Forge Hill forge ahead
By TMX Archives on 25th Jan 07
FORGE Hill, back after an absence of 11 months, with new land-owners and 50% new land, saw Track n' Trail run the second round of its Gas Gas-backed Winter Series and forge ahead despite endless weeks of torrential rain.
With the sun shining and a frost on the ground, the sighting lap started at 10.00am with close to 300 riders but with very greasy conditions, they struggled to complete the sighting lap.
Before they even got to the first set of woods, a slight off-camber crossing dropping into an old chalky farm track, only those lucky enough to have a brand new tyre could find traction.
The sighting lap took the best part of an hour and organisers decided to cut the race to two-and-a-half hours to allow enough daylight for the Youth race.
The seven-mile course had a large section of stubble, with a gentle slope which was perfect for building the jumps on. With two rhythm sections back to back, a lot of different corner combinations and the track running in and out of a large wood, split up into three sections, the riders had a lot to think about.
The usual hard and easy routes were in the woods and two choices of routes on the greasy, grassy hill climbs which with the wet weather made for a very demanding race. In those conditions two and a half hours proved more than enough!
In the Championship class it was no surprise seeing Matt Ridgeway finishing in first place on 10 laps. This young lad has made a truly outstanding start to his enduro career on his new Relentless Suzuki.
In the top spot in the Expert Over 40's was Jack Twentyman, and with the return of Greg Pascoe this class is really hotting up. These two upset the domination of previously undefeated Ian Proudfoot.
The Expert class saw Jon Hinam back on top of his game. He was the only rider in his class to finish on 10 laps. If he hadn't had the two minute disadvantage, I believe he would have had a great battle with Matt.
John Leigh and Tom Smith both put in a great performance in torturous conditions coming second and third respectively.
Round three at Star Hill, on February 11, sees a three-way battle between Darryl Bolter, riding at his favourite Track ‘n' Trail venue, taking on Matt Ridgeway and Jon Hinam.
Results
Championship: 1 Matt Ridgeway, 2 Gary Baker, 3 James Jackman, 4 Tim Hunt, 5 Jonathon Hayman, 6 Mark Cornick (All 10 laps).
Expert: 1 Jon Hinman 10, 2 John Leigh 9, 3 Tom Smith 9, 4 Chris Honeywell 9, 5 Gary McCoy 9, 6 Jason Alba 9.
Expert Over 40: 1 Jack Twentyman 10, 2 Greg Pascoe 9, 3 Ian Proudfoot 9, 4 Nick Shepard 9, 5 Dennis Harrison 9, 6 Andrew Knapman 9.
Clubman Two-stroke: 1 Darren Housell 9, 2 Mark Copeland 8, 3 Justin Vaughan 8, 4 Ross Harvey 8, 5 George Frazer 8, 6 Joe Chidley 8.
Clubman Four-stroke: 1 Martin Perrett, 2 Tom Paulley, 3 Steven Bird, 4 Ross Follett, 5 David Crofts, 6 Gareth Pearce (All 8 laps).
Sportsman Two-stroke: 1 Andrew Biles, 2 Lee White, 3 Simon Allard, 4 Rob Godfrey, 5 Jonathan Fraser, 6 Matt Biles (All 7 laps).
Sportsman Four-stroke: 1 Robin Moulding 8, 2 Adam Quincey 7, 3 Sam Walkey 7, 4 Steve James 7, 5 Joe Shimmin 7, 6 Richard Swaffield 7.
Sportsman Over 40: 1 Anthony Allen 7, 2 Nicholas Dunn 7, 3 Paul Corthorn 6, 4 Gary Payne 6, 5 Robin Brooks 6, 6 Mike Holmes 6.
Trail: 1 David Brown 6, 2 gary Lutring 6, 3 Rory Follett 6, 4 Richard Comben 5, 5 Trevor Fonteneau 4, 6 Stephen Dyett 4.