The Great beyond
By Dick Law on 30th Aug 07
PAUL Winrow and racing partner, Andy Downes, won the third running of the QRA's Great 8 Quad Endurance race by just 43-seconds over the pairing of Jason MacBeth and his partner, reigning endurance champion, Steve Atkins. That was after eight-hours of racing on Bank Holiday Monday.
The premise is simple, take just under 170 riders,spilt across seven classes, and race over an eight-mile track throughwoods and fields for eight-hours, non-stop. But, in fact, a lot of hardwork went into making the event work by Tony Nash and his hard workingband of helpers.
For once the weather was kind to the organiserswith the week's rain giving way to a nice sunny long Bank Holidayweekend with a refreshing breeze keeping things comfortable.
Dead on 10am the riders stormed off down the bigstart straight and the marathon event was underway, with the end of it,eight long and tiring hours away.
At the end of the first hour the Winrow/ Downespairing were leading ahead of the Chris Cook/ Joe Challen pairing, withMacBeth and Atkins third and Craig Jennings and partner Jack Hardistybeing the only teams to complete four laps in the Two-man/ Two-quadclass.
Chris North and Adam Nobles were leading theIron-quad class, which was for two-men riding one quad, while OliverSansom was leading the Ironman class for those tough enough to go alleight hours on their own.
As the sun reached its high point in the sky theevent was two hours old and the top four overall hadn't changed and wascovered by just five-seconds as the pairing of Steven Dommett and RyanWildman moved into fifth.
North and Nobes were still heading the Iron-quad class and had completed the same number of laps as the overall leaders.
WYRE FOREST GREAT 8 QUAD ENDURANCE
Hannington, Hampshire (QRA)
Overall: 1 Paul Winrow (450 Winrow Honda)/ AndyDownes (450 Winrow Honda), 2 Jason MacBeth (450 Fourtech Honda)/ SteveAtkins (450 ARK ATV Honda), 3 Chris Cook (450 Honda)/ Joe Challen (450Honda), 4 Craig Jennings (450 Suzuki)/ Jack Hardisty (450 Suzuki), 5Steven Dommett (450 Yamaha)/ Ryan Wildman (450 Yamaha), 6 Jon Morgan(700 Raptor Yamaha)/ Ben Morgan (459 Yamaha), 7 Darren Bridge/ MattJames (450 Yamaha), 8 Guy Walton (450 Yamaha)/ Max Walton (450 Yamaha),9 Stu Austin (450 Yamaha)/ Josh Cook (450 Suzuki), 10 Mark Person (450Suzuki)/ Nick Ponder (450 Yamaha), 11 Chris North/ Adam Nobes (450Honda), 12 Lewis Hill (450 Suzuki)/ Lance Hand (300 Gas Gas), 13Charlie Goscomb (450 Honda)/ Justin Atkins (450 Honda), 14 RidianWilford (450 Honda)/ Peter Henson (450 Honda), 15 Anthony Smith/ IainJohnston (800 Renegade Can Am), 16 Jonathan Dennan (450 Suzuki)/ DaveTokarz (450 Suzuki), 17 Jamie Blair (450 Honda)/ Clyde Thompson (450Honda), 18 Dale Wright (450 Suzuki)/ Pete Walton (580 Larger KTM), 19Caine Hinder (450 Winrow Honda)/ Garry Miller (450 Winrow Honda), 20Michael Nash/ Val Bell (450 Yamaha).
CLASS RESULTS
Two-rider/ Two-quad Class: 1 Paul Winrow/ Andy Downes 35 laps, 2 Jason MacBeth/ Steve Atkins 35, 3 Chris Cook/ Joe Challen 34.
Wyre Forest Iron-quad Class (Two-riders/one-quad): 1 Darren Bridge/ Matt James 32, 2 Chris North/ Andy Nobes31, 3 Anthony Smith/ Iain Johnston 31.
AS Bone Ironman Class: 1 Jon Robson 32, 2 Rhodri Selby 30, 3 Martin Evison 29.
Takti Under 21 Class: 1 Guy Walton/ Max Walton 32, 2 Stu Austin/ Josh Cook 32, 3 Lewis Hill/ Lance Hand 31.
Rocket Centre Ladies Class: 1 Beverley Barnes 28, 2 Jackie Hinds 28, 3 Jade Pole 27.
Can-Am 4x4 Class: 1 Anthony Smith/ Ian Johnston 31, 2 Dave Tipper/ Dick Jennings 30, 3 Richard Smith/ David Bray 29.
For full story and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, August 31, 2007.
