Rhayader British Enduro Championship, Scottish Riders report.

 Beautiful weather welcomed the Scottish riders to Rhayader in Wales and this made a pleasant change for this challenging event. This event has been off the British championship calendar for nine years but returned as a major event this year with a full entry months in advance. All the riders were on their bikes for eight hours on Saturday with the Clubmen only riding one lap on the Sunday. The Championship and Expert riders rode 220 miles altogether over the two days through the Welsh Forests with the clubmen covering 165 miles. The special test was a mixture of the Rhayader Motocross track and slalom around the adjacent fields making spectacular viewing.

 Euan McConnell made a blistering start to the event on day one with special test times that were closest to World Champion David Knight. Euan finished day one in second place, as he is continuing to improve as he campaigns in the British and World Enduro Championships. Euan dropped to fourth overall for the weekend but he has now shown his potential at this level.

 Richard Hay finished tenth overall for the weekend as he prepares to travel to New Zealand for the International Six Days Enduro. Richard is enjoying his ride on the 125 and he has packed his six days special 125EXC off in a container the week leading up to the Rhayader. Fifth on day one in the E1 class and fourth on Sunday lead to fifth E1 for the weekend. ‘ I was trying to catch Ed Jones on Sunday to help my Championship position but I had a spin on the opening loop on the test that cost me some time’ said Richard in his usual upbeat manner at the finish.

Ricky Mair had a relatively trouble free event for him, a sticking front brake was his only concern. Ricky finished 11^th overall for the weekend and continues to be the most entertaining rider to watch on the special tests with his attacking riding style.

 Derek Little had a difficult decision to make before the Rhayader as he was in a leading position in the Scottish Championship and a dates clash meant he could only ride in one or the other. The decision was made to ride the Rhayader, as it was one of his favourite events. Derek dropped a couple of minutes on Saturday which cost him in the class results and a broken front brake lever on Sunday slowed him down in one of the tight checks.  Derek’s never say die attitude saw him finish the long two-day event in 21^st place in the Championship Class. Even newly crowned British E2 Champion Paul Edmonson commented that they were two very long days.

 Kevin Murray finished in 22^nd place behind Derek as he competed during leave from the army. He is not getting the chance to ride as much as he would like due to his busy schedule.

 Paul Chatham rode his new CR125 in the expert class; he was hindered as the settings were too rich while the bike was running in. Paul had to replace 4 plugs during the first lap and that cost him five minutes on the course. On Sunday the bike started to run better and resulted in 8^th E1. Paul was disappointed to finish 29th overall; he is looking forward to competing on the lighter machine now the carburation is set correctly.

 Allyn Scotland was competing in the Clubman Class and had a subdued first day; he was keen to make the most of the weekend, finishing 4^th E1 and 8^th overall. On Sunday he got his head down and pushed hard in his second test and won the Clubman overall for the day and fourth overall for the weekend. ‘ I should have pushed harder yesterday but it was very slippery at the start of the test and I did not want to go down. I rode more aggressively on Sunday and it paid off’ he said afterward.

 Neil Chatham was riding at British Championship level for the first time and worked his way up to 4^th 125 and fifth overall Clubman on the first day. Unfortunately he did not see the yellow flags at one of the checks and clocked in a minute early dropping him to 15^th overall. Neil had a difficult day on Sunday as he had bruised his ribs on Saturday and this de-tuned his performance on Sunday finishing 19^th overall. Neil had an uncomfortable 6 hour journey home as he felt every bump on the road home in the van.