Matchams Park - Round 2 29th July 2001

In conditions of extreme heat on a very dry, whooped and rutted track Paul Edmondson dominated the race to lead David Knight home by 4 Minutes- completing 17 laps. With many riders dropping out or stopping and restarting due to exhaustion this was one of the hardest races of the year. It was 3 hours of non  stop pounding with no respite or easy sections to recover on.

Richard Hay finished in 8th place 1 lap down on the winner on 16 laps. Richard said it was so hard he couldn't even be bothered passing the riders he was lapping - just waited till they got out of the way. Although from where I watched he was smooth and fast right to the end. Euan McConnel completed 14 laps, Derek Little 12 laps - both riders having a break before continuing. Malcolm Bissett retired after an hour - unable to control his temperature although he felt fit. There was no air in the trees and blistering heat on the sandy track in the open - and I was just watching.

It was a long way to go for the Scottish contingent and we really miss our mud and rain. The riders who have competed in the World and European rounds this year have all shown up well in events. The experience bringing the younger riders on and confirming Richard as one of the top British riders.

See Matchams for photos.

Following his recent 2nd place at Matchams Richard (Husquvarna 250) produced another superb result to get back on the podium. A long and very tiring event requiring stamina and pacing yourself, Richard judged the race to perfection and started fast, kept up a steady pace then pushed hard again at the end. He produced the fastest lap of the day at 9:09 over a very hilly course which became rooted and rutted towards the end.
The Clubmen had a 2 hour event in the morning which started to define the course producing   ruts and berms. The course was well sorted for the afternoon session of 3 hours for the experts and pros. The mass start of the 250's produced a pile up in the first corner with David Knight and Wayne Braybrook going down. Ady Smith benefited from the chaos and blasted into the lead followed by Richard Hay. David Knight took three laps to regain the lead which he never relinquished.
Refuelling startegies came into play as Knighter ran with a monster tank. Richard fuelled twice with the second stop for goggles, fuel and camelback refill completed in under 30 seconds.
Other Scottish riders were Euan McConnel in 7th place on KTM one lap down- again a magnificent result. Malcolm Bisset on Kawasaki , Derek Little on the RIDE ON Yamaha WR 250 F finished only two laps down and produced a very consistent race , Martin Pennycook on KTM and Chris Hay on Husquvarna 125. A very good showing with all riders finishing except Chris who wrapped himself around a tree once too often and retired with a badly swollen wrist.
The weather was superb but left the riders exhausted and dehyrated at the end of the race. Unlike an Enduro there was no let up or rest sections.Well done to all the riders.

See here for the Photos

RICHARD HAY 2nd at the Matchams Fast Eddy.!!

In his own words -

"I got second overall, for results you can go into fasteddyraceseries.co.uk. I was a fair bit behind David, but it was a close race with Ady Smith for second place. I caught and passed him with 5 laps to go and pulled out a decent gap of 20-30s, 2 laps from the end, I fell trying to get past a back marker, I then fell off again in a sandy hollow when the engine bogged due to a fuel starvation problem I had been having since the first pit stop at 1 hour. After the first fall, I lost my front brake and twisted my handlebars, so the last 2 laps were pretty wild with no front brake, squint handlebars, a fall and Ady putting in a last ditch effort after he saw me picking my bike up in front of him. All in all a good event!!!!"
Euan McConnel also put in a fine performance with a 6th Place.

World Enduro Round 4 Italy  12/13th May Tolmezzo

Richard, Euan and Chris were in action the following week after a short hop down to Italy. A sunny venue for both days with typical Italian terrain - rocks and dry dusty tracks - several of the tracks proving extremely tight with nowhere to go but down if you lost it.

Day One  Euan 16th, Richard 20th in the 250 2 St. Day two Euan 17th , Richard 25th 250 2 St.Chris Hay 35th in the 125 2 St.

World Enduro Round 3 Slovakia 5/6th May Povaska Bystrika

The course was similar to the Scottish Borders with a few almost unclimable hills on day one which were cut out of the final results. A true World course - in fact it was part of the ISDE course held there several years ago. The tests were a mixture of a blast round a pasture field with some wee hills and jumps and a second test almost all on the side of hill. The third test was a fast forest blast with a tricky run along a river bed with a sharp snap up a very muddy rutted climb.

Dry for most of the event there was some heavy rain on the first day to dampen things down and make the course quite slick in parts. All good for the Brits. A full report is now on the web (Click here to follow link)

In the European Enduro Championship in Italy 21st/22nd April Euan McConnell was 5th in the over 250 class and Chris Hay was 15th in the 125's

Euan McConnel 15th Day one and 18th day 2

Richard Hay 20th Day one and 21st Day two