Not Brad for starters

Sunshine bathed the venue from the start of the Sprint Nationals on Saturday to the end of the Cross-country races on Sunday.

 

Surprisingly, considering the rain over the last few months, Coney Green Farm was bone-dry. 

 

Around 90% of the course was fast-going, although Paul Edmondson had thrown-in a load of technical sections up and down the steep hills, with plenty of off-cambers for riders to deal with.

 

A terrific entry on both days saw plenty of top-notch competitive racing across all classes. 

 

Rising star Brad Freeman, on his Colwyn Bay KTM, set the Pro class standard during Saturday's Sprint event, winning every one of the eight runs around the course.

 

Jack Rowland had an excellent day and took second place, with Mark Roberts was just over 30-seconds adrift in third.

 

Antoine Criq was the surprise of the Expert class, getting up to fourth overall at one point before slipping to fifth but taking the class win, more than a minute clear of Sean Eckersley. 

 

Jack Staines narrowly missed out on runner-up by a handful of seconds and had to be satisfied with third in class.

 

Tom Kirk and Jacob Bowden were separated by just a tenth of a second in the Clubman ranks after the initial run, but Kirk then turned up the wick to inch away from Bowden, eventually winning the class by 50 seconds overall.

 

James Wren tried hard to catch Bowden but had to settle for third.

 

Sean O'Neill finished top dog in the Veteran class, after Andy Daniels made one of his rare outings to provide some competition.

 

Daniels gradually closed the gap in the later tests but O'Neill was too far ahead at that point. 

 

Gary Skelding also made a last-minute charge to climb to third place, just 11 seconds behind Daniels.

 

Brad Sullivan was a clear winner of the Sportsman class, with his nearest competitors more than two minutes adrift. 

 

Second-placed Mark Plain kept ahead of Steve Furr, but only just, with 10 seconds between them by the end of the eighth test.

 

In an effort to encourage younger riders to get some Sprint experience, there were two Youth classes.

 

The Under 12s class witnessed a great performance from Charlie Chater, who posted some very quick times, to claim the class win ahead of Patrick Borge and Cole Cookland. 

 

Meanwhile, Brad Lilburn headed the Youth 13-16 class and eventually posted an overall time which would have given him a finish in the Clubman top ten. 

 

Brad won his class in front of Harry Edmondson and George Saunders.

 

Rd 1 – Coney Green Farm, Stouport on Severn, Worcs (Fast Eddy Racing)

PM Race

Pro: 1 Lee Edmondson 15 laps, 2 James Jackman 15, 3 Jeremy Callow 15, 4 Richard Ely 14, 5 Gary Daniels 12.

Expert: 1 Antoine Criq 15, 2 Ashley Fox 14, 3 Dom Thomas 14, 4 Alex West 14, 5 Matt Boam 14, 6 Jane Daniels 14.

Clubman 2T: 1 Jacob Bowden 14, 2 Jack Cadwallader 14, 3 Luke Smith 13, 4 Reece Morewood 13, 5 Jamie Jenkins 13, 6 Mark Hillier-Rees 13.

Clubman 4T: 1 Sam Sault 13, 2 Lee Hattersley 13, 3 Sonny Parker 13, 4 Vinny Brown 12, 5 Rob Cartwright 12, 6 Royce Machin 12.

AM Race

Veteran: 1 Christopher Wagstaff 14 laps, 2 Sean O'Neill 14, 3 Colin Jones 13, 4 Simon Thomas 13, 5 Ryan Griffiths 13, 6 Paul Downing 12.

Youth 12-16: 1 Elliot Bradshaw 13, 2 Brad Lilburn 13, 3 Luke Knight 12, 4 Jordan Kendrick-Jones 12, 5 Max Ditchfield 12, 6 Jacob James 11.

Sportsman: 1 Kevin Sandland 13, 2 Lee Richards 13, 3 Kieran Jordan 12, 4 Dan Darnley 12, 5 Neal Wailing 12, 6 Andy Harvey 12.

Novice: 1 Michael Dutton 12, 2 Mathew Leadham 11, 3 Paul Freeman 11, 4 George Crump 11, 5 Andrew Whieldon 11, 6 Aidan Wright 11.

GBXC Sprint

Pro: 1 Brad Freeman 31:09 total time, 2 Jack Rowlands 31:40, 3 Mark Roberts 32:28, 4 Lee Edmondson 32:35, 5 Richard Ely 34:04, 6 Jeremy Callow 34:29.

Expert: 1 Antoine Criq 33:00, 2 Sean Eckersley 34:05, 3 Jack Staines 34:12, 4 Matt Boam 34:18, 5 Dom Thomas 34:26, 6 Lee Green 35:09.

Clubman: 1 Tom Kirk 35:23, 2 Jacob Bowden 36:14, 3 James Wren 37:03, 4 Reece Morewood 37:19, 5 Aaron Martin 37:36, 6 Jack Cadwallader 37:39.

Veteran: 1 Sean O'Neill 37:49, 2 Andy Daniels 38:39, 3 Gary Skelding 38:50, 4 Simon Thomas 40:38, 5 Lance Hurdsman 41:42, 6 John Malone 47:16.

Sportsman: 1 Bradley Sullivan 38:36, 2 Mark Plain 42:42, 3 Steve Furr 42:53, 4 Rob Simpson 43:10, 5 Shaun James 43:24, 6 Mark Bartlett 44:34.

Novice: 1 Michael Dutton 45:37, 2 Mark Sullivan 46:30, 3 Raife Macdonald 46:59, 4 Lexi Pugh 47:24, 5 Ethan Pugh 48:29, 6 Adam Hazeldine 50:35.

Youth 13-16: 1 Brad Lilburn 39:22, 2 Harry Edmondson 40:10, 3 George Saunders 40:18, 4 Jordan Kendrick-Jones 42:01, 5 Ryan Hughes 43:36, 6 Liam Bartlett 46:33.

Under 12: 1 Charlie Chater 46:03, 2 Patrick Borge 47:33, 3 Cole Cookland 48:00, 4 Sam Davies 49:14, 5 Adam James 27:03.