Lincolnshire Enduro Club “Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Event” – Race Report & Results

On the weekend of the 9th of September 2022, the sporting world was plunged into mourning following the death of Queen Elizabeth II at the age of 96. With multiple events and fixtures postponed across the UK and beyond, Lincolnshire Enduro club followed suit and cancelled their race on the Sunday in a mark of respect to the UK’s longest-reigning monarch and the rest of the royal family. (Indeed, The Queen’s husband, the late Prince Philip HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, had been one of the main patrons of the ACU since the very early 50’s !)

Report by Martin Southwick – Images courtesy of Graeme Taylor

Instead, on what was supposed to be a practice day three weeks later, the club put on a one-off special event in celebration of her majesty’s life. It wasn’t part of the 2022 series. Before the aptly named “Queen Elizabeth II Memorial Event” started, the club held a minute’s silence. As one would expect, it was impeccably observed by the 80 or so riders on the start line. Run at the same place as the last round in August, Dembleby Heath near Grantham always provides those super quick straights, as well as the two or three wooded and quarry sections. Fridays 6.5 mile track set-up witnessed some “questionable” weather, but the finishing touches put in on Saturday were done in fine Autumn sunshine. That weather continued for Sundays race day. . . perfect.

Four “Experts” lined up on the grid for the 3 hour Hare and hounds. Two of these riders had their noses pretty well clear at the end of the 3 hours…both on 13 laps. However, it looks like it may have been won and lost on one of the latter of those circuits. The battle between eventual winner Dan Johnson and runner-up Josh Knight was too close to call early on. Dan, who hails from Melton Mowbray and riding his Husky 250 must be one of the older Experts on the circuit and perhaps twice the age of some of his nearest rivals! Proof that being a little older is no barrier to that sweet smell of “podium”! Both lads swapped the quickest times for several laps, and indeed, some of their times were exactly the same on a few occasions. That was until the decisive 7th lap when Josh “succumbed” to a fuel stop and what looked like an irretrievable 40 second deficit. Whilst he tried to bridge that gap with a few quicker laps, (and actually caught Dan on the penultimate lap), a crash for Josh on the last lap was enough for Dan’s winning margin of a minute. Ben Hamilton was third on the day, followed home by Gregory Sims. The time difference here was nigh on two minutes, both riders a lap down on the leading duo. Ben also came away with the unofficial title of quickest lap of the day too. . .(14.35)

The biggest margin of the day in any class was that of Neil Tappers in the Over 50’s division. Coming back from injury, local lad and club stalwart Neil’s win was the only one in any group where it was decided by at least one full lap . . in this case, 12. A lap adrift was Ian Shepherd, followed by Chris Woodward at 3.43 minutes, in 3rd. The 4th and 5th placed riders also had 12 laps under their belts when the chequered flag was lowered.

Another large margin of victory came in Sportsman 4T class. Alex Shaw was the winner, and whilst It wasn’t anywhere near a full lap, it was well over 4 minutes. Runner up spot went Artur Juszczak, with Simon Owen 3 minutes behind that. The Clubman class was won by just over one minute, with George Pearce taking the spoils. George was followed home by Darren Cox and then Rhyan Leighton, once again another minute or so adrift.

The biggest class of the day was won by Scott Stone, in the 2T Sportsman sector. Eighteen riders were on that particular start line. Whilst the gap to the 2nd placed lad was some 40 seconds, (Archie kirk) the gap to the 3rd placed rider Finlay Woods was a lot bigger…this time nigh on four minutes. With 11 laps, the Over 60’s class was won by Keith Rowland. Kev Bartle Sr crossed the line some 70 seconds later and with his “for the occasion” QE II liveried bike, Paul Oates was third.

In the Trail/Classic class, only two riders competed, with Shaun Avison coming out as victor. Sean Price took the runner-up spot. A bigger group on the start line was seen in the Beginners sector, this time with half a dozen “newbies” going for Gold. Spencer Smith won, and Adrian Skelton was second. A lap down and in third was Steve Smart.

Its back to the 2022 championship for the next event, on the 23rd of October, at Ashby Puerorum. (https://www.acu.org.uk/events/October-2022/Lincolnshire-Enduro-Club/Enduro/Ashby-Puerorum-Horncastle-Lincs-ACU64465.aspx)

Club details here for membershttps://www.facebook.com/groups/LincolnshireEnduroClub . . . and for non members . . https://lincolnshireenduro.wixsite.com/lec2016

Results