Pinch of Sagar
By TMX Archives on 5th Apr 13
THE Elgin Enduro at Lossiemouth, Scotland, got the 2013 British Enduro Champs underway but only following some superb work by the Elgin Endurance Club members after police brought the event to an early halt when they began pulling in competitors for a roadside check after Championship riders had completed the the first special test see story on page 2.
So the event was re-started at 1pm – although the morning test in Lossie forest was still to count.
Luckily, the sun shone and the rest of the day passed without any major incidents.
The special test was a long, twisting, whooped sandy trail through the trees and ultimately out to the sand dunes and the edge of the beach.
The check times were slack as the focus was now on the special tests for all the riders.
Tom Sagar won day one in convincing style, Jamie Lewis and Daryl Bolter tried to match his speed but Tom was in a league of his own.
Daryl later said that he was struggling to get into a rhythm in the sand.
Jamie McCanney was the sole E1 two-stroke in fourth overall, an astonishing achievement, and he missed a podium finish by just one second.
Jack Rowland was top E1
four-stroke just four seconds ahead of Lee Edmondson, as they battled it out, with Paul Bolton further back in third.
Local hero Ricky Mair topped the E2 two-stroke class and was in a determined mood right from the start finishing seventh overall.
Mark Roberts was second, his times improving throughout the day and this would stand him in good stead for Sunday, while Neil Chatham, returning to the British Enduro scene, finished third.
Frazer Norrie was the sole E3 two-stroke to survive the day taking the class win and eighth overall.
In the Experts Scottish Enduro's Ryan McLean was taking part in only his second Enduro and took his second Expert Class win after his debut at the Diss in February.
Ryan was neck and neck with Brad Freeman, winning by just one second from Brad, the E1two-stroke winner. James Dent was third Expert, taking the win in the E1 four-stroke points.
Lee Sealey won E1 two-stroke and the overall Clubman class by just two seconds ahead of Lee Green the E3 two-stroke leader with Phillip Wiffen third. Mark Turner won the E1 Four-stroke class in fifth overall.
There was a Battle Royal in the Vets as Derek Little set the pace although the vast experience of Welsh ace Carl Tiley saw him close in to within three seconds by the finish. Lancastrian Andrew Reeves took third ahead of Scottish regulars Murray Thomson and Richard Hay.
In the Ladies, Jane Daniels set the pace but a fall and a damaged knee saw her finish the weekend on crutches which was a shame as she was setting some fantastic times.
Katie Walker took the win again with some good special test times, Rhian George second and Fionn Griffiths third.
Sportsman saw Scottish Enduro regular Bill Bruce win from Russell Thomson and Richard Williams.
The atmosphere was good at the end of the first day as three laps of the sandy Lossie track plus the earlier run before the problems meant the riders had a good day out. General consensus was that the club had done an excellent job.
It was a very cold night with some frozen gas pipes in the caravans before day two started early, despite the clocks going back and it was decided that three laps of the now very whooped-out track would be enough for the Championship and Expert riders with two laps and two tests at the finish for everyone else.
Top four in the Championship finished in the same order but with tighter margins and Tom Sagar won again despite a trip over the handlebars at the start-finish log!
Jamie Lewis looked intimidating but could not match the pace of Tom at the front, finishing second overall and top E2 four-stroke with Daryl Bolter looking much more confident in third.
Jamie McCanney finished fourth again pushing his 125 all the way, with Mark Roberts as he upped his game on the second day, pushing Ricky Mair down to second in E2 two-stroke with Neil Chatham third again.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX APRIL 5
British Enduro Championship
Rd 1 – Lossiemouth Forest, nr Elgin, Morayshire (Elgin Endurance Club)
DAY ONE
Championship: 1 Tom Sagar (Colwyn Bay KTM) 2303 time penalties, 2 Jamie Lewis (Honda) 2376, 3 Daryl Bolter (Crescent KTM) 2395, 4 Jamie McCanney (Midwest Husaberg) 2396, 5 Jack Rowland (Husqvarna) 2484, 6 Lee Edmondson (Edmondson Honda) 2488, 7 Ricky Mair (SafeAccess KTM) 2511, 8 Frazer Norrie (KTM) 2555, 9 Kevin Murray (???) 2561, 10 Mark Roberts (TM) 2562, 11 Paul Bolton (Eurotek KTM) 2565, 12 Neil Chatham (Drysdale KTM) 2586, 13 Rheinallt Davies (KTM) 2690, 14 Gethin Humphreys (Sherco) 2741, 15 Tim Foreman (FrontRow GB KTM) 2749.
Expert: 1 Ryan McClean (Yamaha) 2051, 2 Brad Freeman (KTM) 2052, 3 James Dent (TM) 2113, 4 Josh Gotts (CTR TM) 2113, 5 Rob Johnson (SLOR Husqvarna) 2114, 6 Joe Wootton (Kawasaki) 2131, 7 Carl Jones (Front Row KTM) 2159, 8 Fraser Fockhart (Ecosse MX KTM) 2165, 9 Owain Humphreys (Sherco) 2183, 10 Luke Lusher (ABL Honda) 2188.
Clubman: 1 Lee Sealey (Midwest Husaberg) 2181, 2 Lee Green (Steve Plain Beta) 2283, 3 Philip Wiffen (Husaberg) 2322, 4 Jon Hunt (Husqvarna) 2345, 5 Mark Turner (KTM) 2356, 6 Garin Rosser (FrontRow KTM) 2359, 7 Andrew Bull (ET James KTM) 2368, 8 Aaron Martin (KTM) 2375, 9 Jack Staines (KTM) 2377, 10 Tom Ellwood (???) 2474.
Ladies: 1 Katie Walker (ET James KTM) 2669, 2 Rhian George (Husaberg) 2733, 3 Fionn Griffiths (KTM) 2824, 4 Hannah Styles (Midwest Husaberg) 3143.
Over 40 (Vet): 1 Derek Little (KTM) 2260, 2 Carl Tiley (CTR TM UK) 2263, 3 Andrew Reeves (KTM EXC) 2325, 4 Murray Thomson (KTM) 2372, 5 Richard Hay (KTM) 2372, 6 Russ Millward (Honda ) 2377, 7 Scott Stephenson (KTM) 2465, 8 Paul Davies (KTM) 2504, 9 Mike Turner (KTM) 2528, 10 Jim Wright (KTM) 2591.
Sportsman: 1 Bill Bruce (KTM) 1424, 2 Russell Thomson (KTM) 1649, 3 Richard Williams (KTM) 1694, 4 Bruce Cooper (KTM) 1721, 5 David Dick (Yamaha) 1890, 6 David Smart (KTM) 2747, 7 Alisdair Anderson (KTM) 4368, 8 Mike Robertson (TM) 5455.
Day Two
Championship: 1 Tom Sagar (Colwyn Bay KTM) 1421 time penalties, 2 Jamie Lewis (Honda) 1457, 3 Daryl Bolter (Crescent KTM) 1470, 4 Jamie McCanney (Midwest Husaberg) 1485, 5 Mark Roberts (TM) 1522, 6 Paul Bolton (Eurotek KTM) 1530, 7 Ricky Mair (SafeAccess Drysdale KTM) 1533, 8 Lee Edmondson (Edmondson Honda) 1551, 9 Kevin Murray (???) 1559, 10 Jack Rowland (Husqvarna) 1571, 11 Neil Chatham (Drysdale KTM) 1588, 12 Arran Poolman (Midwest Husaberg) 1603, 13 Frazer Norrie (KTM) 1614, 14 Rheinallt Davies (KTM) 1614, 15 Gethin Humphreys (Sherco) 1663.
Expert: 1 Rob Johnson (SLOR Husqvarna) 1596, 2 Ryan McClean (Yamaha) 1598, 3 Brad Freeman (KTM) 1608, 4 Owain Humphreys (Sherco) 1661, 5 Josh Gotts (CTR TM) 1671, 6 James Dent (TM) 1672, 7 Joe Wootton (Kawasaki) 1672, 8 Aaron Smith (Midwest Husaberg) 1689, 9 Fraser Fockhart (Ecosse MX KTM) 1690, 10 Luke Lusher (ABL Honda) 1724.
Clubman: 1 Jack Staines (KTM) 1124, 2 Lee Sealey (Midwest Husaberg) 1131, 3 Lee Green (Steve Plain Beta) 1164, 4 Jon Hunt (Husqvarna) 1185, 5 Philip Wiffen (Husaberg) 1215, 6 Garin Rosser (FrontRow KTM ) 1226, 7 Mark Turner (KTM) 1242, 8 Tom Ellwood (???) 1245, 9 Craig Altass (KTM) 1258, 10 Andrew Bull (ET James KTM) 1263.
Over 40 (Vets): 1 Carl Tyley (CTR TM) 1136, 2 Derek Little (KTM) 1183, 3 Russ Millward (HondaCRF) 1190, 4 Murray Thomson (KTM) 1198, 5 Andrew Reeves (KTM EXC) 1200, 6 Richard Hay (KTM) 1205, 7 Scott Stephenson (KTM) 1234, 8 Mike Turner (KTM) 1282, 9 Paul Davies (KTM) 1299, 10 Jim Wright (KTM EXC) 1326.
Over 40 (Vets): 1 Bill Bruce (KTM) 1556, 2 Richard Williams (KTM) 1774, 3 Bruce Cooper (KTM) 1822, 4 David Dick (Yamaha WR) 1893, 5 Russell Thomson (KTM EXC F) 1915, 6 David Smart (KTM EXC) 2905.
