GH M/cs Santon Enduro – Round One of the 2022 ACU East Enduro Championship

Monday February 28, 2022 at 5:02pm

Sunday 27 February saw Diss MCC run the Santon Enduro in Thetford Forest. The weather was perfect with wall to wall sunshine and the going was dry with a superb 1.6 mile test near the start which was ridden on laps one and two.

The action kicked off at 9:00am and first man on the test was 2021 ACUE champion Luke Parker on his 450 Matt Pope Gas Gas. As the championship times were confirmed it was clear that he remained the man to beat. His first test was a blistering 2 minutes 29 with Ben Cole on his 450 GH Husqvarna, the 2021 runner up, hard on his heals, some 4 seconds back. Former British Championship MX rider Lewis Tombs, 450 John Bank Honda slotted into third with British Championship runner, Alex Walton, 300 MRS Sherco in fourth. Ben Clark on another MRS Sherco rounded out the top five.

When the championship riders returned the test was much rougher but most championship riders were still able to improve on their first test times. Again Parker dominated gaining a further 4 seconds on Cole but this time Walton was able to slot into third but still some three seconds behind Cole. Tombs was just over a second behind Walton with former ACUE champion Jamie Roper, 450 Walters Medical/Jim Aim KTM slotting into fifth.

With the championship order established the significant group of enduro supporters and pit crews waited for the sixth and final lap, reduced to a mere 25 minutes, which would surely decide the final results. But the drama happened sooner, at the time control at the end of lap five and turned the expected results upside down. Not one, but six of the early championship runners clocked in early at the end of the fifth lap which would drop them all out of the top 10. The only rider starting on the first two minutes to keep his head was Dan Willis on the 250 Ranson Racing/Putoline/TMJ Interiors Honda who held back to his correct minute which would see him finish in a great fifth place, his best result since moving up to championship class.

Parker and Cole were the only two championship runners to finish their final lap with three minutes to spare but the damage had already been done and their “schoolboy” error (their words) saw them finish in twelfth and thirteenth positions with the other riders all trying to forget the outcome and focus on their next event.

With good test times and a clean ride, Lewis Tombs took a well earned victory from 2021 British Enduro Expert champion Harry Houghton, on his 300 Motofit Beta UK. Ben Murphy on a 450 ET James KTM took third with veteran, and former ACUE champion Chris Hockey, 300 Kiwi’s Bike Shop Sherco in fourth with Willis in fifth.

The expert class was dominated by Aaron Coupland 450 Team REME KTM who won both tests and was clean on time. Coupland won the first test some four seconds faster than Matthew Harries, 250 ET James Sherco. Hertfordshire’s Doug Lote, 250 Apico Beta slotted in third with Hayden Maller 150 Team REME KTM in fourth, with less than a second separating the second to fourth runners. Adam James 300 ET James Sherco slotted into fifth position.

Coupland was again four seconds faster on his second test and in the extremely competitive expert class there was a quarter of a second between second, third and fourth but the order had changed. This time Diss club member Joe Hall, 250 Roger Warnes Gas Gas was second from Maller, then Lote with Harries two seconds back in fifth. After the two tests there was less than half a second between Lote and Maller for second and third and less than 3 seconds between second and fifth.

With no drama in the expert class the final lap would see Coupland, Harries and Lote clock in two minutes ahead of their scheduled finish time and with the top 19 riders staying clean the order was determined by the tests. Coupland ran out the clear victor from Lote, Maller and Harries with Hall’s stronger second test securing him fifth overall.

In the expert over 40’s class Julian Harvey, multiple ACUE trials champion dominated the class. Harvey on the 125 KTM was over 7 seconds clear of 2021 British Enduro Expert Veteran champion John Shirt on his Gas Gas. Chris Tett 390 Beta was third with 2021 ACUE champion Paul Spurgeon 300 Husqvarna fourth and Jonathan Pearson 250 Husqvarna in fifth. The second test saw the order maintained with Harvey gaining a further second on Shirt. Harvey’s test times were the fastest for a 125 at the event. At the end of the event, the top runners all stayed clean with just Shirt managing to clock in with two minutes to spare so the order remained unchanged.

There was a tight battle in the clubman class between Jake Purcell 250 Royal Engineers KTM and Sion Evans 125 Husqvarna. Purcell won the first test by 1.5 seconds from Evans but Evans was top on the second test by 0.3 seconds leaving Purcell 0.8 clear after the two tests. Lewis Holmes 350 Saxmundham Service Centre Gas Gas was third on both tests and again with all the top finishers remaining clean after their four laps the order was decided by the tests.

The clubman over 40’s class saw Spencer Newland victorious, winning both tests from William Lloyd 250 KTM and Raymond Otaka 200 Beta. However, after the first test both Lloyd and Otaka were tied. The ACU require times to a hundredth of a second as shown in the results but their times were still identical to the thousandth. Lloyd gained the advantage on the second test relegating Otaka to third with the test times again determining the final positions.

The hugely popular clubman over 50’s class saw some 48 riders competing, the second largest class after clubmen at the event. The Super Veterans class was dominated by a very on form Mark Chapman 250 KTM, from the host Diss club. Another former ACUE champion, Chapman’s test times would have seen him finish in fifth in the clubman class! On the first test Paul Armstrong 450 Husqvarna was second, some 9.5 seconds back with Jez Moss 150 KTM in third. The second test saw Chapman nearly 2 seconds clear of John Hilton 300 Fab Weld Engineering KTM from event sponsor, Gavin Hockey on his immaculately prepared classic 250 Huqvarna. Hilton and Hockey’s faster second test times saw them rise to second and third after the two tests with Moss and Armstrong rounding out the top five. Again the main contenders were clean on time at the end of the event and so maintaining the results achieved on the special tests.

Andy Waters, clerk of the course and all the organising team at Diss MCC would like to thank everyone that made the event run smoothly, and specially Forest England, GH Motorcycles and all helpers who ensured the event was a great success. The fantastic February sunshine was a bonus and the organisers were relieved that the event hadn’t been scheduled for the previous weekend when Storm Franklyn would have caused cancellation.

With such an upset to the form book in the championship class it looks like being an exciting championship season with everyone looking forward to round two of the ACUE championship which Sudbury MCC are running on 13 March at their popular Foxborough venue.

Results:

CHAMPIONSHIP

Lewis Tombs 450 Honda 310.80

Harry Houghton 300 Beta 324.12

Ben Murphy 450 KTM 324.94

Chris Hockey 300 Sherco 326.60

Dan Willis 250 Honda 326.95

EXPERT

Aaron Coupland 450 KTM 322.06

Douglas Lote 250 Beta 330.36

Hayden Maller 150 KTM 330.80

Matthew Harries 250 Sherco 332.01