Mac Attack!

Despite sub-zero temperatures double Enduro World Champion Johnny Aubert claimed victory at round one, while in round two Gas Gas UK's home-grown enduro sensation Danny McCanney rode to the overall win, in an exciting start to what looks set to be a thrilling season.

 

Conditions were anything but favourable, with riders greeted with some of the coldest weather seen in Britain during February since 1947. 

 

As heavy frost and snow covered the Aldershot area the night before the event, the wooded area used for the BSEC opener looked like a winter wonderland. 

 

However the sandy-based terrain coped well with the conditions and the riders produced some exciting and close-fought racing.

 

A late entry to the BSEC programme, KTM's Johnny Aubert arrived in Aldershot intent on using the event for some much-needed testing ahead of his assault on the Enduro World 

Championship. 

 

And although admitting to riding the opening lap a bit too cautiously, Aubert wasted little time in making his presence felt. 

 

Setting some of the fastest Elite class times, Aubert immediately opened up a 10-second advantage over newly-crowned SuperEnduro World Champion Taddy Blazusiak (KTM).

 

With race conditions improving, Aubert continued to set the Elite class standard. Dropping his lap times by up to 36 seconds over the course of the day, the Frenchman eventually claimed victory in the Elite class, while also topping the overall classification. 

 

Also opting to travel to Aldershot to contest the opening round, Blazusiak avoided any trouble during the opening special tests and steadily improved throughout the day to finish second, just in front of defending BSEC champion Tom Sagar (Honda). 

 

Struggling to find his rhythm around the slippery and twisty course, Sagar wasn't able to fully challenge the leading pair and had to be content with third on the day. 

 

Husaberg's Si Wakely got his season off to a strong start in fourth, while BSEC newcomer and long-time British MX favourite, Tom Church ended the day in fifth. 

 

With both Aubert and Blazusiak unable to compete at round two, KTM Enduro Factory rider, David Knight took control of the Elite proceedings on the second day. 

 

After crashing out of the competition during the first test at round one, Knight was determined to record a better finish at round two. 

 

Unaffected by a small hand injury he sustained in the crash, Knight was back on form for round two. 

 

Motocross ace Jordan Rose (TM) set the fastest Elite times during the opening two laps, but Knight took advantage of a small mistake by Rose on lap three to inherit the lead. 

 

Gaining confidence with each passing lap on an ever-improving course, Knight gradually opened up an advantage at the top of the field to claim the win by almost 24 seconds over runner-up Sagar.

 

Benefiting from Rose's mistake on lap three, Sagar once again continued his strong start to the season by claiming another 

podium result with second. 

 

Making an impressive debut aboard his TM, Rose produced the surprise result of the Elite class at round two. Setting the fastest opening time, the enduro newcomer grew with confidence throughout the day, but after a 

mistake on lap three Rose eventually settled for third. 

 

Wakely again ended the day in fourth, while Tom Church pipped both Jamie Lewis (Husqvarna) and Daryl Bolter (KTM) in the final test to finish fifth.

 

The Under 23 class proved to be the most closely-fought category at the BSEC opener and carrying on from where they left off at the end of last year's series the leading trio of Danny McCanney (Gas Gas), Alex Rockwell (Husaberg) and Jonny Walker (KTM) continued to set the standard. 

 

For reigning Under-23 champion Manxman Danny McCanney he got his title defence off to the best possible start by claiming victory on both days. 

 

Quickly adapting to the slippery conditions he clocked the fastest time during the opening special test and continued to build on his lead throughout the day.

 

And as the track conditions improving with each lap, Danny ran out a winner by 19 seconds from Rockwell and finished the event second in the overall classification. 

 

Second in the Under-23s and third overall, Rockwell recovered strongly from a small crash on lap three, while extreme specialist Walker was 

confident in the slippery conditions and was one of the fastest performers throughout.

 

However, a costly crash during the first special test meant Walker would have to settle for third overall on the day. 

 

 

Rd 1 – Eelmoor Training Area, nr Farnborough, Hants (GMC Events Ltd)

Elite: 1 Johnny Aubert (KTM) 37:53.05, 2 Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 38:53.05, 3 Tom Sagar (Honda) 38:57.49, 4 Simon Wakely (Husaberg) 39:17.56, 5 Tom Church (KTM) 39:30.38, 6 Jamie Lewis (Husqvarna) 39:45.08, 7 Daryl Bolter (KTM) 39:54.14, 8 Ricky Dietrich (Husqvarna) 39:54.14, 9 Mark Roberts (Kawasaki) 40:10.14, 10 Paul Bolton (KTM) 40:37.70.

Expert: 1 Richard Ely (KTM) 41:46.05, 2 Jack Lee (Gas Gas) 41:52.52, 3 Tyson Mayton-Jones (Husaberg) 42:06.66, 4 Luke Copestoke (KTM) 42:47.37, 5 James Jackman (Honda) 42:48.49, 6 Oliver Hart (KTM) 42:55.16, 7 Julian Harvey (KTM) 43:26.92, 8 Daniel Beaven (KTM) 43:37.84, 9 Craig Reynolds (KTM) 44:07.00, 10 Mark Cringle (KTM) 44:13.56.

Under 19: 1 Steve Holcombe (KTM) 40:17.62, 2 Joe Jones (KTM) 40:51.54, 3 Aaron Smith (Husaberg) 41:38.62, 4 James Dent (KTM) 43:05.21, 5 Robert Johnson (Husqvarna) 43:09.17, 6 Stuart Owen (Yamaha) 43:50.69, 7 Luke Flack (KTM) 44:30.89, 8 Tom Crump (Suzuki) 45:11.93, 9 Aaron Edwards (TM ) 45:37.61, 10 Andrew Bull (KTM) 45:56.35; 11.

Youth 125cc Cup: 1 Jamie McCanney (Husaberg) 38:48.59, 2 Brad Freeman (KTM) 42:27.89, 3 Leo Sealey (KTM) 43:55.35, 4 Josh Gotts (TM ) 44:01.95, 5 Scott Altass (Husaberg) 44:24.09, 6 Charlie Nichols (Yamaha) 45:39.27, 7 Jack Staines (Yamaha) 46:09.10, 8 Jon Hunt (Husqvarna) 46:33.21, 9 Kyle Casement (KTM) 47:10.90, 10 George Hayes (KTM) 47:19.04.

Under 23: 1 Danny McCanney (Gas Gas) 38:01.92, 2 Alex Rockwell (Husaberg) 38:20.17, 3 Jonny Walker (KTM) 38:33.00, 4 Jack Rowland (Husqvarna) 39:27.26, 5 Jordan Scott (KTM) 40:11.97, 6 Frazer Norrie (KTM) 41:36.18, 7 Lewis Belfield (KTM) 41:44.24, 8 Rheinallt Davies (KTM) 41:47.27, 9 Neil Chatham (KTM) 42:54.00, 10 James Giddings (KTM) 42:57.04.

Clubman: 1 Jamie Jenkins (KTM) 46:06.53, 2 Richard Topping (Honda) 46:13.74, 3 Erich Schonwalder (KTM) 46:26.69, 4 Matthew Solan (KTM) 46:45.84, 5 Ian Smart (KTM) 47:09.43, 6 Jason Corden (KTM) 48:00.88, 7 Gethin Francombe (TM ) 48:03.12, 8 Carl Bale (KTM) 49:54.29, 9 Michael Johnson (KTM) 50:09.41, 10 John Butterworth (KTM) 50:15.24l.

Women: 1 Jane Daniels (KTM) 46:54.31, 2 Fionn Griffiths (KTM) 53:04.87, 3 Rhian George (KTM) 53:08.43, 4 Emily Davey (Yamaha) 01:01:43.03, 5 Stephanie Rowe (AJP) 01:36:42.82.

 

Rd 2  – Eelmoor Training Area, nr Farnborough, Hants (GMC Events Ltd)

Elite: 1 David Knight 36:34.12, 2 Tom Sagar 36:58.32, 3 Jordan Rose 37:00.30, 4 Simon Wakely 37:21.41, 5 Tom Church 37:53.48, 6 Jamie Lewis 37:56.88, 7 Daryl Bolter 37:58.10, 8 Mark Roberts 38:22.61, 9 Paul Bolton 38:55.88, 10 Gavin Houson 39:12.71.

Expert: 1 Richard Ely 39:30.75, 2 Tyson Mayton-Jones 39:36.50, 3 Jack Lee 40:12.39, 4 Oliver Hart 40:13.13, 5 James Jackman 40:37.02, 6 Mark Cringle 40:52.25, 7 Craig Reynolds 40:55.43, 8 Luke Copestake 41:29.56, 9 Julian Harvey 41:46.94, 10 Damian Butler (KTM) 42:16.68.

Under 19: 1 Steve Holcombe 38:09.76, 2 Joe Jones 39:33.36, 3 Joe Wootton 39:57.47, 4 Aaron Smith 40:34.57, 5 James Dent 40:53.77, 6 Robert Johnson 41:27.61, 7 Luke Flack 41:46.15, 8 Aaron Edwards 42:25.23, 9 Stuart Owen 42:39.17, 10 Andrew Bull 43:57.76.

Under 23: 1 Danny McCanney 35:58.54, 2 Alex Rockwell 36:02.36, 3 Jonny Walker 36:18.82, 4 Jack Rowland 37:10.44, 5 Jordan Scott 38:12.84, 6 Frazer Norrie 39:43.82, 7 Lewis Belfield 39:54.36, 8 Neil Chatham 39:55.13, 9 Rheinallt Davies 40:09.05, 10 Gareth Davies 40:42.85.

Youth 125cc Cup: 1 Jamie McCanney 37:32.70, 2 Josh Gotts 41:52.21, 3 Lee Sealey 41:56.78, 4 Jack Staines 42:38.27, 5 Charlie Nichols 42:44.74, 6 Brad Freeman 43:33.42, 7 Jon Hunt 44:02.84, 8 Kyle Casement 45:35.65, 9 George Hayes, 10 Duncan Norrie.

Clubman: 1 Matthew Solan 43:43.00, 2 Gethin Francombe 44:24.76, 3 Erich Schonwalder 44:38.61, 4 Richard Topping 45:05.21, 5 Jason Corden 45:28.46, 6 Ian Smart 45:33.26, 7 Aaron Martin 46:10.22, 8 Carl Bale 46:41.46, 9 Malcolm Coles 46:55.86, 10 Michael Johnson 47:58.27.

Women: 1 Jane Daniels 43:46.41, 2 Rhian George 49:20.06, 3 Fionn Griffiths 49:57.07, 4 Emily Davey 56:34.39, 5 Stephanie Rowe 1:24:15.43.

SERIES STANDINGS

Elite: 1 Sagar 32 points, 2 Wakely 26, 3 Church 22, 4 Knight 20, 4 Aubert 20, 4 Jamie Lewis 20,...

Expert: 1 Ely 40 points, 2 Lee 32, 2 Maytom-Jones 32, 4 Hart 23, 5 Jackman 22, 6 Copestake 21,...

Under 23: 1 Danny McCanney 40 points, 2 Rockwell 34, 3 Walker 30, 4 Rowland 26, 5 Scott 22, 6 Norrie 20,...

Under 19: 1 Holcomb 40 points, 2 Smith 30, 3 Dent 26, 4 Johnson 22, 5 Owen 19, 6 Edwards 17, 6 Wootton 17, 6 Joe Jones 17,...

Clubman: 1 Solan 33 points, 2 Schonwalder 30, 2 Topping 30, 4 Francombe 26, 5 Corden 21, 5 Smart 21,...

Ladies: 1 Daniels 40 points, 2 George 32, 2 Griffiths 32, 4 Davey 26, 5 Rowe 22.

Youth: 1 Jamie McCanney 40 points, 2 Gotts 30, 2 Sealey 30, 4 Freeman 27, 5 Staines 22, 6 Nichols 21,...

NEXT ROUND: March 10/11 – Llangrove, Monmouth (GMC Events Ltd).