Walking the 'line
By TMX Archives on 28th Jan 09
RUNNING an event in January is always a gamble. Running an event out of area' so to speak is even more of a gamble but one which Paul Edmondson was prepared to take when he scheduled the opening round of one of the UK's premier XC Championship series to run in Kent at the weekend, at Lodge Hill Camp, Chattenden.Although a few regulars were missing from the ranks, local riders responded in droves and more than made up the numbers with nigh on 200 riders entered for the afternoon Adult race. The 2009 Putoline XC series will consist of races run on a single day, Youth first off followed by Adults, with some classes merging and new classes formed.
The opening round of the series was severely affected by torrential overnight rain across the south of the country on Saturday night.
The venue on MOD land near to Chatham, Kent, had proved popular in the past and one of its outstanding features is the huge hardstanding area for parking and paddock, which is especially useful at this time of year.
The course took the full brunt of the weather and became a slippery morass just after the start of the main adult race on Sunday afternoon but the Putoline SBT Youth event, which ran on Sunday morning, was really excellent.
Although the morning race had slightly better course conditions, the youngsters still had all the tricky features to tackle which the adult riders later faced.
Four separate classes took to the track for the opening round of this year's series with the addition of Steve Benton Transport as a main sponsor. Steve has a vested interest in that his son, Oli Benton, regularly competes in all the Putoline XC events.
Yet another Edmondson made his official competitive debut. Young ‘Harry Eddy' took to the line with brother, Jack, and picked a tough event to start his racing career.
The Youth 125/250F class blasted off first and Josh Hall led the field throughout, although Billy Arnold gave him a hard time, as did Jordan Lines, who took third place, as all three completed seven tough laps.
Lines' improvement was noticeable and he put it down to finally finding a bike that suited him – a Suzuki RM125.
Max Varney was also involved in a three-way tussle, with Tom James and Hannah Hope in the Big-wheel 85/150cc class. All three ran for eight laps but Varney's nerve held and he claimed victory ahead of James and Hope.
Jack Edmondson continued his winning ways by taking the Junior 65cc class, a lap up on Jack Deacon in second and Alex Walton in third.
Oli Benton won the Small-wheel 85cc class two-laps clear of Max Pinny and James Coker.
By the time the Adults lined up to race, the rain had abated. However, no sooner had they set off, it returned with a vengeance, just as riders were completing their first lap and some sections became much trickier.
The course itself had a good range of testing terrain and tricky sections including steep, short banks which became treacherous as the day wore on and two main wooded sections with plenty of places for different lines if and when jams occurred, plus open fields with a few motocross features thrown in for good measure.
PUTOLINE CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPS
Lodge Hill Camp, Chattenden. Kent
(fasteddyracing.com)
(Provisional Results)
Expert: 1 Jon Hinam, 2 Tim Heasman, 3 James Borroughs, 4 Oli Moyce, 5 Tyson Mayton-Jones.
Veteran Expert: 1 Christian Walton, 2 Wyn Hope, 3 Ryan Griffiths, 4 Peter Clarke, 5 Mike Vaughan.
Veteran: 1 Dave Lote, 2 Keith Patstone, 3 Roger Slury, 4 Rob Rider, 5 Paul Bunn.
Clubman: 1 Gareth Delahay, 2 Rich Phillips, 3 Ryan Armitage, 4 Lee Hattersley, 5 Sean O'Neill.
Sportsman: 1 Alec Trawford, 2 Kane Hinder, 3 Steve Mercer, 4 Chris Bishop, 5 James Harman.
Novice: 1 Danny Morris, 2 Jack Hasemore, 3 Tony Hall, 4 Glynn Boughton, 5 Paul Brakespear.
Youth 125/250F: 1 Josh Hall, 2 Billy Arnold, 3 Jordan Lines, 4 Louis Medley, 5 Sam Pocock.
Big-wheel 85/150cc: 1 Max Varney, 2 Tom James, 3 Hannah Hope, 4 Ben Beadle, 5 Alfie Plumb-Darrell.
Small-wheel 85cc: 1 Oli Benton, 2 Max Pinny, 3 James Coker, 4 Connor Dennis, 5 Luke Etheridge.
Junior 65cc: 1 Jack Edmondson, 2 Jake Deacon, 3 Alex Walton, 4 Easton Humphries, 5 Ben Clarke.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2009
Getting off to a mucky start the chasing pack are sprayed with the Lodge Camp Hill gloop – evidently it was cleaner at the front!