Podium Finish At Rogershill Raceway

Round 2 of the SCEC Evening series took place at Rogershill Raceway in Dorset on Wednesday 15th July.

With a potential mix of weather conditions, the event layout was conservatively changed from round 1, the course primarily orientated towards flowing enduro going, with the more difficult sections of extreme routes being omitted and minimal use of the 30 acres of motocross circuits. In wet conditions, the area can become difficult for the best riders, so the decision was made to ensure an enjoyable event for all.

A fast lap would still comprise of 12-13 minutes of smooth and flowing grassland around the normal motocross/arena area, technical sections in both woodland sectors and fast lengths towards the outlying parts of the location.

Stan from Front Row GB, would look to be more competitive, having been supplied a KTM250 EXC for the event, in order to try and push towards the front.

The start was delayed due to a late arrival of the ambulance services, with the Expert/Pro class getting underway 30 minutes late.
After an initial uphill start the first wave of riders hit a gravel pit that looked an easy obstacle, but later reports suggested all groups fell foul of the exceptionally loose uphill stones. As the Expert/Pro riders started to shake out, Paul Cowshall of FUTURE RACING proved to be the pace setter on his brand new 2010 Champion KTM250 SX. Stan eventually slipped into 2nd place within the first kilometre but Paul had already moved into a 200m lead.

The leading pair would stay fairly stable for 5 laps with Stan unable to make up any ground on Paul. Behind the Front Row GB rider, Mark Cornick of ICE CRAFT and Ben Milward of IN CHAINS were seconds apart and only 15 seconds behind Stan. A mass of riders stalled the process at the transponder area allowing Mark and Ben hook onto the back of Stan and a 5 lap scrap pursued.

Near the end of lap six, Stan made two silly mistakes allowing Mark and Ben move ahead with Stan losing well over 1 minute to the two riders.

Stan got his head down for the final few laps and got back into 2nd place when everyone made their fuel stops. A further small mistake and another short delay at the transponder area and the ICE Craft and In Chain riders were back on Stan's tail with only a few seconds separating all three riders fighting for 2nd.

A collision on the last lap between Mark Cornick and Stan Watt was to be pertinent to the final result with Stan damaging sensitive ligaments in his left knee that had been recently operated on. Unable to support the bike with his left leg, Stan made a small mistake towards the end of the lap allowing Mark and Ben through.

Stan was able to hang onto the back of Ben Milward to the finish line, but unknown to the three riders fighting for 2nd, Paul Cowshall in front had run out of fuel 200m from the line and on literally the final push to the transponders was overtaken by Mark, with Ben and Stan on his heals.

An intense and close race with the top four riders being split by 13 seconds after 2 hours of racing. Undoubted, Stan lost an all out win due to small mistakes of no fault but his own. He enjoyed being back on a bike that could be competitive, rather than being restricted by the heavier test machine KTM690 Enduro R.

Many thanks to;

Talon Engineering
Edmondson Racing
Danny at Rogershill Raceway
Ivan F. for the bike
Gary Warr and his helpers at SCEC


FRGB

SCEC Shillingstone Forest

The beautiful forest of Shillingstone, near Blandford Forum, was the location for round 3 of the Southern Counties Enduro Hare & Hound Championship.
The course had been well prepared but unless there was a mountain of more time and many more hands, it would be impossible to completely clear the lengthy 9 mile course, thus making certain areas quite technical, with a number of hidden obstacles under extensive sections of

undergrowth.

The continuing high temperatures and heat wave would surely be a factor for all riders.

With a good mixture of steep drops, bared tree roots, long climbs and technical sections, the lap was in the region of 20 minutes for the front runners and with a full entry list, then it made for an interesting event.

Stan from Front Row GB was competing on what is becoming his usual mount, the KTM690 Enduro-R. With a change of suspension the bike had been running and handling well and Stan was keen to try and get the KTM690 as close to the front of what would be a course suited to the smaller enduro machines.

For the second race in a row, the KTM690 failed to burst into life when requested on the startline, although only taking a few seconds to resolve the issue, the rest of the field apart from Danny Hall on the BMW450 were stretching towards the first corner. Danny Hall passed Stan in the first turn, relegating him to the back of the field at the start of the race.

It wasn't long until the KTM690 and Stan got into a good rhythm and by a third of lap 1, Stan had re-passed Danny Hall's BMW450 and was making in-roads into the rest of the front runners.

By lap two, Stan had pulled away from Danny Hall, after rear brake failure on his BMW and passed a number of riders to move into 6th place. Putting in good consistent times, Stan set about trying to get further up the pack and by lap 6 had moved into 4th position.
Lap 7 proved to be the stumbling block, when the side stand spring on the KTM690 snapped, killing the power.
With minimal tools to fix the problem, Stan relied on a travelling marshal who kindly produced some bungee cord and with some manipulation, fixed the problem and Stan was back on his way.

Time had obviously passed by quickly, as Stan thought he had only lost a few minutes, but this in reality was closer to 10 minutes dropping him back into 30th position.

Stan attempted to get the KTM690 back in a respectable position but running short of time, only managed a 9th.

Carl Tiley took a convincing win on the TM while Mark Cornick took a good 2nd.

Thanks to the travelling marshal for the assistance, to SCEC/Gary Warr for such a good event and Nick Guppy for the photographs.


FRGB