Report: RAW Enduro - Rock Oil Championship
By TMX Archives on 20th Jul 16
Carlton Grange, near Helmsley in North Yorkshire, welcomed RAW Enduro for round five of the Rock Oil Championship. Fantastic sunny weather greeted competitors early Sunday morning for what turned out to be a great day of competitive Hare and Hounds action.
A brilliant Youth line-up saw all riders dealing really well with the ten-minute lap around the plantation. RAW always give the youth riders a nice big lap and round five was no exception.
After some pre-race carburation adjustments by Wayne Braybrook, Saul Hirst was the man to chase in the Youth A class. Richie Moorhouse and D3 rider Liam Crowe kept Hirst on his toes to the flag. Crowe held second spot for a long time before a closing lap pass by Moorhouse stuck to the finish.
Jamie Williams continues to improve every weekend. He took the Youth B win, while Samual Hall had a good run in second with rookie George Barker placing third. Jack Hughes coped really well in the sticky conditions on his taking a well earned fourth place back to the North East.
The start area for the adult morning event was packed to capacity as the sun shone through the woodland. After an event safety briefing the classes were flagged away row by row.
Super fast starting Lee Pallet has yet to be beaten to a holeshot in the Sportsman Vets class. He hung on to take the win from Jimmy Davy, who rode on a non competitive basis as he recovers from a back injury.
Neil Myers was third in class narrowly holding off championship competitor Damian Lord, Jonathan Ellis and Andy Kirby who were all pushing for a podium place.
Taking his first adult win in the Sportsman class Tommy Grimmer really had to fight for the win after a race long battle with Harry Conner who edges closer to his first win, taking a fine third spot on the day. Championship leader, Phil Dodsworth, secured runner-up in class to keep his title aspirations on track.
In the Over 50 class Andrew Dean charged round to take the class win. Pete Fletcher ground out a great second place in class even after his 22 push ups pre-race.
Fellow Lancastrian Ian Heyworth had a slightly under par day by his standards, though he still added to his championship tally with a solid third on the day.
Jordan Salmon took his first Novice win from the hard charging Ben Walker, new kid on the block Henry Harman continues to find his enduro wings placing third. The top 7 novice riders all completed 12 laps, so things are hotting up nicely in the class as the championship passes the half way stage.
Once again to keep ability levels completely separate the faster afternoon event was flagged away just after 1.15pm.
Lee Sampson took the lead after Josh Bailey led the opening laps. After Bailey had an awkward crash Sampson took to the front, sharp MX rider Ben Hamilton overcame an average start to charge through the field during the 2.5-hour event. He passed Chris Hughes on the last lap to take runner-up spot leaving Hughes to settle for third after his last lap grumble with a tree saw only one outcome...
Clubman honours went to Matt Ward, who was delighted to take the win as he once again gets back on the pace of competition.
Danny Culkin still fighting a mystery illness did fantastically well to even make the flag, almost passing out at the finish. Hope Danny gets sorted out soon.
Doltan Shannon dug deep in the closing stages on his Appleyard Husqvarna to narrowly take third place, just a minute ahead of Ellis Friend.
Anthony Tempest led the Expert Veteran class from start to finish. This left John Bradford to take runner up spot and D3 rider Anthony Crowe, still nursing sore ribs, getting to grips with his new mount.
Ricky Tropman was the man on the case in Clubman Veteran. Series leader Andy Harvey finished in runner-up spot with Mark Cockfield again placing in a strong final podium place.
Track conditions were tough as the lines evolved throughout the event. All riders coped really well, the new location of the re fuel area went down really well with support crews, and the general feeling on the day was that once again the RAW Enduro crew had provided its supporters with exactly what they wanted, a great day of top quality off-road Enduro action.
