PMCRC 5hr Ironman Hare and Hounds

PODIUM FINISH FOR STAN

With the hottest day of the year predicted at 31 degrees for race day; Stan from Front Row GB was riding the all new KTM300 XC on its first outing in anger.

With a full entry of over 200 riders, the race got away on time at 10am for a full 5hrs in searing temperatures and a magnitude of dust. Stan made a simple mistake on the line of not putting the bike into gear and was last away in the joint start line of championship and expert riders.

With a lot of dust building at the rear of the pack, Stan began making his way through the pack and quickly got near the front. By lap two slower riders were already being caught and the scene was set to be riding in some form of dust for the next few hours.

As the riders settled into their pace, Stan got into a rhythm in order to assess if the heat and conditions would take its toll. First refuel at 1hr 40mins saw Stan firmly sat in 2nd place with James Giddings from KTM D3 Racing over 3 mins ahead.

The Edmondson Racing KTM300 XC performed perfectly and by the 3 and half hour mark, Stan still remained in 2nd but now over 7 minutes down on the leader James Giddings. At the start of final hour, Stan was still feeling in good shape and decided to up the pace and see if he could reel in James at the front. Pushing hard where he could, Stan began to close in on the leader and settled into a final hour at a much faster pace.

The KTM300 XC took everything easily in its stride and the harder Stan pushed the better the bike felt. By the end of 5hrs, Stan had closed the gap to just over 3 and half minutes and a confirmed 2nd place with James Giddings in the premier spot. Overall James Giddings and Stan were the only riders to make 22 laps.

FRGB

2011 KTM300 XC (Cross Country)

Stan Watt from Front Row GB took delivery of the new 2011 KTM300XC 2T last week and has been more than impressed with the first practice sessions on KTM's new concept for the UK market.

The XC version has always been provided by KTM to the South African, Australian and US marketplace to suit the abundance of Hare and Hound type events, especially the big money events like the GNCC in America.

For the first time, the XC model is an official UK import and Derrick Edmondson at Edmondson Racing in Cannock, Staffs. has been on the ball getting hold of every last bike from KTM he can.

The XC 2T (250cc and 300cc) boasts a whole new engine design, including a 6 speed gear box, a new barrel, head and power valve. All models come with an electric start, 18in rear wheel, 11.5L clear tank, larger bore exhaust and SX suspension.

Although there are no lights as standard the full wiring loom is on the bike and it is a simple process to make the bike road legal and can easily be registered.

The new 300 has progressed in all departments, using the motocross styling to give it a sharp look, the SX suspension is just a pleasure once it has been tweaked for enduro and the torque of the engine allows the bike to hook up and drive rather than launching the front wheel in the air like the older model.

Geometry changes makes the bike feel more like the 250exc in the tight and twisty bits and when the 6 speed opens up, there is definitely no lack of top end speed.

Stan has currently tested at Rogershill Raceway where the ACU National Sprint Challenge was held earlier in the year and in the deep sand of North Devon.

A thumbs up all round at the minute and anyone looking at a new bike should seriously consider the KTM250 or KTM300XC.

Contact Derrick Edmondson @ Edmondson Racing - 01543 450150

FRGB

BRITISH ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP - HAFREN WALES

Round 3 of the British Enduro Championship was set in the picturesque town of Llanidloes where the motocross special test was situated along with the main paddock.

From the start at the Rugby Club, the two day event would make its way to the nearby motocross special test, prior to heading out to the Jones farm, which would be the central hub of activity for refueling and the second special test.

With the weather holding strong and temperatures in the low to mid-twenties, day 1 comprised of two laps with back-to-back motocross tests to end the day of over 7 hours of riding. The course rode well and such a pleasure to be racing there without the normal guaranteed rain.

David Knight took the honors followed by Greg Evans, Paul Edmondson, Daryl Bolter and Edward Jones.

Day 2 threatened with rain showers that never appeared and the course stayed in great shape. Two laps again and another long day with back-to-back tests on a reversed motocross special to finish the event.

Again, David Knight would stand on top of the podium followed by Greg Evans, Tom Sagar, Daryl Bolter and Paul Edmondson.

Stan Watt from Front Row GB had a fairly steady weekend finishing 5th in the E3 on Saturday and 6th in E3 on the Sunday. The good weather doesn't play to Stan's strengths as he needs to improve and concentrate on his special test times in order progress further up the position board.

Check this video out as it gives anyone an idea of the terrain if you have never had a go. http://vimeo.com/12404115

Next BEC is at Knighton on 10th and 11th July

FRGB

BEC Lossiemouth 2010

Round 2 of the British Enduro Championship proved to be another excellent event, with some initial doubts of expectations with a reduction in the land area open for use.

The weather stayed completely dry for a change and the two special tests at Lossiemouth Forest and orientated around the motocross circuit were a joy to ride. Both completely different, with the deep sand of the forest and more graded option at the motocross circuit.

David Knight on his KTM530 put in a flawless performance on both days, considerably quicker than anyone else followed by Tom Sagar on his Suzuki RMZ450 and Daryl Boulter on the KTM250 on Day 1, and with a further top performance on Day 2, David Knight was followed home again by Tom Sagar on the 450 Suzuki and his team mate Paul Edmondson on the 250 Suzuki.

Stan Watt from Front Row GB had a fair performance on both days, improving considerably on Day 2 compared on Day 1. With the weather remaining good over the weekend and the course staying in good condition there was no serious difficult going where Stan's physical or mental attributes would be needed to close the gap on normally faster riders.

Day 1 saw Stan lose a minute on each tight check and a few mistakes on the special tests pushing him down to 29th and 4th in class.

Some suspension changes after the first lap on Day 2 by Steve Plain, made a huge difference allowing Stan to stay on time with both tight checks on the second lap and improve on the special test times from Day 1, even though, in theory the course should be slower after becoming considerably rougher.

With the improvements on Day 2, Stan felt stronger throughout, lifting his position to 25th remaining 4th in class.

Many riders appeared to find the course more demanding on Day 2, but Stan felt it much easier going, predominantly down to the suspension changes, making all the difference.

A big thanks to John Little who recently turned 72 and the Grampian MCC for such a great event on wonderful land, one of/if not the best on the British Championship calendar. There are rumours that it is unlikely to be back for a while, which would be a huge loss to the sport.

Many thanks to the those who assisted over the weekend;

Derrick Edmondson from Edmondson Racing
Steve Plain from Steve Plain Motorcycles and Suspension
Rob Sartin from Talon Engineering
The GASGAS Team
Chris Boyce for keeping me awake all the way back down south


FRGB

British Enduro Championship Rd2 Lossiemouth

Front Row GB point northwards and head for virtually the most northern part of the United Kingdom for round 2 of the British Enduro Championship in Lossiemouth, Scotland.

Due to arrive tonight with Derrick Edmondson of Edmondson Racing and Chris Boyce, the weekend will consist of scrutineering tomorrow and a walk of the special tests, followed by racing on Saturday and Sunday prior to the 10hr road trip back.

The Lossiemouth event is renowned for its excellent course, sandy going and its lengthy special test. This year there are some restrictions due to bird nesting on the beach areas, but it appears the organisers have worked extra hard to produce top event after the disappointment of the earlier Easter cancellation due to heavy snow.

Updates as the weekend goes

FRGB

SCEC - Somerley Park 2010

The 2nd round of the Southern Counties Enduro Championship took place on Sunday 2nd May at Somerley Park.

With rain expected, Somerely is renowned for remaining in some sort of decent condition due to the great natural drainage and the generous amounts of sand throughout the course.

The Championship class hosted a strong local field with Mark Cornick, Danny Hall, Gary Wright, Gary Holland and Steve Harding, who has moved up from Experts this year. Pete Archer would always be one to watch out for in the Vets.

With the sun starting to show and dry overhead, the 160 riders got away on time, with the Championship class leading the way, except Stan Watt from Front Row GB whose Edmondson Racing KTM250EXC failed to fire on the button and needed some manipulation to breathe into life costing him 30-45secs from the start line.

The main group of riders was led by Mark Cornick with the rest bunched and Stan bringing up the rear. With the course layout being perfectly flowing and a clear track ahead, by the end of lap 1 Stan had caught onto the tail end of the main group of front riders, who appeared to be tripping over each other to get past.

Mid way through lap 2 and in one main pass, Stan promoted himself past 6 riders into 2nd place, pulling away immediately to chase the leader Mark Cornick. Within a few minutes, Stan had taken the lead and found himself chased down by Gary Wright. A 2 lap tussle ensued with Gary leading the way and eventually Stan just didn't have the same pace to keep up and Gary eventually moved out of sight.

Stan was fixed in a lonely 2nd place until lap 10, where suddenly Gary Wright appeared in front of him after a slow crash in some fallen brash. Stan took the opportunity to move into the lead and the pair battled for another two laps before Stan made a silly mistake on lap 12 dropping into a small bog losing 20-30 seconds and allowing Gary to get away in the front.

At the end, after a little confusion, Gary Wright had taken the headline win with Stan just over a minute behind in 2nd. Pete Archer won the Vets, Dan Lowry the Expert class, Dan Groom Clubman E2, Danny Andrews Clubman E1, Clare Taylor the Ladies, Carl Tennington the Sportsman class, Neil Fripp the Sportman +40 and Dave Sawtell the Novice.

A fantastic venue was enhanced by the organisation of the SCEC Club with Gary Warr and his band of helpers. A job well done and appreciated by all the riders.

Many thanks to;

Edmondson Racing
Talon
Michelin
Ivan F.
Steve Plain Motorcycles and Suspension
SCEC
Fox
Arai
Nookie
Voltcom Group

FRGB

THE TOUGH ONE 2010

After a postponement earlier this year, The Tough One Extreme Enduro took place last weekend, 20th February at Nantmawr Quarry in North Wales. The event is known as the toughest enduro the UK has to offer and from 2011, will become a round of the World Extreme Enduro Championship.

The event has been marred by bad weather, as with the rest of the UK, and Saturday was no exception with the surrounding area covered in 3 inches of snow in places.

Weeks of rumours had circulated that the event was to be the hardest ever, no-one would complete it, etc, etc. The reality was, yes a difficult event, but very rideable and more importantly, raceable for the riders and still favourable for spectators.

Stan Watt from Front Row GB was to compete on a Edmondson Racing prepared KTM250 exc, with a few modifications to cope with the terrain and trials orientated course.

After walking the lap in the morning, Stan felt fairly happy with things, and the designated qualifying laps (Kriega Hot Lap) for the Pro riders, only ensured the course was not to be taken for granted.

The Pro and Expert riders set off at similar times for the 2hr race as the group of riders reached he first set of rock obstacles, it was impossible to determine positions, as riders queued, pushed, crashed or eventually got through with the assistance from spectators.

The main section in the quarry was undoubted the hardest but the best for riding. Stan didn't get the best start and for some reason within the first 5 minutes started to suffer physically with fatigue. This lasted for around 45 minutes before having a second breath and started making his way from 23rd through some of the slower riders.

Again, fatigue set in with about 30 minutes to go and Stan lost a couple of places through multiple mistakes. Stan eventually finished 15th expert but at full fitness maybe might have been able to slip an additional and close in on the top 10.

Congratuations to David Knight who completely trashed the field lapping everyone apart from Tom Sagar.

An enjoyable race, well organised so a big thanks has to go out to Steve Ireland and his team for putting on such a great event with a strong international field of riders.

Many thanks has to go to;

- Edmondson Racing

- Steve Plain Suspension

- Talon Engineering

- Adventure Spec

- Nookie

A special thanks to Ivan for all the support and assisting over the weekend

DAKAR 2010 REST DAY

The 2010 Dakar Rally in South America has reached its halfway point, thus the rest day.

The longest timed special stage of 600km has led to a well-earned rest day. The bikes are down to around 90 riders from 161 starters in Buenos Aires. The quads are down to 14 pilots from 27 starters, cars remain with 55 competitors from 140 starters and 25 trucks remain from 55 starters.

This is all taken from midday UK on 9th January, with a number of competitors still out on the stage from 8th January, who have been given a cut-off time of 6pm today, otherwise they will be removed from the race for safety reasons.

The usual suspects sit at the top of the rankings;

BIKES- 1. Despres, 2. Coma, 3. Rodrigues

Early pacemakers have hit their problems as well as the factory teams, but Cyril Despres continues to keep the pace strong with a 1hr 6min lead over Marc Coma. A number of big crashes have seen David Casteu, Luca Manca, Viladoms and Stanovik retire.

The Brit riders have had a mixed affair with Craig Bounds leading the contingent in 61st place, Paul Carlyle in 79th, Phil Noone from Ireland in 87th and Tamsin Jones still on stage 7 from 8th January having been recorded at km 448 of 600 kms, almost 6hrs behind the leaders with 90 riders having finished the stage at this time, with Tamsin clocked through km 448 at 1pm yesterday, so hopefully will clear the stage in time and get some experience of the rest day.

Unfortunately, Andrew neri was forced to retire on stage 6 and Duncan Teedy on stage 3.


CARS 1. Sainz 2. Al-attiyah 3. Miller

As with the bikes, some early pacemakers have fallen foul to the stresses of the Dakar rally, with Nani Roma in the BMW getting away with a broken wrist, another crash has dashed de Villier's hopes who now supports the other Volkswagen drivers and mechanical problems has seen the early leader, Peterhansel drop down the pack.

Carlos Sainz holds an 11min lead over Nasser Al-attiyah and 22 mins over the next VW driver, Mark Miller. Rumour has it, internal squabbles between the VW drivers is growing as the Dakar moves into its second part.

FRGB

DAKAR NEWS

Stage 1

Casteu’s big bluff
Behind the handlebars of a brand new 450cc, David Casteu has thrown the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons on the first stage of the Dakar. He has taken the lead in the general standings with the day’s best time in front of the two favourites for outright victory, Cyril Despres and Marc Coma.

He is someone always full of surprises; like setting up his own team for instance, with French constructor Sherco, grabbing the opportunity thrown up by the switch over to 450cc for all the competitors in the bike race in the near future. David Casteu, often arbitrator in proceedings between Cyril Despres and Marc Coma, and 2nd in the Dakar in 2007 and 4th in 2009, has chosen to challenge his rivals on a newly designed and less powerful bike.

The road is still long, but this bold decision has already been rewarded on the first special stage of the 2010 edition, in which the rider from Nice scored the day’s best time, 3" ahead of Cyril Despres, and 12” in front of title holder Marc Coma. The gaps are small in light of what still awaits them, but this stage win is symbolically significant for brave David. In the early hours of the morning, a final conversation between Casteu and his mechanic convinced him to try and make an impact between Colon and Cordoba.

Over the 168 kilometres remaining to be covered once the stage had been shortened due to flooding at the start of the special, the eternal outsider was true to his sole guiding principle: “attack, attack, attack”. In the end, Casteu won the 2nd special stage of his career on the Dakar, with the satisfaction of handing out a first defeat to the KTM 690cc riders.

In the series of confrontations between big and small that are on the menu, David Frétigné, on his Yamaha 450cc, was more discrete than Casteu, finishing in 6th position in the day’s standings, almost three minutes off the lead. For the return of Aprilia to the Dakar, Francisco Lopez, also riding a 450cc, took fifth place, 2’42” behind Casteu, but also nearly a minute behind Jordi Viladoms, who finished in fourth.

The Brit riders are underway with Craig Bounds (apparently suffering from some sort of illness) finishing the stage in 38th, Tamsin Jones 145th, Paul Carlisle 141st, Philip Noone 126th, A. Neri 125th.

FRGB

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND BEST WISHES FOR 2010

Thank you for the continued support;

From All at Front Row GB