A ride in the Dark for Ed!
By TMX Archives on 8th Feb 07
ON Saturday night, WOR Events staged the first round of the TrailTech Dark One series at the mountainside venue of Carrog Isa in North Wales. With a turn out of 40-plus riders, it was a huge success.
The outstanding difference to the previous two editions of the Dark One (run in 2006) was that every rider had invested in a quality lighting set-up. In previous Dark events there have been a whole range of home-made and, in some cases, pretty inadequate lighting systems, but this event was illuminated like a Christmas tree.
Riders set off in the dusk and rode on into pitch darkness. The mountainside came to life with banners and track tape and unbelievably over 1,500 direction arrows.
Steve Ireland was back on the microphone, commentating and entertaining the crowd and the floodlit pits gave just the right amount of light to keep the place safe.
The racing was great. The circuit was just under six miles in length and had a bit of everything - including ice!
In the Expert class, experienced night rider Ed Jones was the first man back past lap control. The Multi British Enduro champion was on great form and pushed hard from the start.
On the third lap, young Rowland Morris put in a fantastic burst of speed to take the lead from a startled Jones and he held that lead until he had to pit for fuel.
Jones then re-took the lead and never lost it again, going faster and faster each lap. Amazingly, Jones' final two-laps were faster than his first two-laps which had been done in semi light!
Morris kept pushing but in the end was over four-minutes down on the flying Jones but over a minute ahead of third placed Paul Bolton. Bolton was charging towards the end after playing catch up from lap one problems that saw him in last place.
WOR EVENTS TRAILTECH DARK ONE
Carrog Isa, North Wales.
Saturday
Expert: 1 Ed Jones 10 laps - 4:24 time penalties, 2 Rowland Morris 10 - 8:06, 3 Paul Bolton 10 - 9:14, 4 Lincoln Brewster 10 - 13:32, 5 Aled Evans 9 - 2:46, 6 Shaun Turner 9 - 4:16.
Clubman: 1 Craig Reynolds 8 - 3:39, 2 Daz Cowen 8 - 9:33, 3 Jim Barrie 8 - 20:40, 4 Nathan Bolton 7 - 2:06.
Veteran: 1 Ian Barnett 8 - 3:46, 2 Andy Daniels 8 - 6:04, 3 Gareth Lloyd 8 - 10:58, 4 Rob Morris 8 - 11:20.
Sportsman: 1 Scott Smith 7 - 5:41, 2 Iwan Edwards 7 - 16:23, 3 Mark Bell 6 - 2:15, 4 Henry Markey 6-2:42
2.5-hr HARE SCRAMBLE (Sunday)
Expert: 1 Paul Bolton 12 - 7:35, 2 Conan Mayman 11 - 8:46, 3 Lincoln Brewster 11 - 8:47, 4 Aled Evans 11 - 9:14, 5 Shaun Turner 11 - 10:07, 6 Adam Smith 11 - 13:19, 7 Martin Sandiford 11 - 22:27.
Clubman: 1 Craig Reynolds 10 - 6:31, 2 Jim Buchanan 10 - 7:22, 3 Aled Humphreys 10 - 9:24, 4 Dafydd Jones 10 - 12:41, 5 Carl Critchlow 9 - 4:44, 6 Dave Cooper 9 - 7:20, 7 Simon Douglas 9 - 8:22, 8 Remi Merriman 9 - 14:30.
Veteran: 1 Gary Benniman 10 - 9:18, 2 Jack Twentyman 10 - 10:30, 3 Colin Jones 9 - 4:34, 4 Ian Coburn 9 - 5:34, 5 Dave Carthy 9 - 17:22, 6 Allan Hopwood 8 - 0:30, 7 Mike Leary 8 - 1:45, 8 Mark Dean 8 - 3:43.
Sportsman: 1 Marcus Jones 8 - 3:17, 2 Jonathan Davies 8 - 5:11, 3 Philip Ball 8 - 6:35, 4 Damian Fagan 8 - 11:02, 5 Gareth Roberts 8 - 16:50, 6 Steven Hughes 8 - 17:41, 7 Henry Snelson 8 - 17:52, 8 Andy Noakley 7 - 1:06.
2-hr HARE SCRAMBLE (Sunday)
Hobby: 1 Dylan Owen 7 - 6:57.
Beginner: 1 John Roberts 7 - 20:52, 2 Andrew Latham 6 - 0:13, 3 William Charnock 6 - 18:08, 4 Ben Roberts 6 - 22:51, 5 David Pye 5 - 1:53, 6 Ieuan Brooks 5 - 2:58.
Novice: 1 Stephen Carter 8 - 16:08, 2 Gareth Jones 7 - 14:57, 3 Rob Lambert 7 - 17:16, 4 Karl Chadwick 7 - 17:33, 5 Paul Bright 6 - 0:09, 6 Pete Thacker 6 - 7:13.
Ladies: 1 Kate Lloyd 4 - 6:14, 2 Jane Daniels 4 - 26:27, 3 Hannah Jenkins 3 - 14:04.
Youth: 1 Tom Beedles 7 - 13:05, 2 Joe Deakin 7 - 17:56, 3 George Knowles 6 - 3:34, 4 Josh Taylor 6 - 4:13, 5 Scott Hughes 6 - 6:08, 6 Billy Robinson 6 - 7:03.
For full report, results and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, February 9, 2007