Brechfa's on the go
By TMX Archives on 29th Jul 11
A warm Welsh welcome awaited those who wound their way to the fourth round of the ACU Metzeler British Enduro Championship at Llanybydder last weekend. Situated on the edge of the world in west Wales, the sleepy market town was alive with bikes and trucks as Dyfed Dirt Bike Club put on an impressive show and an equally impressive course. Hard-standing parking, covered Parc Ferme and a Saturday night hog roast all made the paddock facilities the best so far in this BEC season.
The club had not confined their efforts to the paddock though. Two tests, Enduro and MX, were described by Paul Edmondson as "...good and proper old school," which to the rest of the planet meant they were pretty tough.
The wooded Enduro test held a few surprises along the way, which included on seriously steep climb, catching out many of the Clubmen and a few Experts as well.
The MX test was set on a soggy field some distance from the town, which rutted-up quite seriously on the opening day, so seriously that much of the course was re-routed for the second day. The test was testing and really suited many of the older riders who grew up on rutted muddy tests and it was good for spectators.
The gloriously sunny opening day saw KORR's Greg Evans, in the Championship E2 class, take the lead initially by a margin but the large mud hole on the MX test was his undoing as he got stuck and lost 25 seconds.
His day went from bad to worse as he split a fuel pipe later and dropped even more time as Gas Gas UK's E3 rider Danny McCanney roared into an unassailable lead on his 300 stroker and finished the day ahead of the whole field by 50-seconds after eight tests, winning E3 class in the process ahead of Midwest's Jon Hinam and KORR's Jonny Walker.
McCanney improved significantly as the day wore on and showed his potential as one of the best riders for the future of UK enduro competition. Championship contender Fast Eddy/ Edmondson Racing E2 rider Tom Sagar gradually returned to form, still carrying a slight limp from his leg injury, but also improved throughout the day to keep his Championship hopes alive with a solid third place just eleven seconds behind Evans.
The battle for the E1/4T class continued between Paul Edmondson and KORR's Daryl Bolter with Fast Eddy coming out ahead by 15-seconds topping the class, fourth place overall with Bolter taking fifth overall and second in class.
KTM UK's Ash Wood again dominated the Championship E1/2T class closely followed by Fast Eddy Edmondson Racing's Lee Edmondson in second and Kev Murray in third.
The long journey from Devon proved worthwhile for Steve Holcombe as he won the Expert E2 class by more than a minute over closest rival Lewis Belfield as James Giddings took third over six tests. MPS Racing's Jack Rowlands topped the E1/4T Expert line up followed by Tudor Davies as MPS's other E1/4T representative Joe Deakin retired with a dislocated shoulder following a crash on the hard Enduro test climb.
Alun Jones pulled a considerable gap in the Expert E1/2T class to take the win with ease as David Lloyd-Jones nailed second and Scott Altass third.
MPS Racing's Rob Johnson revelled in the mud, pushing his 250 hard to the top of the Clubman E1/4T class and the Clubman overall win to boot, over four-minutes clear of second-placed class rival, Jason Hurley, with Tony Cotty in third. Declan Helliwell claimed the E1/2T victory ahead of Rob Clark and Richard Walters.
Clubman E2 saw victory for Aled Price with Jamie Jenkins and Fraser Flockhart close behind. Wyn Evans was the only E3 Clubman to finish the day. Freestyle Husqvarna rider Wyn Hughes continued his glorious come-back year with another table-topping success in the Veterans class but the battle continued further downfield as Phil Smithson just fended-off Paul Sagar by a single second to take second place.
Sunday dawned overcast compared to Saturday's sunshine as riders left the cattle market for their second assault on the course.
This change in the weather saw a change in the attack on the title by Tom Sagar. Now on a par with Greg Evans, the two riders battled for every second but as the day wore on Sagar gradually edged his way to the front, eventually finishing 14-seconds clear of his rival.
Midwest Racing Husaberg rider Simon Wakely had a much better day and grabbed third place in the Championship E2 class.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX NEWS JULY 29
METZELER BRITISH SOLO ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 4 – Brechfa Enduro at Brechfa Forest (Dyfed DBC)
DAY ONE
CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS: 1 Danny McCanney (300 Gas Gas) 37:15.0 time penalties, 2 Greg Evans (350 KTM) 38:05.5, 3 Tom Sagar (450 KTM) 38:16.9, 4 Paul Edmondson (250 KTM) 38:30.2, 5 Daryl Bolter (250 KTM) 38:45.0, 6 Simon Wakley (250 Husaberg) 38:52.1, 7 Jamie Lewis (350 KTM) 38:52.9, 8 Ashley Wood (125 KTM) 39:01.0, 9 Alex Rockwell (390 Husaberg) 39:56.6, 10 Mark Roberts (250 Kawasaki) 40:07.3, 11 Jon Hinham (300 Husaberg) 40:14.9, 12 Lee Edmondson (125 KTM) 40:15.3, 13 Gavin Houson (250 Husaberg) 40:22.5, 14 Jonny Walker (300 KTM) 41:13.4, 15 Andrew Edwards (250 KTM) 41:50.5.
CLUBMAN CLASS: 1 Robert Johnson (250 Husqvarna) 25:33.8, 2 Declan Heliwell (125 KTM) 26:35.6, 3 Aled Price (250 KTM) 26:55.7, 4 Jamie Jenkins (250 KTM) 28:31.6, 5 Fraser Flockart (250 KTM) 28:43.5, 6 Rob Clark (124 KTM) 28:45.7, 7 Lee Green (250 KTM) 28:57.3, 8 Jason Hurley (250 KTM) 29:19.5, 9 Richard Walters (125 KTM) 29:57.2, 10 Reece Emson (250 KTM) 30:18.1, 11 Tony Cotty (250 KTM) 30:42.2, 12 Joshua Gotts (125 TM) 30:42.5, 13 Ashley Stokes (250 Honda) 30:43.7, 14 Aaron Martin (125 KTM) 31:31.7, 15 Phil Maltby (450 KTM) 32:18.2.
EXPERT CLASS: 1 Steve Halcombe (250 KTM) 27:23.6, 2 Jack Rowland (250 Husqvarna) 28:10.1, 3 Alun Jones (125 KTM) 28:20.4, 4 Lewis Belfield (250 KTM) 28:33.5, 5 James Gidding (250 KTM) 28:50.9, 6 Oliver Hart (350 KTM) 28:53.6, 7 Tudor Davies (250 KTM) 28:54.2, 8 Allyn Scotland (250 Suzuki) 29:37.5, 9 Tyson Maytom-Jones (450 Husaberg) 29:38.1, 10 Craig Reynolds (250 KTM) 29:39.9, 11 David Lloyd Jones (125 KTM) 29:45.9, 12 Gary Jenkins (300 KTM) 29:47.4, 13 Calem Hicks (250 KTM) 29:52.5, 14 Luke Lusher (250 TM) 30:04.6, 15 Scott Atlas (125 Husaberg) 30:21.1.
VETERAN CLASS: 1 Wyn Hughes (449 Husqvarna) 24:26.9, 2 Phil Smithson (250 KTM) 25:50.7, 3 Paul Sagar (150 KTM) 25:51.7, 4 Paul Davies (250 KTM) 25:53.4, 5 David Stokes (250 Honda) 27:21.0, 6 James Harvey (250 KTM) 27:52.2, 7 John Hunt (125 KTM) 28:18.2, 8 Cefin Evans (300 KTM) 31:58.4, 9 Darren Osbourne (300 KTM) 32:05.0, 10 Tom Williams (125 KTM) 34:23.5, 11 Arwyn Jones (250 KTM) 34:35.6, 12 Robert Mcleod (250 Yamaha) 35:23.1, 13 Carwyn Davies (449 Husqvarna) 23:45.5.
DAY TWO
CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS: 1 Tom Sagar (450 KTM) 29:41.2 time penalties, 2 Greg Evans (350 KTM) 29:55.6, 3 Daryl Bolter (250 KTM) 30:32.3, 4 Danny McCanney (300 Gas Gas) 30:36.4, 5 Jonny Walker (300 KTM) 30:40.9, 6 Simon Wakley (250 Husaberg) 30:45.7, 7 Alex Rockwell (390 Husaberg) 30:49.1, 8 Paul Edmondson (250 KTM) 30:59.9, 9 Ashley Wood (125 KTM) 31:40.9, 10 Lee Edmondson (125 KTM) 31:41.4, 11 Gavin Houson (250 Husaberg) 31:57.4, 12 Mark Roberts (250 Kawasaki) 32:07.8, 13 Jon Hinham (300 Husaberg) 32:14.4, 14 Chris Hockey (250 Yamaha) 32:58.9, 15 Andrew Edwards (250 KTM) 33:00.7.
CLUBMAN CLASS: 1 Robert Johnson (250 Husqvarna) 19:31.1, 2 Fraser Flockart (250 KTM) 19:38.9, 3 Aled Price (250 KTM) 20:47.0, 4 Lee Green (250 KTM) 21:08.6, 5 Joshua Gotts (125 TM) 21:32.9, 6 Jason Hurley (250 KTM) 21:38.6, 7 Phil Maltby (450 KTM) 21:55.3, 8 Ashley Stokes (250 Honda) 21:56.0, 9 Reece Emson (250 KTM) 22:02.2, 10 Tony Cotty (250 KTM) 22:05.8, 11 Rob Clark (124 KTM) 22:17.0, 12 Aaron Martin (125 KTM) 22:26.0, 13 Richard Walters (125 KTM) 22:30.1, 14 Ross Jones (350 KTM) 22:42.0, 15 Freddie Davis (350 KTM) 22:47.5.
EXPERT CLASS: 1 Jack Rowland (250 Husqvarna) 26:32.0, 2 Steve Halcombe (250 KTM) 26:51.1, 3 Lewis Belfield (250 KTM) 27:11.6, 4 Craig Reynolds (250 KTM) 27:30.3, 5 Oliver Hart (350 KTM) 27:37.2, 6 David Lloyd Jones (125 KTM) 27:52.5, 7 Alun Jones (125 KTM) 27:53.1, 8 James Gidding (250 KTM) 28:02.5, 9 Matt Halcombe (250 KTM) 28:38.0, 10 Daniel Beaven (300 KTM) 28:39.1, 11 Tudor Davies (250 KTM) 28:39.5, 12 Jamie Roper (250 KTM) 28:51.9, 13 Tyson Maytom-Jones (450 Husaberg) 28:54.7, 14 Gary Jenkins (300 KTM) 28:55.4, 15 Allyn Scotland (250 Suzuki) 29:02.2.
VETERAN CLASS: 1 Wyn Hughes (449 Husqvarna) 23:37.8, 2 Paul Davies (250 KTM) 24:47.7, 3 Phil Smithson (250 KTM) 24:55.6, 4 Paul Sagar (150 KTM) 25:50.7, 5 James Harvey (250 KTM) 26:20.2, 6 David Stokes (250 Honda) 26:43.8, 7 John Hunt (125 KTM) 27:27.8, 8 Darren Osbourne (300 KTM) 27:54.6, 9 Robert Mcleod (250 Yamaha) 28:37.1, 10 Cefin Evans (300 KTM) 30:34.7, 11 Arwyn Jones (250 KTM) 31:25.8, 12 Tom Williams (125 KTM) 31:28.0, 13 Dylan Davies (510 Husqvarna) 37:50.5, 14 Carwyn Davies (449 Husqvarna) 55:45.7.
NEXT ROUND: August 27/28 – Bel Dyfi Enduro at venue, nr Machynlleth, Powys (Mid Wales TRA Ltd).
