Home - www.scottishenduros.co.uk

SACU 2001 National ENDURO
Bon Accord Glenfarquhar Forest Enduro

23rd September 2001

Another damp and very misty day awaited the riders - WRONG - the sun was shining and it stayed dry all day. Was this Scotland ?

For the first and only Scottish Enduro of 2001 the Bon Accord Club's Glenfarqhar Forest Enduro provided a fast and flowing course with a variety of technical challenges. Starting off with a steep downhill and then a blast along forest roads it followed into tight, stumpy and rocky trails in the forest section. This was the pattern for the day with hard going sections followed by an easier route to get your breath back.

With quite a few riders away at the Natterjack and entries restricted by F&M to Scottish competitors the field of 67 or so was just right on the day. They were rewarded with a drying course and track improving as the day went on ( although the ruts got deeper and the cambers got slippier)

The course had several very tricky parts which the Sportsman were directed away from on lap one. After that they could try them if they wanted. Several of the new riders came in with time to spare so had a bash at the harder route.New to enduros Stuart Young tried the harder route and was very happy to get round clean - a new face for the future.  This part had a nasty and fairly long off camber section with a sharp uphill snap to follow. Not too bad on lap one but getting very slippy by lap four. The only other Clubman section was at the start when they were lead down through the heather and back up through bracken and tree roots. Not too hard for the Clubman but some of the Sportsmen were on fairly hefty machinery. Notably a full dress KTM LC4 complete with indicators and mirrors and a Honda XR 650. The KTM fairly flew along the roads and managed the first off road Clubman section before choosing the more leisurely Sports route .

Times were spot on ( if a bit tight according to some riders). The experts doing 5 laps, Clubmen 4 and Sports 3. With the experts coming in right on their minute there was no time for a chat and then they were off again. The tight check was down to 35 minutes and some riders lost a bit of time. Compared to last year with plenty of time - this year the riders were kept busy all day.

The test was a varied cross country blast with fast slick tracks followed by stump ridden sections in the trees and finishing with an all out run up a bermed cart track, arriving at the end to be greeted by a waiting UNIMOG. The organisers were taking no chances here !

A couple of the riders had problems on the day - some self inflicted - some mechanical. John Flockahrt suffering from carburation problems all day before retiring. Stephen Lafferty must wonder when his luck is going to change - going out of the ISDE while clean on time on day one with a blown ignition and then losing his sparks 1/2 a mile from the finish here - again clean.

One expert rider took the sportsman route on lap three and was too far down the track to turn back so retired. With a lot of new faces at the event it was to be expected that there would be some retirals. Mostly in the Sportsman class from riders on XR400's etc and a couple of riders on trials bikes suffering from arm pump.

Dave Donald and his team are to be congratulated on an excellent event and hope he can just keep the midges away in July next year.

[bottom.htm]