Wiggins wins Blackheath opener! National Motoduro Championship Round 1 – Race Report & Results

The Blackheath Autosports club under new management of Paul Minihane stepped up the popular Motoduro races to become a national series with round 1 held at Tickhill quarry on the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent supported by Mojomoto cbd oils and creams.

Report by Ady Cowshall – Feature Image Courtesy of Ady Cowshall – Images of Speed – Other Images courtesy of Images of Speed and Matthew Rudd Photography

Something quite different from motocross but combining two motos each held over one hour the fittest riders stand out favouring those seasoned enduro riders. Tickhill quarry is somewhat an all year round venue with a hard sandstone base sat under, in places deep sand, in other gravel and some parts clay so it proved to be quite a challenge for some. None more so than the deep sandy sections. Having said that the course set out by Paul Minihane was generally a slower speed circuit averaging out at about 5 minutes a lap with the exception of the top expert riders putting in laps closer to the four-minute mark and nothing up 15 laps in the first moto.

Image courtesy of Images of Speed

The flag dropped for the auto/65 half-hour race first on a shortened course they went left at the first turn cutting out the more extreme sections of the track still giving them close to a two minute lap time and also notching up 16 laps! Gruff Morgan got off to a flying start and by the time eventual runner up George Sheldon had got himself up to second spot he was chasing a ghost. Morgan managed to put in a blinding lap in the dying stages to allow himself an extra lap over Sheldon and one further lap behind came Harry Jones after a spill dropped him down the leaderboard only to carve his way back through to third at the finish. Young lady Freya Smith managed to complete 9 laps and came in ahead of Zac Sidway also on 9 rounding out the top six. The second moto saw another win for Morgan with Sheldon going 2-2 and Jones completing the top 3 in the same order. Zach Marshall came home fourth.

The 85 class saw them head in the opposite direction at the first turn. They were doing the full course with the exception of missing out the ‘mountain’. Rees Jones simply annihilated the competition with a controlled display of riding on his KTM. He lapped the entire field clocking up 13 laps over the next best on 10 laps!

Rees Jones – Image courtesy of Matt Rudd Photography

The chasing group didn’t see which way he went, but doing battle with the boys was Bella Parkes who held second spot for over half the race until Tom James had pulled through from a slow start to overhaul her and hold onto second, Bella staying strong for third. At around the same time as second-placed changed so did fourth as Harvey Ridge who’d gated well, got passed by Charlie Walker. Owen Rushton managed to grab sixth place over Ryley Anderson out for the first time on his 85.

Moto 2 again saw a dominant performance from Jones to go 1-1 with a strong ride from Ridge to be the next man home with lady Parkes going 3-3. James was pushed down to fourth two minutes down on Parkes at the end.

Image courtesy of Images of Speed

Onto the main attraction. The tight twisty circuit was now to play host to over 100 lockdown looney’s! Setting off from the dead engine start the Experts were first to leave the line. Getting the immediate jump on the competition was paramount on the narrow twisty going and Ricky Wiggins did just that, closely followed by Charlie Chater. This pair, both Yamaha mounted, one four-stroke and the other two-stroke, came through to the fast sand section to complete the lap at such a pace it looked like a qualifying heat race, not an hour-long slog!

Charlie Chater – Image courtesy of Matt Rudd Photography

Such was the importance of getting away quick to have for at least the first five or six minutes with no traffic this pair had already gapped third placed William Stansbie by over half a minute coming back round for lap two! Wiggins was three seconds faster on his best lap compared to Chater and had managed to himself build a margin of some 20-30 seconds over his pursuer ten minutes into the race. It would only take a small ‘off’ and that deficit would have been gone but Wiggins was flying, seemingly the four-stroke was suited better to the hardpack areas including the ‘mountain’ section. Chater had no pressure from behind but kept Wiggins honest to the end. Stansbie held firm for third. A charge through from a lower end top ten start saw Chris Milliar ride through the front runners passing Ade Smith a few laps from the end to close to within a few seconds of Stansbie at the finish.

Image courtesy of Images of Speed

The second moto saw a ‘race on’ as Wiggins bike didn’t fire up and he was last away with Stansbie in front and Chater challenging for the lead. It didn’t take long for Chater to hit the front and Wiggins similarly made light work getting up to third but he was losing ground on the lead duo for the first few laps as Chater stretched his lead 20 minutes into the race. Wiggins then flicked the switch as his lap times tumbled and he quickly reeled in Chater. By half distance the lead had changed and for the next few laps it could have gone either way after Chater latched onto Wiggins pace, but it soon became apparent Wiggins could hold that pace and Chater had to yield. Milliar this time came home third in front of Stansbie with Ross Danby not far adrift in fifth.

Charlie Morgan – Image courtesy of Matt Rudd Photography

The Clubman class saw a top three repeat in both moto’s as Sion Evans put a lap more in than his closest rivals on both occasions. Josh Lucy held Mitch Parkes at arm’s length in both motos then some sibling rivalry emerged between Jay and Seth Grazier, Jay getting the better of Seth in moto one but dnf’d moto two handing Seth fourth spot and promoting both Ben Gwyther and William Wynn into the top six overall.

After Paul Owen took the first Vets moto he dropped off the leaderboard in moto two to hand victory to Andy Jervis with a 4-1 scorecard. Lee Ramsey’s first race second lost out to the consistency of Richard Wozencroft’s 3-3, while both were leapfrogged by Peter Hannis’s fine second moto in second giving him an advantage. Both Guy Graham and Caerwyn Ralph gained a position with Owen’s demise.

Paul Minihane – Image Courtesy of Matt Rudd Photography

The Sportsman class results were all over the place with race one winner James Porter down in sixth in moto 2 but this was enough to clinch the overall! Second moto winner Andrew Hayes scored eighth in the first moto but secured 2nd overall with that win, while Tom Langford’s 6-3 was good enough for third. Scott round was most consistent going 5-5 for fourth. Finn McLoughlin’s tired tenth in moto 2 could only manage fifth after a great first moto. Similarly, Nigel Haslem-Bates second moto let him down but he scraped into sixth overall.

Image courtesy of Images of Speed

The MXY2 250f class had a small field and honours were shared between Jack Sandland and Lewis Hurdsman both running a win and second apiece. Antonio Taylor and Dewi Little followed them home each time. In the MXY2 125’s it was Rhydian Rees from Endaf Hughes on both occasions. With only one runner in the 85/150 class that went to Alfie Davies. Likewise, the Dualsport/trail class was won by Richard Jones on the big 950 KTM dakar bike.

Tanisha Thomas – Image Courtesy of Matt Rudd Photography

Last but by far not slowest was the Women’s class, Tanisha Thomas put on a fine display by taking both motos completing 12 laps placing her high up the overall leaderboard. Zoe Zembruski showed great speed but lacked the stamina to keep pace with Thomas as she went 2-2 and Gemma Holtham claimed two thirds.

The next meeting is on the 23rd of May at Saintswell Enduro Centre.

For the full results >>CLICK HERE<<