Abbey ever after

They'd be wrong though and the Abbey Enduro calmed all fears with an event that was worthy of starting this season's British Solo Enduro Championship and typified hard-core enduro at its best.

 

The opening round of the 2012 BEC provided a traditional, high-quality contest that tested the toughest and best riders the UK has to offer – quite a feat considering the Abbey is a name that hasn't been seen on the BEC circuit for a while.

 

The organisers hardly needed any introduction and are certainly not new to enduro. 

 

Four-times former World Champion, Paul Edmondson, laid out the course with Harry Hockly of Mid Wales Dirt Track and they provided two really excellent Special Tests around a 26-mile course  – and the event could certainly be classed as a marathon by the time Sunday afternoon rolled around.

 

Situated at a relatively high altitude between Saints Well and Abbey-cwm-Hir in Mid Wales, where the weather in February can 

be unpredictable, the venue was blasted by gale-force winds and torrential rain throughout Friday night.

 

And the organisers awoke on Saturday to find that havoc and destruction had been wreaked in the pits and paddock areas.

 

But as riders walked the tests in fine weather on Friday, no one could fail to be impressed with what was on offer. 

 

Test One was a cross-country run through the Red Lion forest just north of the main staging area, a ten-minute ride across open going with a small amount of road work to the start of the test at this isolated and 

desolate location. 

 

It may have looked bleak, but the forest sections really tested riders to the maximum.

 

Test two was situated next to the main staging area. It began with a blast through a woodland section and spat riders out on to a large motocross-typeopen grassed area, which twisted and turned its way to the finish.

 

The course was laid out in a figure-of-eight – allowing pit crews to see their riders twice on each lap – and the pits were within easy walking distance of the enduro test, so onlookers could get to see the action and be close by in case riders needed help in the pits.

 

The first BEC of the season is always a little special as new riders appear and established riders move teams, change bike and shuffle classes.

 

Reigning BEC champion, Greg Evans, is taking a year out, so the cherished No.1 plate was missing from the line-up. 

 

Tom Sagar, starting as No.2 on his new Fasteddyracing.com Honda, ventured into the first Red Lion test alongside Danny McCanney – sporting No.3 on his 300Gas Gas UK machine – in relatively calm conditions.

 

David Knight followed close behind on his 500 Red Bull Factory KTM and all three set quick times, with Sagar and Knight breaking the nine-minute mark. 

 

However, young Jamie McCanney – on a 125 Midwest Husaberg – beat Knighter by more than a second to claim victory on the first test.

 

Knight soon kicked into gear and went on to take all the remaining tests of the opening day and claim the top Championship E3 spot. 

 

He seemed very relaxed and in good humour and he looked perfectly at home in the Welsh mud.

 

Tom Sagar was virtually on home turf and pushed his 450 Honda to within 90-seconds of Knight, as Manxman Danny McCanney nailed third overall, just a single second adrift of Sagar over the six tests. 

 

Alex Rockwell was a solid fourth place ahead of fellow Manxman Jamie McCanney.

 

 

Expert: Dan Thorpe (JST Gas Gas) 1 (37x0) & Connor (Beta UK) 1 (37x0), Alexz Wigg (JST Gas Gas) 2, Ricky Wiggins (RCT JST Gas Gas) 5 (37x0), Ross Danby (JST Gas Gas) 5 (37x0), Craig Robinson (JST Gas Gas) 8.

50/50 Class: Pete Ruscoe (300 B&B Beta) 8, Richard Evans (250 Gas Gas) 11 (32x0), James Connor (250 Beta) 11 (31x0), Neil Jones (Beta) 12, Barry Roads (S on it Beta) 13, Daniel Cole (Montesa) 14.

 

CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS: 1 David Knight (500 Red Bull KTM) 49:48 time penalties, 2 Tom Sagar (450 Fast Eddy  Honda) 51:17, 3 Daniel McCanney (300 Gas Gas UK) 51:18, 4 Alex Rockwell (250 Midwest Husaberg) 52:09, 5 Jamie McCanney (125 Midwest Husaberg) 52:45, 6 Lee Edmondson (250 Edmondson KTM) 53:11, 7 Daryl Bolter (350 Crescent KTM) 53:13, 8 Jamie Lewis (310 MPS Husqvarna) 53:17, 9 Edward Jones (250 KTM) 53:54, 10 Ashley Wood (250 ET James KTM) 53:59, 11 Jordan Rose (250 Electraction TM) 54:27, 12 Matt Ridgway (125 Husaberg) 54:40, 13 Rheinallt Davies (250 KTM) 55:16, 14 Jack Rowland (250 MPS Husqvarna) 56:44, 15 Gethin Price (???) 57:42.

EXPERT CLASS: 1 Gethin Humphreys (125 KH Building KTM) 58:15, 2 Steve Holcombe (250 JD Racing KTM) 58:40, 3 David Lloyd-Jones (125 ET James KTM) 00:18, 4 Gareth Davies (300 Team REME KTM) 00:33, 5 Oliver Hart (300 D3 Racing) 01:29, 6 Tyson Mayton-Jones (300 Midwest Husaberg) 01:38, 7 James Dent (250 SHR KORR KTM) 01:43, 8 Richard Ely (250 Edmondson KTM) 02:39, 9 David Brick (250 Yamaha) 02:59, 10 Charlie Evans (250 KTM) 03:00, 11 Gary Jenkins (300 MRS Sherco) 03:18, 12 Shaun Buchan (250 TAG-Z KTM) 07:29, 13 Dan Beaven (???) 07:30, 14 Marc Evans (250 RD Evans & Sons Suzuki) 10:27, 15 Jamie Roper (250 Walters Medical KTM) 10:35.

CLUBMAN CLASS: 1 Aled Price (250 KTM) 43:28, 2 Reece Emson (250 Shock Tech  KTM) 43:35, 3 Lee Green (300 Freestyle Husqvarna) 46:32, 4 Aled Wyn Jones (300 AJ Earthmoving KTM) 49:03, 5 Ashley  Stokes (250 ERS Racing Honda) 49:21, 6 Robert Hughes (300 KTM) 49:50, 7 Mark Austin (250 Honda) 51:45, 8 Reece Morewood (250 UK Blinds KTM) 51:53, 9 Llewelyn Pavey (250 Honda) 51:56, 10 Ryan Armitage (350 KTM) 52:15, 11 Jamie Jenkins (250 KTM) 52:55, 12 Aaron Martin (125 PJ Martin KTM) 53:38, 13 Gethin Rhys Francombe (300 CTR TM) 54:31, 14 Mark Hillier-Rees (300 C&S Tec Gas Gas) 56:01, 15 Garin Rosser (250 Frontrow KTM) 56:06.

VETERAN CLASS: 1 Richard Hay (150 KTM) 39:15, 2 Paul Davies (250 Mounter KTM) 41:22, 3 Ian Barnett (250 Barnett Engineering KTM) 42:02, 4 Murray Thomson (200 D3 Racing KTM) 42:38, 5 Paul Sagar (250 Honda) 42:53, 6 Derek Little (125 KTM) 42:56, 7 Mike Turner (250 Road & Track KTM) 43:56, 8 Jason Rees (300 RH Carpentry KTM) 45:48, 9 David Stokes (250 ERS Honda) 45:48, 10 Karl Greenall (250 KTM) 47:06, 11 Mick Alty (350 KTM) 48:56, 12 Philip George (300 KTM) 51:12, 13 John Hunt (125 KTM) 51:31, 14 Simon Beken (250 Team Snapper KTM) 55:17, 15 Paul Armstrong (300 Haines & Co Gas Gas) 55:26.

LADIES CLASS: 1 Rhian George (125 KTM) 07:35.

 

CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS: 1 David Knight 21:36 time penalties, 2 Tom Sagar 22:19, 3 Daniel McCanney 22:21, 4 Alexander Rockwell 22:32, 5 Lee Edmondson 22:48, 6 Jamie McCanney 22:51, 7 Edward Jones 22:58, 8 Ashley Wood 22:59, 9 Jordan Rose 23:06, 10 Simon Wakely 23:10, 11 Jamie Lewis 23:23, 12 Matt Ridgway 23:55, 13 Daryl Bolter 23:57, 14 Jon Hinam 24:27, 15 Rheinallt Davies 24:48.

EXPERT CLASS: 1 Steve Holcombe 24:14, 2 Gareth Davies 24:15, 3 Gethin Humphreys 25:13, 4 David Lloyd-Jones 25:26, 5 Rob Johnson 25:41, 6 Owaine Humphreys 25:45, 7 Tyson Mayton-Jones 25:45, 8 Charlie Evans 25:49, 9 Gary Jenkins 26:22, 10 David Brick 26:53, 11 James Giddings 27:08, 12 James Dent 27:16, 13 Richard Ely 28:13, 14 Aaron Smith 28:13, 15 Shaun Buchan 28:19.

CLUBMAN CLASS: 1 Reece Emson 23:42, 2 Aled Price 23:53, 3 Lee Green 24:12, 4 Robert Hughes 24:20, 5 Gethin Rhys Francombe 25:18, 6 Reece Morewood 25:36, 7 Jamie Jenkins 26:17, 8 Mark Austin 26:21, 9 Llewelyn Pavey 26:50, 10 Ryan Armitage 27:11, 11 Aled Wyn Jones 27:28, 12 Garin Rosser 28:42, 13 Simon Mackune 28:49, 14 Aaron Martin 29:22, 15 Seamus Muldoon 29:53.

VETERAN CLASS: 1 Richard Hay 21:13, 2 Ian Barnett 22:13, 3 Paul Davies 22:46, 4 Murray Thomson 23:27, 5 Paul Sagar 23:28, 6 Mike Turner 24:57, 7 Karl Greenall 27:03, 8 David Stokes 27:03, 9 Philip George 28:38, 10 Robert Murfin 31:33, 11 Mick Alty 33:09, 12 Paul Armstrong 34:37, 13 Steve Taylor 40:26, 14 Derek Little 01:20, 15 Michael Simon Kennedy 04:11.

LADIES CLASS: 1 Rhian George 36:22.

NEXT ROUND: April 14/15 – Helmsley Enduro at Helmsley Forest, North Yorks (DirtBike-Action).