Snow's a winner at Muntjac Enduro
By Team TMX on 19th Nov 24
A catastrophic final lap crash for nine-time Enduro World Champion Steve Holcombe handed the win in Diss MCC’s famous Muntjac Enduro to his close friend and Devonshire neighbour Alex Snow after an epic battle in Thetford Forest. While Holcombe and Snow fought for the overall win on the day, Ben Cole (Husqvarna) and
Luke Parker (Kawasaki) were locked in a battle to win the Eastern Centre Enduro Championship – the Muntjac serving as the final round. The pair started the event two points apart, so it was a real winner-take-all situation with Cole beating Parker home by three seconds to defeat the 2023 title holder and become a champion himself.
The weather was kind, leaving the forest floor dry and fast. But as the day went on and with over 200 riders, it became hard on both bodies and machines.
The quality of the Championship-class riders was outstanding and 14 of them came into the final time check on time after a long day of riding. This meant the event result would be decided by adding the five Special Test times together.
Snow was the fastest on test one with Sam Hughes second fastest on his 125 KTM. Holcombe placed third ahead of Cole with Parker, after a long time off the bike, in ninth.
With racing lines formed ahead of the second timed run, Holcombe turned up the gas and went faster, almost three seconds faster than Snow. Parker quickly got back on the pace and crossed the timing beam in third place with Eastern Centre MX champion Sam Nunn (Honda) fourth fastest from Hughes, Ben Clark (Beta), with Cole in seventh place. This allowed Parker to pull some time back in their championship battle.
Holcombe did almost the same time on test three as on two as he notched up his second-fastest test. Snow was keeping the pressure on him in second and was within a second. Parker set third fastest again, from Hughes, Cole and Clark.
To spice things up, the fourth and fifth tests were run straight after one another after the Championship-class riders had already been on their bikes for over three hours of riding.
Snow was fastest in test four, followed by Holcombe, Parker, Hughes, Jake Nicholls (Honda), Cole, and Clark and then Holcombe blitzed the fifth and final test, beating Nunn into second place from Snow, Nicholls, Clark, and Hughes. Cole rode carefully to seventh, and Parker, perhaps suffering from his lack of riding, was ninth fastest.
When all five test times were totalled up, Holcombe had a clear advantage over Snow and Hughes, while in the Eastern Centre championship race, Cole had a slight lead over Parker.
It looked like all Holcombe had to do for the event to win was to finish on time but then everything went wrong.
A simple slide-off and broken front brake calliper that had to be cut off to get back to the parc ferme, gave Holcombe a DNF and cost him the prestigious win.
This handed Snow victory, with Hughes having a fantastic ride, as he spent all day screaming his 125 around the woods, to a solid second place. Nunn finished just behind Hughes in third, while Cole, the new Eastern Centre champion, crossed the finish line fourth with Parker sixth.
“I have had a great day but it would have been nicer to win it straight up,” said a happy winner, Snow, “It’s a shame Steve Holcombe had a problem on the last lap. I was happy with my test times as I was close to his times. I had a little tip-off on the last test as I was perhaps pushing a bit too hard and getting too ambitious, as I sometimes do. I always enjoy riding here, and the club does a great job. This finishes off the racing year. See you all back here next year”.
“It’s been an up-and-down championship for me,” said new Centre enduro champion, Cole. “But today has been a perfect day. The track today was unbelievable. It's dry but so rough out there toward the end of racing. I was trying not to take it too easy on the last couple of tests, but I trusted the berms too much and blew through them a couple of times, so I had to slow down a bit. Last year, I threw away the championship with a crash on the last test. This year, I had put myself into a good position and wanted to hang on to it.”
The Expert class was asked to complete three tests. Buxton-based all-rounder Luke Meredith (Beta), set a time on his first test that would have seen him eighth in the Championship class. He backed that up with two more super-fast times for the overall class win. David Rushton (Husqvarna) was second, with Roan Delaney (KTM) third.
James Jackman (Yamaha) won the Expert Vets from former VMXdN Foxhill Super Evo 125 champion Andrew Lawton (KTM) with Timmy Warnes (Kawasaki) third ahead of Enduro21’s online editor Jon Pearson (GASGAS).
The massive Clubman class saw a win for Kit Szabo (GASGAS) from Stanly Delany (GASGAS) and Alex Christopher (KTM). Raymond Otoka (Beta) won the Clubman Vets, while John Hilton (KTM) aced the Clubman Super Vets class.
Muntjac Enduro Results
Championship
1 Alex Snow (GASGAS) 1163.25
2 Sam Hughes (KTM) 1183.79
3 Sam Nunn (Honda) 1186.98
4 Ben Cole (Husqvarna) 1194.80
5 Luke Parker (Kawasaki) 1197.55
Expert
1 Luke Meredith (Beta) 738.59
2 David Rushton (Husqvarna) 760.59
3 Roan Delaney (KTM) 764.43
4 Jack Probert (Sherco) 765.00
5 Barnaby Knight (Honda) 770.25
Expert Vet
1 James Jackman (Yamaha) 798.39
2 Andrew Lawton (KTM) 802.22
3 Timothy Warnes (Kawasaki) 808.51
4 Jonathan Pearson (GASGAS) 826.69
5 Phillip Roper (KTM) 843.15
Clubman
1 Kit Szabo (KTM) 520.36
2 Stanly Delany (GASGAS) 530.70
3 Alex Christopher (KTM) 539.60
4 Frazer Lawrence (Sherco) 544.33
5 Jake Ward (Husqvarna) 544.97
Clubman Vet
1 Raymond Otoka (Beta) 562.54
2 Spencer Newland (KTM) 564.00
3 Scott Chaplin (GASGAS) 571.56
4 Gregory Simon (Beta) 578.17
5 Tom Morris (KTM) 612.02
Clubman Super Vet
1 John Hilton (KTM) 546.12
2 Darren Osborne (Yamaha) 563.13
3 Gareth Lodge (KTM) 565.74
4 Patrick Delaney (KTM) 576.14
5 Dave Coles (Yamaha) 577.72
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