It was a hot, dry, and sunny and the going was bone hard for the 5th Round of the G H Motorcycles/Husqvarna/ACU Eastern Enduro Championship held at Foxborough Quarry Sible Hedingham Essex last Sunday. The organisers Sudbury Motor Cycle Club having received advice from its National Governing Body the Auto Cycle Union to reduce the duration of the event to two hours and eased the difficult parts and this paid off as the medical services were kept idle and all competitors finished in good condition.
The Championship Class started this Hare and Hounds event first with Craig Roper (Sudbury) taking the lead at the first bend which he held at the end of the first lap with Jason Morland (Halstead) and Luke Parker (Norwich) closely in pursuit followed by Ben Cole (Norwich) and Will Hughes (Braintree). Roper was still in the lead at the end of lap two but lost vital seconds while swiping his transponder and Morland took advantage of this passing Roper on the next bend. Morland was in a determined mood once in the lead and controlled the rest of the session although at times Parker was closing in. At the end four riders had completed 18 laps with Morland first over the line fifty second ahead of round 4 winner Hughes who worked his way into 2
nd place from Parker with Roper 4
th, Cole 5
th and Rob Nicoll 6
th. Unofficially Morland leads the Class on 84 points, Parker 2
nd on 75 points and Hughes 3
rd on 66 points.
What a battle there was in the Expert Class James Barker (Sudbury) winner of the last two rounds took the lead from Jack Berry (Sudbury) with George Eustace (Sudbury) not far behind. Barker seems to be in control during the session but at the latter stage Berry was gaining every lap but Barker took the win by 4 seconds from Berry with Adam Johnson (TBEC) 3
rd, Eustace 4
th and Nathan Greenaway (Sudbury) 5
th. Berry still leads the Class with 75 points, Barker 73 points and Eustace on 53 points. Michael Ridge (Stowmarket) won the Expert Veteran Class from Gavin Hockey (Sudbury) with Paul Spurgeon 3
rd and Damian Long 4
th (both) Woodbridge. Ridge has regained the lead on 92 points with Hockey on 89 points.
It was back to winning ways for Rob Aldridge (Diss) in the Clubman Class who paced himself throughout the session with Dan Hunt (Diss) 2
nd, George Wolfe (Sudbury) 3
rd and 16-year-old Joe Phillips (Sudbury) being watched by his grandma for the first time 4
th. Aldridge has a comfortable lead with 97 points with Hunt on 69 points and Wolfe 55 points. Steve Youngs (Lowestoft) had his first win in the Clubman Veteran Class one lap ahead of Dean Curry (Sudbury) and Michael Wyatt (Diss) with Martin Gunton (Sudbury) 4
th and Adam Richards (Sudbury) 5
th. Youngs lead the Class on 71 points with Curry on 52 points and Wyatt on 51 points. Sudbury riders took the first five places in the Clubman Super Veteran Class with Andy Mason 1
st, Jez Moss 2
nd, Graham Mays, 3
rd, Gary Drage 4
th and Nigel Ross 5
th. Mason heads the Class with 85 points, Mays on 73 points and Drage on 65 points.
Photos by Anthony Ridge and Paula Day