Temperatures around freezing thick fog greeted riders for the Annual Endurothon at Foxborough Quarry Sible Hedingham last Sunday however by the 9am start time the sun had burnt off the fog much to the relief of the organisers Sudbury Motor Cycle Club.
Chris Hockey recruited some British Championship riders who help him with his Dr Shox Boot Camp Training. Hockey teamed up with Paul Bolton for Team A with Richard Ely and Ben Wibberley was Team B. There was a strong line up in the Championship for the five hour marathon with opposition from Jason Morland/Ben Clark, Rick Roper/Steve Mason and Will Hughes/Jack Nicolaou
The track in places was very tricky due to standing water which had many riders slipping, sliding and falling off but as the day went on conditions settled down and became easier to ride. The two Dr Shox teams had a ding dong battle throughout the day with the lead changing constantly however Morland/Clark and Roper/Mason were also in contention. At the end of the five hours it was a win for Hockey/Bolton 42 laps, 2
nd Ely/Wibberley 41 laps, 3
rd Morland/Clark 40 laps, 4
th Roper/Mason 39 laps, 5
th Hughes/Nicolaou 37 laps 6
th Brendan Mayers/Joe Marsh 35 laps and 7
th Sam Mitchell/Ben Marsh 32 laps.
The Sudbury pairing of Ryan McDonnell and Kelvin Vant won the Expert Class by 5 minutes from Aaron Nicoll and Rob Nicoll (Son and Grandson of the legendary 1960s Moto Cross Rider Dave Nicoll) although both teams completed 37 laps. Jamie Lagden/Alex Walton finished 3
rd on 36 laps with Richard Bensley/Tom Morris secured 4
th on 32 laps.
In the Clubman Class Nathan Charrington/George Warren took the win on34 laps with Ben Martin/Mark Fenwick were in 2
nd place on 33 laps. Three teams recorded 31 laps however Ben Roper/James Hockey were first over the finish line taking 3
rd place behind them were Karl Last/Aaron Graves 4
th and Martin Baker/Terry Allen 5
th. Father and son team of Les and Matt Rampton were 6
th 29 laps, Josh Lewis/Andrew Tuck 7
th 28 laps and James Hazell/Andy Morton 23 laps.
A lot of the riders chose to ride in the Solo Class known as Iron Man including the up and coming rider Alex Rampton who completed 34 laps to take the win by one lap over Gareth Young. Three riders finished on 32 laps with Phil Roper the first of those three to take 3
rd, Dan Hunt 4
th and Paul Belton 5
th. Fifth Martin Gunton 29 laps, 6
th Jason Carsboult 28 laps, 7
th Gavin Potter who held off 8
th place rider Dean Curry both on 27 laps.