Murphy’s law
By TMX Archives on 1st Jul 15
H2O, near Oswestry, once again earned its name as thick mist followed by heavy downpours shrouded the venue for most of the morning, as riders took to the line for the sixth round of the Rock Oil XC Championship.
High up in the hills, the venue has a huge amount of varying terrain which includes a huge MX track, a nasty rooted and rocky woodland and plenty of ravines with steep entrances and even steeper exits.
The MX track was very slippy to say the least, initially, but throughout the day conditions improved and by 12.30pm the sun was out and was followed by the slightest wisps of dust in places.
In thick mist with clouds at treetop level the youngsters got proceedings started and Harry Edmondson tore away to establish a decent lead in the Big-wheel 85-150cc class over arch-rival Henry Yardley.
Harry powered onwards but as the mid-race pit-stop approached for re-fuelling it was Henry who was in the lead. He continued to stretch out a gap while Harry tried his hardest to close it, too hard in fact and a few mistakes saw him slip backwards at a rate of knots.
He was solid in second spot but Yardley had the race firmly under control while Callum Sedgwick took third in class.
Further down the field Cole Cookland and Sam Davies were having their own mega-battle, which Davies won much to Cookie's disgust after leading the pair for over half of the race.
Charlie Chater completed the Small-wheel 85cc top three.
Adam James was free and clear at the front of the 65cc class with Keelan Hope and Cory Cookland in pursuit while two Auto riders, Alfie Davies and Bert Boam, somehow managed to get their little machines up a huge hill on the MX track to complete the race with Davies taking the class.
The mist gave way to rain as the first adult race of the day got underway, following the addition of a handful of extra sections, just before 11.30am but the rain soon cleared and the sun shone for most of the two-hour race.
Youth class rider Max Ditchfield soon established a lead and always looked as if he was heading for victory, which he was.
FOR FULL REPORT & PICTURES SEE TMX NEWS, THURSDAY, JULY 2, (ISSUE 1978)
