It’s not often you go to Wales and not get wet and despite temperatures being the hottest this year the natural springs randomly popping out of the hillside managed to get a few riders splattered in mud! Alas, not enough water about to keep the fire roads dust-free but riders managed the situation fantastically.
Report by Ady Cowshall – Feature Image Courtesy of Ady Cowshall – Images of Speed
The course a new venue to motorsport situated on a steep wooded hillside proved to be a big hit with the riders. At the highest point I’m sure I saw Noah building another ark! The course was a mixture of fire roads, climbs and Monte Carlo style slalom trails, slate-covered in places, prime woodland soil in others. With sections zig-zagging across the hillside through areas of cleared trees the hairpin bends bermed up and between each hairpin it got rougher as the day went on.
The auto/65 class kicked off the morning and there was no stopping Talon Harbour as he streaked away for a start to finish win not being headed all race and only seconds away from putting everyone a lap down. It was only Gruff Price who managed to escaped being overtaken by the leader by crossing the line after the time expired 3 seconds before Harbour albeit on 8 laps to the leaders 9. Price had puled up a couple of places as the race progressed helped by Ceri Williams first lap incident and Tyler Inglis mid-race misfortune. Inglis dropped out of podium potential ending up in 5th. Billy Lukeman suffered a poor start and had to battle the heat and dusty fire roads as well as his rivals to push up through the field. Ceri Williams suffered the reverse fortune of Lukeman dropping down the field in the early going and overhauling Lukeman with only 2 laps remaining pushing the hard-charging Lukeman down to 4th and Williams grabbing the final podium spot. Race 2 was again a complete domination by Harbour getting out front from the start and pulling away, only Williams this time remained unlapped but one lap down on the 9 laps completed by Harbour. Williams got off to a good start and kept it upright to come home a distant second passing Zach Marshall in the early stages. Marshall held 3rd till the flag but with only a few seconds advantage over the slow-starting Price who this time could only manage to climb to 4th. Lukeman also started slow and came through to 5th.
Next up were the 90 odd adults riders split into the relevant classes but set off at small intervals with the experts away first. Early race leader was Leuan Brooks but before they crossed the transponder line it was 16 yr old Sam Hughes who had hit the front and from that point on was never headed. While Brooks dropped out of the top 5 in the early going he mounted a comeback to climb back to 4th before once more fading back to drop just outside the top 5. In a very hectic first few laps battling with Morgan James and Brooks, Mason Pritchard passed back and forth with Brooks to eventually bag 5th spot. Ross Danby spent the first half of the race holding down 2nd but pressure from William Stansbie dropped him down to the final podium place, that was until the hard-charging MX style of Luke Smith coming from outside the top 10 forced his way past both Danby and Stansbie to get the middle step. Race 2 got underway and it was another domination from the 16 yr old Hughes! Stansbie got the better of Danby second time round with all 3 riders clocking up an impressive 11 laps in the blazing sun! Smith was again flying but for some reason dropped out of contention after running second for half the race allowing Brooks and James to round out the top 5.
The enduro vets set off behind the experts and with the top 3 completing 10 laps they would have featured inside the top 10 of the fastest guys! Chris Tett was on fire finishing 8th combined and 1st in the vets but with less than a minute over second-placed Andy Jarvis, it could have easily been wiped out in a crash! Keeping them both honest was the Wiley Welshman Geraint Jones. While Mark Plain’s fastest lap would of kept him in tow with Jones his overall speed or misjudgements put him behind the more consistent Caerwyn Ralph. Tett again showed the rest of the enduro vets the way round with a commanding lead by the time they crossed the finish, ahead of Plain by over 4 minutes and lapping down to 5th! Jervis managed to demote Jones down to 4th with Ralph being the last man only 1 lap down on the leader.
Clubmen set off in hot pursuit of the veterans and it was another Tett, Joel who was the pacesetter in this group, again with 10 laps for the leading pair their pace was that of the mid-pack experts. Ben Jones managed to stay on the lead lap with Tett but by the end was down by over 3 minutes allowing Tett plenty of breathing room. The next 3 over the line with only a minute separating them could have gone anyway. Sydney Erasmus was pushing hard in the final laps to set his fastest lap one lap before he crossed the line bearing down on 3rd placed finisher Francis Davies. Hot on their heels coming home in 5th was William Wynn. Mike Spence achieved the 3rd fastest lap of the group but whether it was poor line choice, crashes or fatigue he only managed 8th. Tett and Jones again dominated the class, the only riders putting down 10 laps and the margin at the end didn’t allow any slips up from Tett as Jones kept him honest. Erasmus and Ware crossed the line in the same dust cloud for 3rd and 4th and not so far back on the same lap was Davies.
The MXY2 youth class was won by Roan Delaney ahead of Antonio Taylor both putting in lap times consistent with the adult clubmen front runners. Delaney was the only man standing for the second moto in the youth class and after running just outside the top 10 overall for the first few laps made an error and plummeted down the order but still pulled out a respectable 24th overall and class winner.
With the top 7 sportsmen posting lap times quick enough to be in contention with the sportsmen and all 7 completing 9 laps it was a close-fought battle, but Kai Tinker eked out a small advantage by the flag with the next 3 crossing with less than 30 seconds between them all. Joe Wells getting the better of Kristian Ankritt and Billy Austin. 5th went to Tom Langford despite the super quick fastest lap put down by Riley Scott. The second race again saw a big chunk of the class able to run times inside the top 10 of the next class up with the top 6 all completing 9 laps it was Tinker again with the fastest of those laps securing a 1-1 fast enough to be only 14 seconds down on clubman race winner Tett. Austin’s 8 second quicker lap time than runner up Wells wasn’t enough to nab the middle step as Wells consistently ran better times pacing himself to within striking distance of a win should Tinker have made an unforced error. Langford came home a lonely 4th with Elgan Pugh pushing hard as the moto came to a close to try and oust Ankritt from 5th.
Finally, the last adult group set off for their gruelling hour race and by the time they had got to the ‘stump hillside,’ there was carnage as many of the sportsmen hadn’t managed the troublesome climb! This section was only in for the adult racers and it started off with a short sharp bank that was topped with 15 inch round tree stumps in parallel lines up to the top of the 500-metre climb, that of around 1 n 6 gradients with exposed roots being dug out by over-eager novices making it all the more difficult to traverse. The cream rose to the top and these old guys handled what was set out in front of them. Top 2 after the hour was still in close contention with Lee Ramsey getting the better of Paul Morgan but had they of gotten into a bar banging match then they weren’t that far adrift, Richard Wozencroft closest and would of been able to pounce had the lead pair gone down. Richard Manser claimed 4th followed by Mark Sulivan in 5th. Despite their combined age being that older than the trees in the forest the old boys still posted very respectable lap times in the final moto. Ramsey had his hands full of Wozencroft who scorched out into the lead and with no Morgan in the line-up, Ramsey settled for second but had to keep his wits about him as 3rd placed rider, Manser was putting in a late-race charge to only fall short by 20 seconds at the line. Sullivan had a safe 4th while Grant Mayhew benefited from the missing Morgan to claim 5th.
The 85cc class saw a younger Tinker, Dylan obliterate the competition in the class with a longer course than the 65 group they only missed out the treacherous stump hill climbs at the peak of the course. Tinker was blindingly quick lapping the entire field and running higher speeds down the fire roads than many of the adults. An early battle between Jack Brooks and Tomos Jones petered out as Jones found his rhythm and set sail for a secure 2nd spot. Brooks was unlucky not to stand on the final podium spot as his race fell apart past the half distance mark allowing Connor Redman to come up through the field to claim 3rd. Cian Price got off to a slow start but settled in and started picking off riders to move into 4th by the end. Brooks salvaged 5th ahead of Oliver Emyr. Race 2 was another whitewash by Tinker again putting in more laps than the rest of the field. With the heat getting to most of the riders it was a spaced outfield that saw Tomos come home 2nd, Redman 3rd Brooks 4th and only female rider Katie Morgan claiming 5th against the boys.
With the next round at the rescheduled Saintswell facility on 11th July with the going completely different, we should see new front runners emerging!
Results
Auto/65
1/Talon Harbour
2/Ceri Williams
3/Gruff Price
4/Billy Lukeman
5/Tyler Inglis
6/Zach Marshall
85
1/Dylan Tinker
2/Tomos Jones
3/Conner Redman
4/Jack Brooks
5/Katie Morgan
6/Cian Price
MXY2
1/Roan Delaney
2/Antonio Taylor
Experts
1/Sam Hughes
2/William Stansbie
3/Ross Danby
4/Mason Pritchard
5/Leuan Brooks
6/George Stanley
Enduro vets
1.Chris Tett
2/Andy Jervis
3/Mark Plain
4/Geraint Jones
5/Caerwyn Ralph
6/Paul Edwards
Clubman
1/Joel Tett
2/Ben Jones
3/Sydney Erasmus
4/Francis Davies
5/Sam Ware
6/Richard Ince
Sportsman
1/Kai Tinker
2/Joe Wells
3/Billy Austin
4/Kristian Ankritt
5/Tom Langford
6/Elgan Pugh
Vets
1.Richard Wozencroft
2/Lee Ramsey
3/Richard Manser
4/Marc Sullivan
5/Grant Mayhew
6/Simon Francis