Dan Johnson storms Ingleby! 2025 Lincolnshire Enduro Championship Round 6 – Race Report & Results

Whilst it may be rare, it’s always a pleasure when the meteorologists get the weather wrong in our favour. However, that’s exactly what happened on Sunday in this, round 6 of the Lincolnshire Enduro clubs/Dust Devils 2025 race series.

Race Report by Martin Southwick – Images courtesy of Graeme Taylor

Taking place in Ingleby near Lincoln, the predicted heavy rain due towards the race end never materialised, and it therefore made for very dry conditions throughout the day. The 8.3-mile lap was predominantly made up of some very quick field sections, with the odd wooded area thrown in to curtail some speed for the 124 riders! Expert Jack Rowland, who has pretty much dominated this year, succumbed to a rare DNF this time out, and to that end, his closest rivals took full advantage. Previous Champ Dan Johnson, who has peppered the podium places pretty much all year, eventually got his first win of the season this time out. The 15 points he took with this victory at Ingleby moves him into the top spot in the Expert class, but it’s tighter than it was at the sharp end. After round 5, Jack was leading the way by 9 points, but Dan has now leapfrogged into first place and leads by just 6 points. Riding his Dust Devils-sponsored GasGas 350, it was a pretty dominant win for the Leicestershire lad in the end, by some 8 minutes at the end of 3 hours. The lad in 2nd place on the day, Nicholas King, keeps up a bit of pressure on the leading duo for the year. He is perhaps more points adrift than he would like from the leading duo, but is there awaiting any slip-ups! The gap between Nicholas and 3rd third-placed man was a lot closer than the winning margin described above. Mark Vardy took the last podium spot but was 3 minutes back. Three out of the 8 riders in the class were on 12 laps at the end of the race, the rest on 11.

READ MORE: BRITISH ENDURO NEWS

Jodie Lambley in the Clubman class now sees his title bid strengthened by a couple more points.. With this, his maiden win of the year, his lead edges out from 9 to 11 points for 2025. The group saw one of the closest finishes of the day, though, and with second-placed lad Darren Wells pushing hard for his own first victory of the campaign, the gap between the two was only 20 seconds when the 3-hour flag dropped. Third spot went to Ben Lonsdale. The gap between Darren and Ben wasn’t too distant either, just 40 seconds. Placings for the year haven’t changed too much at the sharp end. However, Ben’s lead over Darren has now been bolstered by another point. All these riders had an extra lap in over and above their rivals.

Over the years, the bigger Rally/Trail-type bikes have been a rarity in LEC events. For this event, they came out in numbers, though. Ten bikes were on the start line at 10.30AM. Hats off to all of them, especially one guy (Harris Goddard), who was on a brand new Yamaha ‘World Raid’ with just 100 miles on its clock. (Well, if it wasn’t run in beforehand, it is now !). There was more than one Goddard in the event, though. Older brother Ewan, in his first event for 6 years, took a great win in the class. Not to be outdone, their father, Daniel, was also in the same group. (Incidentally, Daniel picked up one of the ‘Secret lap’ prizes sponsored by ‘Properly Protected’) Class leader Ben Hampel, who was 3rd on Sunday, now sees what was a 6-point lead cut down to 5 for the year, as his nearest rival, Kyle Ardito, came home in 2nd spot.

To the largest class on the day, the Sportsman 2 Strokes, with 23 riders. Lying in 2nd place for the year up until this race, Michael Hackett was another rider who succumbed to a DNF. That has seen a few moves in this title race. Simon Cadman added another win to his first one back in March to double his points margin over his rivals. Joel Doel in 3rd spot on the day jumps one place into 2nd overall, whilst Luke Bovington (5th at Ingleby) also leapfrogs a place, from 4th to 3rd. Andrew Howe was the runner-up on the day. Both he and the victor had an extra lap on their adversaries. (The other ‘Secret lap’ prize was won by a lad from this group…Wesley Lemin)

Likewise, in the Sportsman 4 Strokes, only two lads were on 11 laps at the end of play, compared to 10 (or fewer) ‘scored’ by their nearest challengers. Nothing is set in stone as yet; it’s too early. However, this may be one group where someone may just be considered ‘favourite’. Josh Betts was the clear winner on the day, by some 4 minutes. He is in the Silver place for 2025. However, group leader Ryan Poole was 2nd on Sunday and still means he leads the way at the top by some 17 points. A lap adrift on the day was 3rd placed lad Spencer Smith. This position is the same pace he takes up for the year.

In the Over 40’s class, it looks like one rider has at least one hand on the 2025 title, with another victory on Sunday. Lee Hattersley now has a quintet of ‘firsts’ for the year. His only blemish was a runner-up spot back in April! Lee’s win was by 40 seconds over 2nd second-placed rider, Dan Brown. The winning margin between Dan and 3rd rider, Richard Cookland, was nigh on 2 minutes. Apart from Lee getting a further 3-point cushion up front, there is no change with the leading duo for ’25. However, Dan Brown leaps above Alex Shaw into 3rd place. Staying with the ‘I should know better at my age’ classes, Gareth Lodge now has a Hat-trick of wins for this campaign in the Over 50s group. This victory, alongside the ones last time out and back in March, sees a similar story to the above; Gareth increases his stranglehold on his rivals by another 3 points. His winning margin was just over a minute. Ian Shepherd (4th on Sunday) stays in the runner-up spot overall, whilst Andy Jackson, who was 2nd at Ingleby, jumps into 3rd place for the year, from 4th. Paul Mulholland took the other podium spot, some 4 minutes adrift of the leading pair. Another guy with only a slight blemish on his year is Neil Tapper in the Over 60s. Apart from a runner-up spot in the inaugural round, Neil now has a run of 5 wins under his belt. His points lead in the class leader board has stretched from 18 to 19. Every point counts, as they say! The battle for 2nd and 3rd overall is a lot tighter. Mark Peckitt sealed valuable points after his ‘Romaniacs’ adventure with yet another 2nd place, whilst Kevin Bartle Sr keeps up the pressure with his 3rd ‘Bronze’ for the year. Mark leads Kevin by just 3 points at present.

Whilst no points are awarded in the Novice group, it was good to see 10 lads on the start line. Well done to all of you.

The next event, round 7, is back to the same venue at Ingleby. Taking place on October 5th, Entries and regs will be available very soon.

All other club details are here for members https://www.facebook.com/groups/LincolnshireEnduroClub

And here for non-members https://lincolnshireenduro.wixsite.com/lec2016

Results