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 Natterjack 2006 British Championship Enduro

Scottish Riders Report by Campbell Chatham

The weathermen forecast rain over the weekend for the Natterjack Enduro and they were proven correct. There were rain showers on Saturday that did not spoil an enjoyable event, on Sunday however, the weather was the worst anyone had seen at a British Championship. Rain, hailstones and enough wind to wreck all the pop up awnings that were sheltering the pit crews. The organisation at the event was first class as always, although all the army marshals were needed to shepherd all riders home on Sunday. There was a sand quarry that provided an excellent MX test and an extreme Enduro test next to the start finish area.

 Euan McConnell set the fastest time in the first MX test, just one second faster than eventual winner Paul Edmondson. The more technical Enduro test is where this event is won or lost and Paul Edmondson was in a class of his own around this part of the track. Euan battled with Jake Stapleton for second place and although Euan was very quick in the MX test Jake was quicker in the Enduro test and Euan finished the day in third place. On day two Euan was very competitive until the worst of the weather made the Enduro test even tougher for the four fifty bikes as the course was virtually washed away. Euan was relieved that although he finished 7^th on Sunday he had done enough on Saturday to retain his third place overall for the weekend.

Ricky Mair had his best result in the Championship class with an E1 class win. Ricky and Andrew Edwards swapped quickest times all day with Ricky taking the E1 win and seventh overall. The sandy going suited Ricky as his home track in Elgin is similar to the Natterjack sandy MX track. Unfortunately the his luck changed on Sunday with Ricky loosing his kick-start and then his engine sounded as if some of the sand had worked its way into somewhere it shouldn’t have been, leading to retirement. Ricky is going to concentrate on motocross next year and will only ride selected Enduros; this will be a great loss to the British Enduro Championship scene.

Richard Hay rode consistently to finish 4^th E1 and 10^th overall on Saturday; unfortunately this was not enough to catch Edward Jones who won the E1 Enduro Championship at the Naterjack Enduro. Richard hit a tree on Sunday and dropped to 8^th E1 and 15^th overall, to slow Richard it must have been painful.

Derek Little once again rode hard to finish both days clean on time, considering the conditions on Sunday this was a great achievement. Derek finished 18^th overall and qualified for a Gold medal. A disaster was averted when Dad Johnny and Jim missed a refuel, Pauline Hay came to the rescue and Derek received the necessary petrol to complete the next check.

Three times Veteran British Enduro Champion Graeme Naismith has had a difficult year, eye surgery earlier this year and he managed to put his back out at the Rhayader in October. Despite this Graeme has remained very competitive in the Veteran Class. Graeme won the Veteran class on day one at the Natterjack and he finished third in the waterlogged day two. Although these results were excellent Graeme knew going into the event that he could not over take Robert Faulkner who had amassed enough points earlier in the season to take the championship.  

Paul Chatham has had his share of bad luck this year and this event proved no different with mechanical gremlins striking again. Paul had earlier set a top ten special test time that proved his potential once his luck returns. Paul managed to finish 8^th E1 expert on Sunday.

Neil Chatham finished 4^th E1 and 8^th Clubman overall on Saturday, this result would have delighted most 16 year old riders, Neil felt he could do better. On Sunday he proved his point and finished 1^st overall Clubman and lifted his result to 2^nd E1 and 4^th overall Clubman for the weekend. The weather had been at its worst during the last loop before the event was called to a halt. Neil rode through the rain and hailstones to finish with just 15 seconds to spare before loosing time on the course. ‘You could not tell which puddles were really deep and which were shallow and that made it really difficult to judge which line to choose’ Neil said afterwards.

Allyn Scotland arrived at the event with swollen eyes and not feeling his best, an eye infection was causing him discomfort to say the least. Allyn was in contention for the E1 Clubman class and nothing was going to stop him competing. Allyn had walked the MX test on Friday but forgot about a jump and not only cleared it, he cleared the tape and landed on the track for the opposite direction. ‘I could not believe the hight of the jump I did’ Allyn said afterwards. By the time he had fought his way back to the correct piece of track he had lost too much time, to make himself feel better he finished 3^rd quickest on the Clubman Enduro test on Saturday. Allyn finished 8^th E1 and 15^th Clubman overall on Saturday and following a spirited ride on Sunday he pulled himself up to 4^th E1 and 9^th Clubman overall for the weekend, not quite enough to take the Championship unfortunately.

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