Parkers wins Second Round of the ACU Eastern Enduro Championship

Tuesday May 8, 2018 at 11:45am
Parkers wins Second Round of the ACU Eastern Enduro Championship
With heavy rain on Friday and Saturday before the second round of the GH Motorcycles / Husqvarna / ACU Eastern Enduro Championship the organisers, Bury St Edmunds Motor Cycle Club were not in the mind to cancel this event so they ploughed on and laid out a superb course.  On the Sunday the rain held off although the going was very tough and challenging the cold northwest winds partly dried the going which became easier.

The format for the event is Championship and Expert Classes were given five sessions averaging around 30 minutes each to ride as many laps as possible with penalties of one sixth of a lap for being early and late while the Clubman Classes had four sessions.

All eyes in the Championship Class were on current Champion Jason Morland, the young pretender Luke Parker, nine times Champion Chris Hockey and Tom Braddock all starting on the same minute.  Morland lead the quartet in the early sessions and in one session gambled on an extra lap in the hope of gaining extra sixths of a lap but ended up coming in six minutes late and gained or lost nothing.  As the sessions progress Braddock dropped out of the equation then Hockey had to retire before the last session with machine problems.  Onto the last session with all to ride for and at the end both Morland and Parker finished on 18.33 net laps so then it was down to the best lap of the day and the verdict went to Parker by 3.06 seconds.  Just behind this pair were Tim Rose and Craig Roper both one sixth of a lap behind the front two and Rose got 3rd place over Roper by .58 seconds.  The next four riders tied on the same number of laps and the tie decider gave Ben Cole 5th, Sam Mitchell 6th, Will Hughes 7th and Rick Roper 8th.  Unofficial positions after two rounds are Parker 40 points, Morland 30 points and C Roper 18 points.

In the Expert Class it was a battle between five Sudbury members with the elder statement Jack Berry showing how it was done finishing 1st on 17.83 laps with newcomer to the Class George Eustace holding off Jack Nicolaou by 3.86 seconds to take 2nd pushing Nicolaou in to 3rd while James Barker took 4th and Alex Walton 5th.  Current standings show Berry 1st, Ben Murphy 2nd and Ben Colman and Eustace joint 3rd.

Rob Aldridge was untouchable in the Clubman Class taking the win on 13.33 laps while the next four riders all finished on 12.83 laps.  George Wolfe got the verdict for 2nd, while Dan Hunt was 3rd in front of Brother Paul who was 4th and William Jurgens took 5th.  15 year old Jake Roper riding in his first Solo Contest finished 11th gaining 5 points.  Aldridge leads the Class with two wins given him maximum 40 points.

It was another win for Michael Ridge in the Expert Veteran Class from Contest Sponsor Gavin Hockey with an inspired Phil Roper in third.  After two rounds Ridge has maximum points.  Three rides tied on laps in the Clubman Veteran Class with Martin George from Gloucester taking first on the tie decider with Stephen Youngs 2nd and Michael Wyatt 3rd.  Andy Peck on 27 points leads the Class.

Another epic battle in the Clubman Super Veteran Class with three riders on 12.83 laps with Gary Drage taking the win, Graham Mays 2nd and current Champion Andy Mason 3rd.  Gene Womack still leads the Class on 33 points while Drage, Mays and Mason are all on 28 points.

In the Sportsman Class it was a win for the host Club’s rider Jonathan Isaacson with Jonathan Wilson 2nd and Alex Whitelaw 3rd.

Report by Roger Chaplin

Photos by Anthony Ridge and Paula Day


» Categories: Club News, Home Page, Enduro
Auto-Cycle Union Ltd.
ACU House, Wood Street, Rugby.
CV21 2YX.
Telephone: 01788 566400
Email: admin@acu.org.uk