A beautiful day of clear blue sky’s and sunshine greeted the British Enduro paddock this past Sunday, 24th February, for round one of the BEC, the Dorset Challenger Enduro.
Danny McCanney was on fire all day and won every test to take a commanding victory of 1 minute and 20 seconds from 2nd place man, Alex Snow aboard his new ride, a Gas Gas 300. A great start for McCanney on his new Factory TM and the same for Snowy on the Factory Gas Gas. After a slightly steady start it was Factory Sherco’s young gun Dan Mundell who climbed his way up into 3rd place to take his first ever podium position at a BEC. The 250 4 stroke seems to of been a good move for him! Tom Sagar finished 4th on the Beta 300 after a solid start, and Factory Sherco’s Jack Edmondson fought back hard to steal 5th place in the last test from a veteran of the class, Daryl Bolter.
As predicted in the pre race report, it was an MRS Sherco that topped the time sheets. Aaron Gordon was the rider aboard that Sherco and took a victory of 16 seconds from 125 rider Henry Yardley. Harry Edmondson brought his Beta home in 3rd place and 2nd in the E1/2 stroke class. 4th position was another of the MRS Sherco’s, Richard Tucker. He also won the E3 Expert class! Ben Murphy was 5th and took his ET James KTM 350 to 2nd in E2 Expert class behind Gordon.
The Clubman category was dominated by a screaming little 125 with James Palmer on board! I believe this is James’s first BEC day win and he did it in style with a margin of victory of over 1 and a half minutes! Joshua Kirby from Winchester brought home 2
nd place on his 250 4 stroke, meaning he won the E1/4 stroke class. Ross Kerr, also on a 250 4 stroke, finished in 3rd. Rosie Rowett was the first Lady rider home and scored a brilliant 12th overall in the Clubman Class and 2nd in Clubman E2, behind Ryan Borthwick from Seahouses.
Andrew Edwards kicked his year off the way he intended to with a win in the Over 40 class. His margin of victory was almost a minute from Vincent Harker on the Husqvarna. Bringing up the final position on the rostrum was Andrew Reeves, with Jon Tarr and Mark Kirby rounding out the top 5.
Last but by no means least is the Over 50 category where Scotsman Richard Hay took a 13 second victory from Manxman Russell Millward. In third place, exactly 1 minute behind Millward, was local legend Gary McCoy on the JD Racing KTM. Karl Greenhall and Paul ‘Elvis’ Davies rounded out the top 5.
The Dorset Enduro Club hosted a brilliant event and it has been a fantastic start to what is shaping up to be a competitive and exciting BEC series! We look forward to the next round, the Brass Monkeys Enduro, in Devon on the 17th March.