take to the now slightly dryer track but every rider in this class would end up looking like a bog monster at the end of this race. Jamie Morgan & Elliot Downes would have their usual non stop battle out in front as the evenly matched riders jostled for the overall win, Jamie would end the race the victor this time leaving Elliot to take the 2nd place finish, Endaf Owen is making a name for him self in the expert class as one to watch having an amazing ride in some very tough conditions to finish in 3rd slot, Brandon Holm Just managed to hold of 2nd place finisher Miles Woodward to take the win in the clubman class with Matty Morris just missing out on an extra lap as the flag dropped to finish 3rd, Callum Brookes did a great job in the auto quad class taking the win with Jack Dean finishing 2nd.
Day 2 was to be yet another great days racing but this time for the Adult solo & quad classes, Out first were the solo riders, now having some great conditions to ride in after the youth quads the day before had shifted a lot of the mud and dried a lot of the track.
The Clubman class saw a fantastic battle between Sean O'Neill and young Adam James (left), Sean managed to hold the lead for a lot of the race but Adam just waited for his chance to take up the lead and take his 2nd win of the weekend with Sean taking 2nd place over 3rd place man Mark Hilliar Rees. Out next was the youth class Jacob Bowden took the win with Dean Edwards in 2nd & Vinnie Brown in 3rd, Last off the line were the Novice group Kairan Watkins took a convincing win over Lady rider Gemma Holtham who finished 2nd a full 1.5mins ahead of Ash Gough in 3rd. Last race of the day was for the quads, Simon Lang being the only 4x4 to turn up was sent off with the experts and only went and took the hole shot but not being used to being in front and not wanting to get lost pulled over after a few corners to let the experts past but still easily won his class, Danny Lloyd took the overall and expert class win with Rhys Morris in 2nd & Thomas Downes in 3rd. Kyle Hawkes Dominated the clubman class to win ahead of Ameelie Miller in 2nd & aled Jones in 3rd, Miles Woodward won the youth class a full lap ahead of Matthew Waddoups with Thomas Chell having a fantastic race to finish 3rd. The WFOR team would like to say a massive thank you to Rhayader club allowing us to still run the meeting after such bad weather to all the marshals and helpers to make this tough event a success and to all the riders that made such a big effort to get to the event and support our club.
Wyre Forest off Road have made so radical changes to the race format of the club, over the last 7 years it has concentrated on running youth XC/Enduro events allowing younger riders a safe introduction into the sport. Catering for riders from the age of 6 yrs old up to 17yrs & running a fully fledge British Championship for its riders, it has until recently been very popular but with the continuing recession looming numbers of entries have fallen drematically to the point that it was not viable to continue putting on events. New riders just do not seem to be coming in to the sport. So to help with the cost implications of running two day events for the youth riders the decision has been made to now only run one day events for the riders in the British Championship which will be on the Saturdays with the Sunday now being used to run adult events for both Bikes & Quads which still makes WFOR one of only a few clubs in the country to cater for youth & adult racers on both bikes & quads. Due to many of the venues that the club uses have only had youth races on, it will hopefully be a welcome site for adult riders to try out some new tracks. WFOR would like to thank all it riders & parents over the last 7 yrs for its support and lets hope continued support and with the new changes relieve some of the financial burden of two day race meetings, For those youth riders that still want to race both days there will be an open youth class on the Sunday within the adult race format. The next scheduled event will be 7th & 8th July at Cwmythig Hill, Rhayader, Sp off B4518 Rhayader to St Harmon, which will include two mx tracks & open going with the addition of some man made extreme sections for the more experienced youth & adult riders & optional easy routes for the other riders. For more information on the club & its race meeting visit www.wyreforestoffroad.co.uk or call Rob Garbett on 07740 151273
Due to the Cancellation of Rounds 5 & 6 of the IOPD Junior British Enduro Championship at Usk, Monmouthshire due to the recent heavy rain fall, Round 5 was rescheduled for 12th May at Coney Green Farm, Stourport on Severn, with still more rain forecast during the week prior to the meeting, the WFOR track team plotted a route that would run whatever the weather, come Thursday morning the team found the track dry so off to work they went putting in all the tough extreme routes on the steep banks & wooded sections ready to challenge the youth & adult riders over the weekends racing.
The flag dropped bang on 10am the 65cc bikes roared into life for the 1 hour long race, Grafix Shack & autocraft sponsored rider Patrick Borge hammered it into the first corner to take the Holeshot, Just over 9 mins later Joseph Davies would be first to arrive at lap scoring and would stay dominant throughout the race to take the overall & class win on 7 laps, Pad Borge arrived in 2nd place after lap 1 and remained there for the whole race pulling nearly a 3 min lead over Alfie Webb who finished in a very strong 3rd place. Max Lewis (right) in the 50cc auto class was way out in front with a clear lead over the rest of the class but on the last lap broke down, he had managed to get through lap scoring just before the race closed giving his pit crew time to get him running again and take the class win, Haydn Cook took 2nd place with Connor Downes in 3rd.
Race 3 saw the older solo riders take to the now dusty & hard pack track, Adam James was to Dominate the race but early on Jacob Bowden would put James under pressure but crashed out pushing him down to 4th place at the end of the race, next to put Adam under pressure was Antione Criq who had also crashed early on in the race but had managed to catch 1st place rider James who had also just crashed but quickly rejoined the race with his 1st place position still in tack, Antoine would have to settle for 2nd place as James wasn't prepared to give up his 1st place & overall win for anything, Luke Rudd took the 3rd place after pushing hard to catch the leaders, Clubman rider Jack Sanders pulled off his first club win over a very strong class with Ross Truskowski in 2nd place after a very bad start at the back of the group & MX rider Mitch Grey in 3rd.
In the under 13yrs 85cc solo class Jack Law although not feeling very well still managed to find the strength to take 1st place with William Criq in 2nd & New rider to the club Matthew Martin in 3rd. Sunday 13th the adults took to an extended loop with more extreme and woodland sections to deal with.
Jeff Law trying out his new enduro bike ready for the welsh 2 day took the win in the Vets class with Colin Griffiths in 2nd & Paul Bennett 3rd, ET James Mechanic Jonathan Evans (right) took the win in the Clubman class & also finished 2nd overall on the day, Sean O'Neill had another outstanding ride to finish 2nd just under a minute behind Evans with Gareth Delahay in 3rd, In the Novice class James Jones finished 1st Just ahead of Pro novice rider Marc Sullivan & Barry Brookes in 3rd. WFOR top youth riders started just in front of the novice adult group and they certainly didn't disappoint there followers, Jacob Bowden won the class 3 mins ahead of friend Luke Rudd in 2nd & Antione Criq in 3rd, Bowden got a big pat on the back from Dad as he come over the finish line 7th overall. Rider of the day goes to the land owners son Geoage Crump who not so long ago only managed 2 laps around a similar track at the venue but this time finished 5th on 10 laps in the novice class. Wyre Forest Off Road would like to say a big thank you to all the riders that supported us this weekend & to all the Marshals for giving up their free time to help with the smooth running of one of the best clubs in the country....
With the threat off cancellation looming after the recent heavy rain & further rain forecast for the weekend the WFOR track building team walked the proposed venue Weds evening to find the ground conditions nearly perfect, so Thursday morning the bulldozers & digger set to work prepping the purpose made jumps around the new fishing lake for WFOR riders while the team banged in the post for the 4.5mile lap which included a mx track, woodlands and fast flowing fields perfect for xc racing. Due to some over night race it was decided to cut out the MX track & a small part of the woods for the first race of the day which was for the 65cc & auto 50cc riders. The 65cc riders were first off the line for the 1hr race Joseph Davies & James Hanscombe both battled for the lead for the whole race while Patrick Borge & Sam Davies fighting for the 3rd & 4th places, James Hanscombe took the victory with Joseph Davies in 2nd & Patrick Borge in 3rd, Day 2 saw the top three places being swapped all race but in the end Joseph Davies was the winner with Patrick Borge 2nd & Sam Davies in 3rd. Race 2 on Saturday saw the older solo riders race on the full track which had dried out during the morning, the expert & clubman riders all started together followed by the 13yr & over 85cc then the under 13yrs 85cc, the top 3 experts soon pulled a commanding lead over the rest off the competitors with Adam James yet again dominating both days races to take wins each day with Antoine Criq 2nd both days with Harry Aughterlony taking two 3rd places. In the Cluman solo class Sam Sault took the win on day one with Luke Arnall in 2nd & Ross Truskowski in 3rd, Ross wasn't happy with his result from Saturday and pulled out all the stops to make sure he took the win on Sunday with Jack sanders taking a well earned 2nd & Will Emery in 3rd.
The under 13 race saw Jack Law take two easy wins, Jack is going to be a talent to watch out for, William Stansbie managed two hard fought 2nd places over the two days with William Criq 3rd on Saturday & Harriet Davies finishing 3rd on Sunday. Four 65cc Riders also entered the 85cc race on Sunday for no points just fun, really showed that WFOR have so many talented riders, Joseph Davies would of finished 2nd, Sam Davies 4th, Patrick Borge 5th & Jack Hawkins 12th if racing for points, well done boys.
Last race of the day on Saturday was for the Adult groups which raced for an hour & half on he same track, of the line at the start were the Experts & vets followed by the clubman then the novice riders, Firm Favourite for the race win was Ross Benton but Nath Holtby took up the lead from the start soon followed by Team mate Liam Garbett, Holtby managed to get front & rear punctures after two laps but keep Garbett behind for a futher lap, by now the two had pulled over 30 seconds lead on the rest of the field, Holtby retired from the race after his rear tyre come off on lap 5 leaving Garbett to take the win from friend Ross Benton, in 2nd & Luke Smith showed some of his old form to finish in 3rd, Pete Benton took the win a full 2 laps ahead of 2nd place Russell Phillips in the Vets class, Darryl mead took the 1st place spot in the clubman class who was just happy he beat the world renowned Timmy "Tug boat" Morgan who only managed a 3rd which may be due to the extra few pounds he was carrying, 2nd place was awarded to Steven Harris, Scott Mead won the Novice class with James jones in 2nd & Alex Fulloway a close 3rd. Round 5 & 6 will be at what can only be described as probably one of the best venues in the country at Castle Farm, Usk, Near Monmouth on 5th & 6th May to book in or for further details please visit www.wyreforestoffroad.co.uk or call Rob Garbett on 07740 151273. |
Nath
Holtby Dominated the expert class even though he had to pit 3 times for
fuel with Ted Sanders in 2nd place a minute down on Holtby & Simon
Aldridge in 3rd.
The open youth class saw Dean Edwards lead the race from start to
finish in his class completing over 60 miles on his 85cc mx bike , George
Saunders filled the 2nd place spot finishing not far behind his dad who
started well over a minute in front of him on a much bigger bike, 3rd
place was taken up by Patrick Borge with an outstanding 17 laps from the
young lad.
Tom Crump blitzed all the opposition in to the first corner but was
unable to hold on to his lead as 8 minutes later Ben Murphy came through
lap scoring first and was soon pulling a quite a comfortable lead on 2nd
place but on lap 7 picked up a puncture and also managed to crack his
exhaust retiring him from the race. The silent assassin Joe Wootton just
did his thing and cruised in to the lead from then on and took the overall
win, Derek Bawn & Tom Crump were never far a part challenging for the
next place but the the 2nd v place victor went to Derek With Tom In 3rd
just 30 seconds down, Danny Morris in 4th just another 30 seconds away.
Sean O'neil domintated the vets class finishing 1st a lap ahead of 2nd
place finisher Simon Pavey, with Jonathan Gaunt kicking him self having to
settle for 3rd just 10 seconds down on 2nd place.
Round
6 of the Wyre Forest Off Road IOPD Junior British Championship Enduro
looked destined to be cancelled at the well known track in Rhayader, with
the constant rain all week prior to the event and torrential rain forecast
for the Friday the WFOR track team took a chance and went ahead and built
a circuit they felt might stand up to the eventual down pour that was
heading their way, after non stop rain on Friday & into the night the
track on Saturday morning could not of got any wetter but will riders
starting to fill the paddock and the show had to go on.
through
lap scoring in the 50cc class with a good lead he seemed sure of a win but
not taking any notice of his pit team to stay out of the deep puddles he
started having mechanical problems forcing him down the field and ending
up 3rd, New riders to the club filled the top places with Lowri Davies
winning the auto class & Sion Evans taking 2nd place, Rider of the
whole weekend has to go to 6yr old Alfie Davies on his 50cc KTM mini
Adventurer completing 5 laps & taking the 4th place slot, some
achievement on such small wheels on a track that would see some adults
struggle with the next day.
With
the rain still holding off the track was starting to look as though it
might dry out, race 2 started at 11.30am for the older solo riders, Adam
James soon stamped his authority on the race and dominated from start to
finish taking the win in the expert class a full lap ahead of Dan Craig
who Just managed to hold on to his 2nd place just a few seconds in front
of Harry Aughterlony in 3rd. Luke Arnall Took the 1st place finish in the
Clubman class with Sam Sault taking 2nd place with Vinnie Brown bagging
his best finish yet this season to take the 3rd place podium finish,
Matthew Leedham (left) had a great ride after not feeling very well
early on in the race and took the win in the over 13rs 85cc class The ever
improving George Saunders finished in 2nd & Piers Kirkpatrick Jones a
very close 3rd, In the under 13yrs 85cc class Jack Law was uncatchable for
the full 1.5hr race finishing a lap ahead of 2nd place finisher Matthew
Martin who does an amazing job in this class riding a 65cc bike, Shea Ryan
filled the 3rd place after working hard all race trying to catch the
leaders.
The expert class left the line first, Tom Crump and
Shaun Buchan battled over the top place until Tom disappeared for a lap
leaving Shaun in a comfortable lead but now 2nd place man Danny Morris had
him in his sights and was gaining fast but due to his pit crew not
thinking he would need a full tank of fuel (as he doesn't normally use
full throttle or all his gears.... Only joking) and needed to make a quick
fuel stop leaving Shaun home and dry to take the win & Danny had to
settle for 2nd, Ash Bowden not on his normal form had to settle for 3rd
place. Colin Griffiths took the overall win in the Veterans class with
Haydn Bowen 2nd & Phil Bridgewater in 3rd.
Race 1 was to see the 65cc & auto 50cc riders tackle a very long
demanding course with a various changes in terrain as they went round.
Race 2 was for the quad riders and from the drop of the flag the
battles began for a solid 1.5hrs, Super quick expert quad rider Elliot
Downes pulled away from the field early on in the race but the ever strong
Jamie Morgan with his layed back attitude just sat back & worked his
magic and reeled Downes in ready to set him up to take away the lead &
take the overall & class win just 4 seconds in front of Elliot in 2nd
place, Jack Naylor took an outstanding 3rd place position a lap ahead of
4th place, In the Clubman quad Miles Woodward took the top spot with
Brandon Holm in 2nd with 3rd place going the hard charging Matty Morris,
Only two auto quads made it to the finish line with George Yardley taking
the win & Callum Brookes in 2nd on a track that really tested the
riders skills.
Dean Edwards took the race win in the 85cc 13yrs & over class with
Peirs Kirkpatrick-Jones in 2nd, Matt Leedham finished in a well deserved
3rd place after already playing a football match early on in the day.
Race 1 was the adult solo race top British expert Lee Edmondson made an
appearance to get in some bike time to keep up his race fitness, Lee
completely Dominated the race from start to finish to take the overall
& Class win, the battle for 2nd place was dramatic from the 1st lap as
Ashley Bowden & Jack Powell battled amongst them selves while Liam
Garbett worked his way through the pack after starting at the back due to
a bad start he managed to catch 2nd & 3rd place & within a lap of
catching them would pull away trying to catch Edmondson who now had nearly
a 2 min lead, Garbett had a coming together with a back marker on lap 6
and hit a tree stump with his ribs retiring him from the race, next Ash
Bowden suffered a Knee injury after a crash Retiring him from the race
& soon After Jack powell DNF'D as his bike retired due to mechanical
problems, Leaving James Ball to take 2nd & Anthony Powell in 3rd.
The
13yrs & over race saw Dean Edwards take the win on Saturday but only
managed a 3rd on Sunday, after losing 2 kick starts over the week end he
did really well to finish were he did, Piers Kirkpatric Jones Showed some
real talent over the 2days picking up two 2nd places with Goerge Saunders
taking 3rd on Saturday, But showed real determination on Sunday to take
the win in some tricky conditions after a heavy downpour of rain during
the race.
The
Quads were out in race 3 on Saturday with the experts off first, Jamie
Morgan took up the lead with Elliot Downes just seconds behind him,
Elliott managed to find away round him to take the win with Jamie having
to settle for 2nd with Jack Naylor 3rd, Day two saw Morgan out in the lead
again with Downes again just second behind for most of the race him but
Jamie had to pit with bike problems leaving Elliot out on his own, with
just 25mins to go Kyle Hawkes finally remembered what his throttle was for
and started to close the the gap on the leader but it was to late and had
to settle for 2nd with Jack Naylor not far behind to take his second 3rd
place of the weekend. Miles woodward took two race wins in the Clubman
quad class over the weekend but it wasn't made easy by Matty Morris &
Alex Bethell who both took a 2nd and 3rd place each over the weekend,
Callum Brookes took two race wins over the weekend with Jack Dean in 2nd
on sat but the Track took its toll on the other auto quad competitors by
leaving them with DNF's.