X marks the spot
By TMX Archives on 23rd Jan 08
MID-January is a risky time to organise any off-road event and the opening round of the Putoline XC Championship, organised by fasteddyracing.com, at Boreton Farm, near Shrewsbury, got tougher as the weekend progressed.
The Youth championship on Saturday went well. The area hadn't suffered the torrential rains plaguing the rest of the Midlands region, but Saturday evening saw a constant downpour overnight with gale force winds which left the course a little waterlogged, but still very rideable.
The winds played havoc with the course-markers and organiser Paul Edmondson and the crew did their utmost to replace them all but time was against them and the race just had to start.
The Sunday morning race was wet but the mud didn't cling to the bikes and, consequently, the pace was fast. A large entry of riders – 175 in all – desperate to get some bike time under their belts, packed the start line for the Novice and Clubman classes.
The freshly constructed rhythm section and numerous jumps held up fairly well until halfway intothe race when they began to rut out badly but theriders stuck to their task and charged hard.
The top five Clubman 4T riders all clocked 12 laps but it was Dan Coyle who led them home, just over a minute ahead of Chris Nunn in second. Kieron Jackson kept pace to retain third in class and was over five-minutes ahead of Ryan Armitage, fourth, with Stu Keedwell some ten-minutes adrift in fifth.
Not to be outdone, the top five Clubman 2T competitors also clocked a dozen laps and heading them home was Karl Day, who maintained a consistent two-minutes gap between himself and Paul Lloyd in second spot. Karl Greenhall, Michael Wright and Lance Hurdsman had just two-minutes separating the three of them in third, fourth and fifth places respectively.
Mike Alty and Rob Prosser put up an excellent show in the Veteran class. They too nailed 12 laps and Alty finished just 44-seconds ahead of Prosser in what was a great battle of wills and determination. John Burrows cruised in a lap down on the two leaders to take third, just ahead of Keith Padstone and Andy Prosser in fourth and fifth.
PUTOLINE X-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 1 – Boreton Farm, Shrewsbury (fasteddyracing.com)
Pro: 1 Jason Thomas, 2 Chris Tett, 3 Tim Foreman, 4 Shane Careless, 5 James Jackman, 6 Ben Smith, 7 Jamie Paget, 8 Geoff Walker.
Expert: 1 Gareth Hopkins, 2 Craig Chamberlain, 3 Gavin Hazlett, 4 Jack Twentyman, 5 Sean Tranter.
Super Clubman: 1 Sam Robinson, 2 Martin Pearce, 3 Gary Daniels, 4 James Giddings, 5 Adam Reynolds.
Veteran (Over 35): 1 Chris Roberts, 2 Ryan Griffiths, 3 Jason Kendrick-Jones, 4 Andrew Tott, 5 Malcolm Buck.
Clubman 4T: 1 Dan Coyle, 2 Chris Nunn, 3 Kieron Jackson, 4 Ryan Armitage, 5 Stu Keedwell.
Clubman 2T: 1 Karl Day, 2 Paul Lloyd, 3 Karl Greenhall, 4 Michael Wright, 5 Lance Hurdsman.
Novice 4T: 1 Phil Cooper, 2 Kev Sanderland, 3 Shaune Clorley, 4 Julian Ashton, 5 Simon Benton.
Novice 2T: 1 Lee Day, 2 Chris Wagstaffe, 3 James Pickering, 4 Kurt Groves, 5 Ed Turner.
Veteran: 1 Michael Alty, 2 Rob Prosser, 3 John Burrow, 4 Keith Patstone, 5 Andy Prosser.
For full report and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, January 25, 2008