The final round of the GH Husqvarna sponsored Eastern Enduro championships took place on Sunday at Butley, in Suffolk, hosted by the Woodbridge club.
Held in very hot conditions, with the temperature exceeding over 30 degrees, the riders faced a tough day on the almost eight mile lap, with course supremo, Wilf Harvey, setting out an interesting and testing lap.
2018 champion, Luke Parker, won the first special test, beating Isle of Man visitor, Jed Etchells by a second. Etchells went on to win the next two tests, and with no time penalties, took the overall win by eight seconds at the end of a gruelling day. Ben Cole on his GH Husqvarna narrowly took second place, just half a second ahead of Parker, with Eastern Motocross champion, Shaun Southgate, claiming fourth place. With the Thetford round now cancelled, Parker retains his title for the second year running, with Cole runner up, and former champion, Jason Morland, finishing third in the six round series.
The star of the day was teenager, Jacob Roper, Already crowned Eastern Clubman champion, he elected to ride in the Expert class for the day, and finished eighteen seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Jack Nicolaou, who was well clear ahead of the rest. Although not riding on Sunday, Tommy Clark is the new Expert champion, ahead of Nicolaou and Daniel Smith.
Tension was high in the Expert Vets class, Lee Monger and Phil Roper battled all day in the heat, with Monger coming out on top, but at the end of the day, they are tying on points for the championship, which will leave the Enduro committee to decide the outcome.
With Jacob Roper already the Clubman champion for 2019, victory at Butley went to teenager Joe Phillips, who had put in some fast times in all three special tests. Jack Austin was runner up, ahead of local rider, Lewis Holmes. Phillips ended the series with second place ahead of Joe Hall.
Victory in the Clubmans Vet class went to Mark Green, winning comfortably from new champion, Paul Belton.
Veteran Andy Mason battled all day with Paul Davis and Jez Moss in the Vets Super Class. Davis took the win, but the popular Mason wins the championship after a hectic scrap with Moss, which went right down to the last lap.
Results final round GH Husqvarna Eastern Championships.
Championship class. 1st Jed Etchells Sherco, 2nd Ben Cole GH Husqvarna, 3rd Luke Parker Gas Gas, 4th Shaun Southgate Herts MX Honda, 5th Will Hughes KTM, 6th Jason Morland GH Yamaha
Expert. 1st Jacob Roper KTM, 2nd Jack Nicolaou KTM, 3rd Bruno Van Dyke Husqvarna, 4th Daniel Smith KTM, 5th Jack Edwards Yamaha, 6th Paul Hunt KTM
Expert Vets 1st Lee Monger Husqvarna, 2nd Phillip Roper KTM, 3rd Paul Spurgeon KTM
Clubmans 1st Joe Phillips Husqvarna, 2nd Jack Austin Husqvarna, 3rd Lewis Holmes Honda, 4th Joe Hall KTM, 5th Joseph Henthorn Husqvarna, 6th Terry Griffiths Gas Gas.
Clubman Vets 1st Mark Green Husqvarna, 2nd Paul Belton KTM, 3rd Simon Davies Husqvarna.
Clubman Super Vets. 1st Paul Davis KTM, 2nd Andy Mason Yamaha, 3rd Jeremy Moss KTM.
Report from Charlie Ralph.
Pics from Anthony Ridge