A dirty victory! 2022 Lincolnshire Enduro Championship Round 7 – Race Report & Results

For the first time ever in Lincolnshire Enduro Clubs’ history, the club cut short a race whilst it was actually in progress. During the previous days during the track set up at Ashby Puerorum, the weather behaved itself.

Race Report by Martin Southwick – Images courtesy of Graeme Taylor

On race day, it did not. With some rarity, the forecasters got it perfect. They said it would start raining heavily at approximately 10AM . (It did…just in time for the race start) They said it would last around 3 hours (It did…just as the chequered flag was due to go down !). That short deluge saw the Clerk of the course pull the plug two-thirds of the way into the 3 hour proceedings. Whilst the rain itself wasn’t really the problem, the condition at some parts of the track became nigh on impossible as the rain worsened. In the end, almost a third of the entrants succumbed to the terrain and conditions, with DNF’s chalked up against their names. Pretty much without fail, every rider’s lap times got slower as the conditions worsened (On a personal, you realise things have got bad when one has to team up with fellow riders and lever bikes out of the gloop using scaffold tubes found in the scrub !. Thank you Blake Woodruff !)

This, the penultimate race of this year, was won by Expert David Rushton . His victory of some 90 seconds is his second win of the year; his first being at North Willingham back in May at round 3. Apart from the last of his 8 circuits over the 4.8 mile course, David’s lap times were marginally quicker than runner-up Josh Knight just about every time. They may have been only seconds per lap, but they all count towards being on the top step of the podium. Whilst Josh stole 90 seconds back from David during the final lap it wasn’t enough, the winning margin was over a minute and a half when the early finish came. Looking at the lap times, they may suggest that Josh was getting quicker as the race went on. Perhaps the flag came down prematurely for him! Whilst David and Josh don’t feature too heavily in the year’s standings, a lad who did his chances of overall 2022 glory a world of good was third-placed lad Elliot Milburn. Also with eight laps at the finish, Elliot may have been half a minute adrift of the others but now appears to have one hand on the year’s spoils. He currently stands 11 points in front of his rivals.

In the Clubman class, the winning margin wasn’t so close. With a first win of the year, Darren Cox was a full lap ahead of his nearest rivals and looks like being champion elect for 2022. It helped that his nearest rivals weren’t on the start line at Ashby, thus further cementing his place as favourite for title probabilities! Second home on the day was a lad not normally seen at the top, Victor Tizon. Victor was over 20 minutes in front of the third-placed lad Alex Cumberland, albeit on the same number of laps (7).

What may have been a slight shock came in the over 50’s division where normal winner Alan Vissian had to play second fiddle this time out. Whilst Alan and Ian Shepherd may have been on the same lap at the end, Ian’s winning margin was some 2 minutes. Going into the last round, its a close run thing between these two. With one round “dropped” within the year, the 2022 title is between Ian and Alan. Neil Tapper was third on the day. Staying with the other “Gentlemens” classes, Kevin Bartle Sr and Keith Rowland seem to swap first and second places each time out in the Over 60’s. Kev was the victor this time round and looks odds on for the year once again. David Weller was third on the day and retains that same spot for the year.

The Over 40’s group saw a big winning margin with Lee Smith finishing quite a distance in front of Ben Hampel in runner up spot. Justin Lawson was third on the day and moves up the rankings, but “no shows” Lee Hattersley and James Andrew will still fight it out for top spot in the last race.

The 2T group was the bigger of the Sportsman classes on the day, with 17 lads sat on the starting grid. Once again, its the top two riders for the year that battled it out on race day. Archie Kirk and Scott Stone were first and second, respectively on the day, but it is the reverse of that for the division title. Scott looks like he has an unmatchable lead going into round 8.

The other Sportsman class (4T) saw a big win for Ben Lonsdale, a full lap ahead of nearest rival Dan Brown. Champion elect Alex Shaw furthered his grip for 2022 with his third place. There was another reversal of fortunes in the Trail/Classic class too. Sean Avison has won every round he has entered this year….up until now, that is. Whilst he has already secured the group win for the year, Steve Kemp was the victor on Sunday. . The Beginners section was won by Spencer Smith.

The club wishes to say a massive thank you to all Helpers/Marshals/Volunteers etc etc, for the year’s efforts. This goes out, especially to those folk who endured the conditions on Sunday last. The club could not run without you all. It is much appreciated

The next and last round of the year is at Dembleby on November the 6th. Details and entries here https://www.acu.org.uk/events/November-2022/Lincolnshire-Enduro-Club/Enduro/Dembleby-Heath-Farm-ACU64552.aspx

Club Facebook details here … https://www.facebook.com/groups/LincolnshireEnduroClub

Results

Championship Standings