Report: ACU British Enduro Championship - Rhayader
By TMX Archives on 31st Aug 16
After their trip to the Isle of Man for the last round competitors were back to more familiar ground at the Rhayader Enduro, rounds five and six of the ACU British Enduro Championship, where the club had pulled out all the stops.
Based at the club's own motocross circuit there was ample camping space, hard-standing for the largest of trucks and motorhomes and a huge marquee for administration and refreshments.
On top of this the club had provided a Friday night prologue Special Test for the Championship class to show their talent in front of a massive crowd.
With all the Championship contenders present, bar an injured David Knight, the field was spiced up with extreme specialists Jonny Walker and Billy Bolt in the entry.
Jonny and Billy were early runners on the prologue and their skill over the logs and rocks showed with Walker posting a 2 minute 40 second time with Bolt just 9secs adrift.
Walkers time proved too much for the regular competitors despite hard charges from Danny McCanney, Brad Freeman and Tom Sagar. Danny being just 4 seconds away from the flying Walker.
Champonship leader Steve Holcombe had a moment on the test but still managed to be just 10 seconds adrift.
Saturday morning saw a heavy dew on the first test but despite the slippery conditions Steve Holcombe was straight into his stride with a top time 6 seconds better than Brad Freeman and 19 seconds ahead of third-placed man Jamie Lewis.
From there competitors took in the first tough forestry stage before arriving at the enduro test featuring a mixture of farmland and tracks in woodland and once again Holcombe reigned supreme with the only sub 13 minute time.
After a long trip through the forest riders arrived back at the start for their second attempt around the cross test with Freeman posting the best time and on the second lap of the enduro test he pipped Holcombe by 5 seconds.
But Steve had revenge at the final cross test to beat Brad by a second to win the day by 6 seconds from Freeman and third place man Danny McCanney.
In the Experts class Dan Mundell was in top form finishing 30 seconds ahead of Tom Ellwood with Rhayader residents Adam James third and Alex Walton fourth.
It was a little closer in other classes with Ted Bailey finishing just a second ahead of Ryan Comer to take the win in the Clubman class.
William Jones won the Over 40s by 4 seconds from Paul Davies and Darren Osbourne claimed the Over 50 win ahead of Phillip George while Rosie Rowlett was a clear winner in the Ladies class ahead of Glensi Jones.
For day one only the sidecars were in action for the final round of their British Championship. However the newly crowned champions all failed to round their year off with a win.
David Williams/ Simon Brown were beaten by Simon Bradford/ Luke Peters by 12 seconds to secure the Championship class while Nick Evans/ Marc Rowlands got the better of new Expert champions Martin Rowan and Anthony Mills.
The Hutton/Williams pairing won the Clubman class ahead of Andy Scrivens and Martin Lawford.
After a dry first day as ever in Wales, day two arrived wet with a heavy drizzle making the going very sticky.
But this didn't make any difference to Steve Holcombe who was revelling in the conditions posting top times in the first four tests ahead of Brad Freeman who on the final test managed to finally get the better of Steve.
However it was not enough to stop Holcombe's second win of the weekend with Freeman second and McCanney third.
Flying for the second day running was top Expert Dan Mundell who finished a massive 1min 45secs ahead of Brad Williams with Jordan Ridgway third.
Once again Ted Bailey managed to win the Clubman class by a solitary second this time from Ben Coleman while in the Over 40 class William Jones beat Andrew Reeves by just 5 hundredths of a second to complete a successful weekend.
As did Over 50s winner Darren Osbourne and Ladies winner Rosie Rowlett.
