On a cool and frosty day in Thetford Forest the final round of the G H Motorcycles/Husqvarna/ACU Eastern Enduro Championship took place last Sunday and again there were surprises, drama and disappointment. The organisers Diss Motor Cycle Club laid out a cracking 20-mile course for their Muntjac Event which attracted some of the Country’s top riders and the ACU Eastern Moto Cross Champion Shaun Southgate.
Who was going to be ACU Eastern Enduro Champion Jason Morland had the lead over Luke Parker at the start of the day but Parker the young pretender was determined setting the best times in all six special tests while Morland struggled making some silly mistakes and was placed 11
th. So Morland’s hopes were on the last final fast lap to finish without any penalties with Parker securing penalties but both riders came in clean. Parker took the win with Lewis Tombs 2
nd, Tom Grimshaw 3
rd, Ben Clark 4
th, Aaron Gordon 5
th, Sam Nunn 6
th, Shaun Southgate 7
th, Charlie Evans 8
th, with Morland pushed down to 11th. The provisional final Class positions are 1
st Parker 115 points, 2
nd Morland 102 points and Will Hughes 87 points.
Lewis Ranger and Craig Norrey battled away in the Expert Class with Ranger having the best special tests times by just under 5 seconds and took the win on the day. All eyes were on Class leaders James Barker and Jack Berry with one point separating them and it was Barker with some great rides in the tests who finished 3
rd while Berry could only finish 7
th with Jay Brooker, Harvey Thomas and James Jackman above him. Barker wins the Class Title for 2018 joining the ranks of Lewis Bond and Alex Rampton of winning the Clubman Title and Expert Title in successive years with Berry 2
nd and George Eustace 3
rd who created history today being the only rider to finish 3
rd in the Clubman and Expert Classes in successive years.
Rob Warner won the Expert Veteran Class from John Shirt with Contest Sponsor Gavin Hockey 3
rd, Michael Ridge 4
th, Phil Roper 5
th and Paul Spurgeon 6
th. The battle for the 2018 Class Title was between Hockey and Ridge and although Hockey finished in front of Ridge, he could only reduce Ridge’s from 5 points lead to 3 points so Ridge takes the Title.
Charlie Chater won the battle for first place in the Clubman Class over Jack Collins and Jack Flannigan with best Eastern Centre rider Rob Aldridge 4
th followed by Jake Taylor 5
th and Jack Austin 6
th. However, Aldridge had already won the Class Title before the day.
Bo Anderson, Jonathan Lee and Trevor Buckley were first, second and third in the Clubman Veteran Class but the battle for the 2018 Class Title was between Steve Youngs, Dean Curry and Michael Wyatt. Youngs had the disappointment of having to retire with machine problems and Curry took advantage of this by taking 4
th on the day to win the Title for the second time with Youngs 2
nd while Wyatt 11
th place on the day secured him third overall.
There was drama in the Clubman Super Veteran Class when Class leader fell on a log in the special tests and had to retire which left Graham Mays with the chance to take the Title and although he had some good test times, he was two minutes late on the last lap and finished 5
th which gave the Title to Mason for the 4
th time in a row. Keith Readman won on the day with Jez Moss 2
nd, Gene Womack 3
rd and Alan Ranger 4
th.
Photos by Anthony Ridge