Diss MCC ran the Santon Enduro on Sunday in Thetford Forest. The event formed the first round of the 2025 ACUE Enduro Championship. With a full entry of 200 riders including a strong national entry the action got under way at 9:00am.
The 26 strong Championship Class were first to the special test and former British Enduro Champion, Alex Snow, 350 Alex Snow Off Road GASGAS, was the first rider through the test. As expected, he set a blistering time of 160 seconds, but all eyes were on the timing screen to see who else would be at the sharp end. Second man away, Aaron Gordon, 450 Yamaha Off Road Experience had a brief off, dropping him to 13th with 173 seconds. Local fans were delighted to see Ben Cole, 2024 ACUE Enduro Champion out for the first competitive ride on his 450 GH Mcs/G&B Finch Yamaha, record 2 seconds behind Snow and slotted into a strong second place. 2024 ACUE MX Champion Sam Nunn, 450 John Banks Honda was third 3 seconds back with Ben Clark, 350 Beta UK/DCW/G&B Finch Beta half a second behind Nunn with Will Hughes, 250 Forrester Hughes GASGAS rounding out the top five. Four of the top five championship runners were from ACUE – a great start to the day for the local riders and their supporters.
Championship class were back at the test just after 10:00am and all riders went faster than on their first test and again the man to beat was Snow who went 5 seconds faster with a 155 second test comfortably topping the times. Cole was again second fastest, just 2.5 seconds back with Nunn again third a further 2 seconds back closely followed by Clark with Gordon fifth on 163.
On their third lap the championship class would ride the test twice, back-to-back. Despite the passage of 400 riders through the test Snow again set a blistering 156 seconds with Cole on 160. Clark was improving each lap and finished third, just half a second behind Cole with Gordon moving up to fourth and Nunn rounding out the top five.
As soon as the last rider was out of the test the action was repeated. Snow set a steady fourth test time by his standards finishing his tests with a 160 seconds run. This time Clark hit top form finishing less than half a second behind Snow. Nunn was third, a second back with Cole consolidating his position with a final run of 162 seconds. Gordon slotted into fifth with a 164 second final test.
Snow left the tests with an 11 second lead from Cole who in turn was 5 seconds clear of Clark. Nunn was fourth, a further 2 seconds back with Gordon rounding out the top five, some 13 seconds behind Nunn. They now faced 3 further laps of the 11 mile going with the final lap time set to challenge these top riders. Support crews waited expectantly at the final time control to see whether the stars could clock in on time and maintain their positions.
As expected, Snow was first to arrive a minute early with Gordon half a minute behind. These two were the only championship runners to arrive ahead of the challenging 24 minute schedule with a further 8 on time. Clark was first to arrive on time around 15 seconds into his minute with Cole around 15 seconds later. Nunn was around 40 seconds into his minute but the net result was that all the front runners maintained their positions, so it was Snow followed by Cole, Clark and Nunn with Gordon rounding out the top five. With three ACUE riders in the top five and Cole starting his 2025 championship season as a fine runner up it was a day of celebrations for the local riders.
Moving to the Expert Class with a strong national field the competition was expected to be equally intense. After the first test 17 year old Rees Jones, 125 PAR Homes GASGAS, topped the times with a 169 second test, half a second ahead of Jack Probert, 250 ET James Sherco. Their first test times would have placed them fifth and sixth in the championship class. Norfolk MX expert rider Adam Reeve, 450 Narna Media Kawasaki, was a fine third with a 172 second test which would have placed him tenth in the Championship class, followed by Ryan Burton, 300 KBS Sherco on 174 with Brett Pocock rounding out the top five less than 0.2 seconds behind Burton.
On their second test Reeve was fastest with a 169 second test which would have again placed him tenth in the championship class. Next were Jones and Probert who were neck and neck, but this time Probert was fastest, a tenth of a second ahead of Jones with Burton and Pocock again rounding out the top five.
With three further laps and a challenging final lap time of 26 minutes would the top runners stay clean to retain their positions? The answer was soon evident with some 14 of the 38 expert runners staying clean on time. Of those, seven clocked in a minute early leaving Clerk of the Course, Andy Waters wondering whether the final check time should have been a minute less.
This meant the overall positions saw Jones the victor, followed by Probert 0.5 seconds back as runner up, Reeve, as best ACUE runner was third followed by Burton with another ACUE rider, Dan Willis, 250 TMJ/Ranson Racing Honda in fifth with just 10 seconds covering the top five.
The Expert Vets class saw Jamie Powell, 390 Beta topping the test times and finishing a minute early to claim the victory. ACUE rider James Yearley, 300 Beta finished a solid second from Tim Forman, 300 Foresiteservices Beta followed by James Jackman 450 RFX Motoward Yamaha, the only other rider to finish a minute early with JSM’s John Shirt 350 GASGAS rounding out the top five.
The Clubman Class with 64 starters saw the youngest competitor at the Santon, 16 year old Riegan Rees, 300 ET James Youth Team Sherco take the victory. He was fastest on both tests and was one of only two riders clocking in a minute early at the final check. Another ACUE rider, Lewis Holmes, 350 Saxmundham Service Centre KTM was second fastest on both tests and went clean to be overall runner up. Brad Armstrong, 350 Husqvarna took third place, followed by another ACUE runner, Sean Wright, 350 KTM, who was the only other clubman clocking in a minute early. Another under 18 rider, Ewan Edwards, 125 GASGAS rounded out the top five. With just 7 riders staying clean on time and of those, two clocking in a minute early the time schedule looked perfect.
The Clubman Vets class saw Anthony Trawford 250 GASGAS, the victor, with ACUE’s Spencer Newland, 350 HMS KTM in second place, both riders clocking in a minute early on their last lap. The only other rider not to lose time was William Lloyd, 300 KTM who placed first on his first test but a problem on his second test lost him 30 seconds and dropped him to third overall.
The second biggest class was the Clubman Super Vets with 43 starters. This saw multi ACUE Clubman Super Vet champion John Hilton, 300 Fab-Weld Engineering KTM take yet another victory. His test times would have placed him second in the Clubman Class. James Holt, 350 Jim Aim KTM was runner up with Justin Wilson, 250 KTM in third. Wilson was the only rider in the whole event to clock in two minutes early on the final check with the top four Clubman Super Vet finishers all clocking in early. Of the forty finishers in this class, only four more riders stayed clean on their final lap.
ACUE will be introducing an Over 60’s class at future ACUE events and of the ten Over 60’s in the Super Vets class Diss Club’s Mark Chapman was the winner. Also, within the Super Vets Class there were two Classic Enduro machines, ridden by event sponsor Gavin Hockey on the 250 Husqvarna placing 24th, and David Keeble, 400 Suzuki who placed 37th.
Congratulations to Alex Snow, Ben Cole as runner up and best ACUE rider and to all the winners and finishers. Best of luck to all competitors for the new season. Don’t miss the next round of the ACUE championship being run by Sudbury MCC on 23 March at their popular Foxborough venue. Enter now via Sport 80.
On behalf of Clerk of the Course Andy Waters, a big thanks to all officials, marshals and helpers who work together to make the Santon Enduro another successful event. It takes a great team to make such an event happen and your continued support is really appreciated. Thanks to all riders and support crews for keeping the forest clean and using rubbish facilities provided.
Our grateful thanks as ever go to Forestry England for authorising our use of this forest and supporting us to run the event. Finally, many thanks to GH Motorcycles, Beta and G&B Finch for their continued support and partnership helping us to make the event more professional.
Report by Richard Snowden
Pictures by Paul Flack