Deakin grabs Bowland win
By TMX Archives on 18th Jun 09
BOLTON-by-Bowland, Lancashire, was the place to be on Sunday if you are into Cross-country Motorcycle racing as DirtBike-Traxs staged the sixth round of the National Putoline Hare Scramble Championship, attracting 350 riders to the event with nearly 80 disappointed riders turned away.The DirtBike-Traxs crew had spent the last few weeks altering the course and extending it to give a new feel to this exciting venue with its wide open grassland going, with hills, descents, gullies, farm tracks and small plots of woodland all blending in to provide a fast flowing XC course. The Youth and Lady riders had their own variation on the course, which took the average youth rider around ten-minutes while the adult course averaged around 13-minutes per lap. From Friday competitors started to gather at Rayhead Farm, Bolton-by-Bowland, to set up camp in glorious sunshine. Saturday dawned bright with sunshine and blue skies to greet the Youth and Lady riders as they prepared for their mid-day start.Report and Pictures: Event Media Services
AT 12-noon an excellent entry of Youth and Lady riders set off bang on time for a 90-minute race. The Senior B riders lead the field away and Scot Altass was out in front. Dan Bewlay had a tumble on the first corner, which resulted in an early retirement. Luke Flack was also involved in a first corner incidence but made rapid progress through the pack to take up second spot. Altass claimed the race win with a 2-minute 46-second margin ahead of Luke Flack.
In the Junior class, Doltan Shannon was first across the finish line with Archie Flack second. Dexter Douglas, returning from injury, grabbed third place.
The Ladies class is growing but once again Jade Gordon took the win. Gina Bewlay nabbed second third place by just one-second from Molly Howe.
The rides and spectators were treated to a quad race, which nicely filled the rest of Saturday afternoon.
Sunday's race format was different to previous rounds of the series. Local council officials insisted that the organisers run just one adult race, but with the extra long and wide course the DBT crew were able to comfortably accommodate 260 riders on the course.
The massed ranks set off at 10am with the Expert and Over 40 classes leading the way. With some of the regular Expert riders missing – on Erzberg duty – there was a chance for one of the young guns to grab some glory.
Gary Daniels took the holeshot and, along with Ben Wootton, pulled a massive lead on the first lap clocking in a minute clear of the chasing pack. Joe Dekin had a crash on the first lap that dropped him down to around 20th place.
Daniels and Wootton maintained their lead over the chasing pack, but on lap four Wootton pushed to the front. He maintain an advantage until lap eight when he holed the casing on the Suzuki, which resulted in his retirement.
Meanwhile, Martin Sandiford, out on a new 250 Husqvarna which had been the centre of interest before the start, blasted through to second place after a poor start and started chasing Daniels – until he ran out of fuel on lap nine. This promoted Joe Deakin to second.
On lap ten, with victory in his sights, Gary Daniels retired when the rear hub on his bike collapsed, allowing Joe Deakin to hit the front, Joe then cruised the last four laps aware that Craig Reynolds was two-minutes behind in second. As the flag dropped at the end of the 2.5-hour duration, Deakin nailed the Expert victory from Craig Reynolds and Paddy Langan.
Rob Butler stormed to a fine win in the 0ver 40 class, a lap clear of second man Mick Kendal.
Niki Walker topped Clubman E1 ahead of Dom Garnham while Levi Johnson took first place in Clubman Open, a lap clear of second-placed David Appleyard. Leading sportsman rider, Jeremy Ashby once again won Sportsman E1 by 46-seconds from Mark Lakeland, while in Sportsman Open winner David Dudley had a 20-second margin over second man, Nick Owen.
James Dent headed Youth Senior A youth from Scott Altass.
At the end a happy DirtBike-Traxs CEO, John Kerwin, said: "This has been our best event of the year so far. We have worked hard with the local council to provide a safer event. The riders will have seen the road traffic management we have provided on the access roads to the venue, the car parking and camping arrangements.
Now that the traffic management has worked successfully we will be able to go back to a two-race format in August. This will mean everyone will get a ride. It was terrible to have to turn away nearly 80 riders!”
NATIONAL PUTOLINE HARE SCRAMBLE CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 6 – Bolton-by-Bowland, Lancashire
(DirtBike-Traxs)
MAIN RACE (Sunday)
Expert: 1 Joe Deakin 14 laps - 2:13 time penalties, 2 Craig Reynolds 14 - 4:10, 3 Paddy Langhan 14 - 6:10, 4 Dan Field 14 - 6:28, 5 David Wilson 14 - 7:03, 6 Josh Bendell 14 - 9:08.
Clubman E1: 1 Niki Walker 13 - 1:10, 2 Dom Garnham 13 - 6:02, 3 John Calvert 13 - 6:29, 4 Richard Pearson 13 - 7:11, 5 Ash Jones 13 - 10:27, 6 Rob Dawson 13 - 12:47.
Clubman Open: 1 Levi Johnson 14 - 10:09, 2 David Appleyard 13 - 6:55, 3 Rob Pearce 13 - 9:25, 4 Lee Depledge 13 - 10:22, 5 Gareth Lodge 12 - 1:22, 6 Mick Thompson 12 - 3:35.
Over 40: 1 Rob Butler 14 - 10:31, 2 Mick Kendall 13 - 0:27, 3 Anthony Crowe 13 - 0:48, 4 John Lofthouse 13 - 2:09, 5 Mick Armstrong 13 - 4:17, 6 Craig Chadwick 13 - 8:29.
Sportsman E1: 1 Jeremy Ashby 12 - 0:05, 2 Mark Lakeland 12 - 0:51, 3 Sherman Lofthouse 12 - 2:22, 4 John Robson 12 - 3:54, 5 Chris Perry 12 - 5:49, 6 Jack Colley 12 - 5:54.
Sportsman Open: 1 David Dudley 12 - 5:46, 2 Nick Owen 12 - 6:07, 3 Jason Ingham 12 - 7:15, 4 Andrew King 12 - 8:48, 5 Lee Hird 12 - 10:45, 6 Paul King 12 - 13:30.
Novice: 1 William Charnock 12 - 11:11, 2 Stuart Thompson 11 - 5:49, 3 Cliff Dunning 10 - 0:32, 4 Jason Barker 10 - 1:56, 5 Jason McGarry 10 - 5:03, 6 Scott Marshall 10 - 5:37.
Senior A: 1 James Dent 12 - 0:26, 2 Scott Altass 12 - 8:39, 3 Matthew North 11 - 6:41, 4 Edward Field 11 - 10:58, 5 Ryan Ireland 10 - 1:40, 6 Jack Midgley 10 - 14:06.
YOUTH & LADIES RACE (Saturday)
Senior B: 1 Scott Altass 11 laps - 5:57 time penalties, 2 Luke Flack 11 - 8:44, 3 Jon Aldritt 10 - 6:38, 4 Michael Gilby 9 - 0:07, 5 Lewis Fletcher 9 - 4:13, 6 Patrick Rosney 9 - 5:17.
Junior: 1 Doltan Shannon 7 - 3:56, 2 Archie Flack 7 - 5:04, 3 Dexter Douglas 7 - 6:31, 4 Ross Johns 7 - 12:07, 5 Matt Clark 7 - 12:48, 6 Charlie Athersmith 6 - 1:11.
Ladies: 1 Jade Gordon 9 - 8:04, 2 Gina Bewlay 9 - 9:46, 3 Molly Howe 9 - 9:47, 4 Helen Lang 8 - 4:57, 5 Emma Ball 8 - 6:45, 6 Tara Johnson 7 - 6:54.
After crashing on the first lap Joe Deakin had plenty to do in the Expert class, but he powered his way to the front and victory was his.
