2024 Canada Heights Enduro report

By Words: Dick Law Photos: John Powell on 24th Apr 24

Joshua Kirby, riding a 310 Fantic, won a hard-fought battle to win the Championship class at the 2024 Canada Heights Enduro. The event, which incorporated a round of the British Classic Enduro Championship and a round of the SEEC Enduro Championships, was attended by almost 200 riders, all riding a six-and-a-quarter-mile lap layed out on and around the Sidcup club’s famous Canada Heights motocross circuit in Kent.

Joshua Kirby took top honours at the 2024 Canada Heights Enduro

At 10 o’clock sharp, the first five riders were waved off to start what turned out to be a long, hard day. A minute later, another five left, and so on, until all riders were on their way by 10:37.

The track through the wooded sections was tight and fast but the open meadow part turned into deep ruts that challenged the competitors. Some even had to have their machines lifted out.

The Championship class were asked to complete 13 special tests. Bradley King (Crescent Yamaha) was the fastest at the riders’ first attempt and was almost three seconds faster than any other rider.

Kirby was fastest on lap two from King and Stuart King (GASGAS), and so it went on until all 13 specials were completed and totalled.

Kirby’s totalled time was 15:17.27, almost seven seconds clear of second-place man Tom Hutchinson (Lynwood GASGAS). Bradley King was in third place, just over two seconds behind Hutchinson.

The first four in the championship class didn’t incur time penalties, so the special test times determined the finishing order.

Bradley King powers through the Special Test

The Expert class only had 11 specials. At the start of the event and through the tests, Daniel Cooper (KTM) was continuously faster than Brad Pocock (GASGAS). Still, as the day went on and the track roughened up, Pocock just got faster and faster, and when the times were added up, Pocock won the class by over 30 seconds. Cooper hung on to second, with Daniel Sibbick (Beta) third.

Kit Szabo (KTM) won the Clubman As and set a combined test time that would have seen him finish fourth in the Experts. Tommy Wills (Yamaha) was a comfortable second and Cameron Coulter (Sherco) was a distant third.

Only two riders finished in both the Veteran Expert and Veteran Clubman A class. Sidcup member James Holt (KTM) won the Veteran Expert division while Joe Beard (Sherco) won the Veteran Clubman group.

In Clubman B, the riders were only asked to do four special tests. Roger Marsh (KTM) took a nine-second win from George Dengate (Husqvarna) with Nick Palmer (Husqvarna) third.

Lee Szabo (Beta) proved you should never count the old boys out. In the Veteran Clubman B group, he won with a faster time than the youngsters in Clubman B. Trevor Sargent (KTM) was a distant second but had Paul Burage (Beta) on his tail in third.

Seb Picard (Husqvarna) won the large Sportsman class, while Mike Buttle (Husqvarna) won the Veteran Sportsman class.

In the multiclass Classic side of the event, Lewis Bond (Yamaha) won the Expert CE3s from Alex Pringle (Honda) and Al Ranger (Husqvarna) third.

Shaun Turner (Yamaha) won the small Expert CE2 class, while Ian Barnett (Husqvarna) won the equally small Expert CE1 class.

Clubman CE1 winner Craig Redmond fires through the trees

The Classic Clubman’s Simon Davies (Husqvarna) won the CE3s from Zain Daniels (Kawasaki) and John Kirwin (Honda).

Only one rider, Andrew Slocombe (Yamaha), participated in the Clubman CE2 class.

Craig Redmond (Husqvarna) won the Clubman CE1s from Steve Bird (Suzuki) with Keith Roden (SWM) third.

Alex Pringle ran up front in the Classic CE3 class

Results

Championship

1 Joshua Kirby (Fantic) 917.27

2 Tom Hutchinson (Lynwood GASGAS) 923.814

3 Bradley King (Crescent Yamaha) 926.288

4 Steve Cooper (Dynamic Water KTM) 933.491

5 Ben Beaven (Enduro Tyres Beta) 1004.128

6 Stuart King (GASGAS) 1029.154

Expert

1 Brad Pocock (GASGAS) 780.257

2 Daniel Cooper (Dynamic Water KTM) 812.192

3 Daniel Sibbick (Beta) 812.254

4 Matthew Jordan (Enduro Tyres Husqvarna) 828.32

5 Harry Neal (Beta) 829.938

6 George Newton (Husqvarna) 916.022

7 Shane McKane (CCS Bikes Husqvarna) 985.669

8 Adam Brady (KTM) 1022.125

9 Graham Maunder (Solent Rieju)1026.752

10 Ben Harding (KTM) 1031.267

11 Chris Standen (KTM) 1032.013

12 James Moller (Yamaha) 1198.406

Clubman A

1 Kit Szabo (KTM) 826.187

2 Tommy Wills (Yamaha) 870.54

3 Cameron Coulter (Sherco) 899.736

4 Ben Bishop (GASGAS) 960.794

5 Marcos Wildman (Husqvarna) 1056.11

6 Michael Chandler (KTM) 1073.548

7 Gareth Weller (Husqvarna) 2222.088

Veteran Expert

1 James Holt (KTM) 877.323

2 Darren Lee (Beta) 929.327

Veteran Clubman A

1 Joe Beard (Sherco) 905.81

2 Graham Arnold (Beta) 929.327

Classic Expert

1 Lewis Bond (Yamaha) C3 803.687

2 Alex Pringle (Honda) C3 850.465

3 Al Ranger (Husqvarna) C3 883.639

4 Michael Lee (KTM) C3 884.322

5 Ian Barnett (Husqvarna) C1 966.315

6 Shaun Turner (Yamaha) C2 999.428

7 Andrew Samson (Husqvarna) C3 1431.142

8 Paul Morgan (Yamaha) C4 1438.045

9 Euros Jones (Husqvarna) C1 1768.341

10 Alan Woods (Suzuki) C1 2153.522

Clubman B

1 Roger Marsh (KTM) 320.619

2 George Dengate (Husqvarna) 329.313

3 Nick Palmer (Husqvarna) 337.614

4 Doug Smith (GASGAS) 338.278

5 Ollie Smithson (KTM) 342.747

6 Luke Barnett (Beta) 347.212

7 Will Rossi (GASGAS) 350.605

8 Ross Reddin (KTM) 357.443

9 Tyrone Spencer (TM) 357.516

10 Freddie Moulds (KTM) 523.061

Veteran Clubman B

1 Lee Szabo (Beta) 315.841

2 Trevor Sargeant (KTM) 359.535

3 Paul Burbage (Beta) 334.036

4 Richard Avis (Husqvarna) 334.593

5 James Cross (KTM) 335.529

6 Pete Farwell (KTM) 344.376

7 Clifford Barnett (Husaberg) 360.194

8 Steve Masters (Beta) 386.871

9 Kevin Barry (KTM) 968.206

Classic Clubman

1 Simon Davies (Husqvarna) C3 335.497

2 Andrew Slocombe (Yamaha) C2 347.72

3 Zain Daniels (Kawasaki) C3 347.638

4 Craig Redmond (Husqvarna) C1 356.101

5 John Kirwin (Honda) KTM) C3 359.127

6 Jonny Bright (Husqvarna) C3 361.333

7 Gary Drage (Husqvarna) C3 361.346

8 Steve Bird (Suzuki) C1 361.989

9 Keith Roden (SWM) C1 446.279

10 Matthew McCulloch (Husqvarna) C1 663.824

Sportsman

1 Seb Picard (Husqvarna) 242.872

2 Lee Williams (Rieju) 248.733

3 Morgan Picard (Yamaha) 249.872

4 Harry Drake (KTM) 254.079

5 Elliott Picard (KTM) 259.643

6 Adam Blackford-Mills (Husqvarna) 263.146

7 Jack Mitchell (KTM) 266.499

8 Damien Charveriat (Fantic) 269.117

9 Pete Johnson (KTM) 271.335

10 Paul Burnett (GASGAS) 272.72

Veteran Sportsman

1 Mike Buttle (Husqvarna) 250.976

2 Carl Mexter (KTM) 256.524

3 Wade Stafford (KTM) 268.677

4 Rich Hobbs (KTM) 270.147

5 Jon Barry (KTM) 272.497

6 Colin Morgan (KTM) 273.593

7 Darren Taylor (GASGAS) 278.477

8 Darren Newton (Beta) 286.586

9 Andrew Smith (Husqvarna) 287.307

10 Darren May (KTM) 292.824