British Enduro Championship 2005
Round 2 Brefcha
Motul British Enduro Championship - Report by Campbell
Chatham
Results
There was a small group of Scottish riders made the long trip to South Wales at the
weekend. Chris Hay took his newly rebuilt
KTM and he was hoping for a good outing now the bike is running as it should. Chris set
the 6th quickest test time against the best riders in the country and he was pleased to be
getting to grips with the 250. Unfortunately the heavens opened and the event became a
wash out making it extremely difficult. There were areas with up to 50 riders stuck on
steep hills and Chris was knocked down a ravine. It took him an hour to retrieve his bike
and therefore he ran out of time.
Richard Hay was enjoying the day and he was
looking forward to the rain. As he is the 'Iron Man' of enduros, the tougher the better,
he was expecting to challenge lesser mortals as the conditions worsened. While Richard had
to wait to allow a blocked hill to clear a rider in front sent a stone flying from his
spinning rear wheel straight into his eye. Richard was taken to hospital and later that
evening had his cornea stitched.His wife Pauline had to retrieve the caravan and set up
camp with their two kids in the hospital car park over night. This will be an event they
will want to forget and I am sure we all wish Richard a speedy recovery. At least there is
plenty of time before the next event to allow a full recovery.
Euan McConnell finished in
7th place in the Championship class. This is a very encouraging result and 5th place
in the E2 class strengthens his position in the Championship. Euan thrived in this event
and he is encouraged by his performance on the 250 Honda.
Ricky Mair was on his new KTM and he was
hoping for a change in his fortunes. He started strongly and was just managing to keep up
with the championship pace in this difficult event.Much to his disappointment he got stuck
in a deep rut costing him a lot of time and energy and he failed to finish. Ricky is still
young enough to come through this difficult period in his career and I am sure he will
emerge stronger as a result and he should concentrate on rebuilding his confidence over
the summer months.
Crawford Carrick Anderson was in a
determined mood as he is very close to the leader in the Expert E2 class. The special test
was very slippery and there were loads of tree stumps and roots. Crawford hit one and went
down on his first test but he did not loose too much time. This is how things continued
for him and he did not quite manage to reach his full potential. I am sure we will see
Crawford reach his peak as the season continues. Crawford managed a credible 8th in the
Expert class but more importantly he remains in close contention for the E2 class honours.
If the time penalties had stood at the end of the check on the last lap Crawford would
have won, there were so many people held up in the final check all penalties were
scrubbed.
Jeff McCleary finished 28th which was an
excellent result. Jeff found the course difficult but he managed to soldier on to the end.
He was caught out by the traffic at the difficult part of the track through the final
check. Just reaching the finish in the expert class was an achievement and he is hoping to
compete in more events once he has finish university.
Graeme Naismith has won the Clubman Class
overall at the Brechfa Motul British Championship in South Wales. Despite finding the
course hard workhe was the quickest in the single special test. The remaining special
tests were dropped as the course was cut short due to the bad weather.
Graeme was frustrated by slower riders between the checks but he now leads the Clubman
class from Paul Chatham by four points and the over 40 classby a considerable margin.
Graeme is competing in the European over 40class this year and this result will be the
ideal boost before he heads toPoland in two weeks.
Paul Chatham has extended his lead in the
British E1 class for 125cc two stokes and 250cc four strokes.Paul finished 5th overall
Clubman and third in the E1 class. Despite loosing his overall lead in the Clubman class
he remains just four points behind last years over 40 British Champion Graeme Naismith.
This event proved so tough that his two nearest rivals from the first round of the
Championship failed to finish. This was Pauls first experiance of a wet Welsh Enduro and
he is delighted to consolidate his position in the British E1 Championship.