BREWSTER AND BELFIELD ARE SNOW JOKE!
by Gwynne Turner

After having had to cancel this first round of the ACERBIS Sprint Scrambles the previous weekend due to terrible wet weather at Mold, imagine the horror on the WOR team’s face when they awoke to deep snow on Sunday morning in the superb Llandrillo Forest to run the rescheduled event. The snow however was no match for the hard working and vastly experienced track team.

Lots of riders did not show up due to simply not being able to get there, the M56 motorway was shut and some of the roads surrounding the venue were very tricky indeed.

However a substantial amount of riders did get there and were treated to a brilliant day’s racing.
The circuit was 6 miles in length and was based on firm fire roads and also included some lovely open moorland sections and some rutted and rocky climbs and downhills.

Parking was all on solid forest roads and funnily enough more riders than ever commented “Great Track” as they crossed the finishing line in the two separate two hour races.

The morning event catered for the Sportsman, Over-40, Novice and Youth riders.
Taking anything from 15 minutes to 35 minutes a lap depending on ability saw about 100 riders have this awesome quality track to play with as overcrowding certainly was not an issue.
KB Racing’s boss Kenny Belfield was out in the Over-40’s class and took a very well-deserved win and overall from second placed Allan Hopwood with Belfield (GG250) managing one more lap than anyone else in the morning stint. Rob Lambert was third although he was 12 minutes down on Hopwood.

Top Sportsman honours went to Ben Ball with another great ride and a come-from-behind pounce late on in the race. Craig Parkes and Chris Wagstaff were second and third respectively in this class.

Jane Daniels was the best Lady with her long legs helping her in some of the rutted sections.

The Youth class had Gethin Humpreys flying to the win with Joe Wootton in the runner-up position and Huw Jones on the 125 Gas Gas in third.

Top Novice was Mark Fletcher who easily won his category from runner-up Gareth Lewis and bronze placed Carl Thomas.

Onto the afternoon race and KB Racing’s podium king, Lincoln Brewster was on top form once again, making it a great day for KBR and GAS GAS with another convincing win.

Leading more or less from start to finish, the wiry Brewster loved the course, hopping and skipping his way through the unbelievably hard underfoot circuit.

Rob Reese was the runner-up in the Pro class from the hard-charging Mark Roberts in third.
Reese and Roberts had a real battle for the second and third place for the duration and were never far off one another racing through the trees.

The top Expert was Alun Jones with a strong ride that took him the spoils from Martin Jones who was 25 seconds behind Alun come the end of the two hour sprint Enduro.
Third Expert was Craig Reynolds on his Yamaha 250 - nice to see Craig getting back on the podium.

Jack Twentyman had another very good ride (Over-35’s) taking almost three minutes from runner-up Richard Main. That in itself was no mean feat as the big fella from Rugby goes very well indeed as his win at the opening round of the GBXC in mid-February showed.
Ian Barnett was third with determination and a fair bit of speed helping him to within 1 minute of Main in second.

In the Over 45’s it was once again the Ray Whittle show. Whittle led home Colin Jones in second place and CF Racing’s Gareth Lloyd in third. Whittle and Jones completed one more lap than Lloyd though. In the end Ray had a 1.5 minute advantage over Colin and a good race had been had between the duo.

Top Clubman was Ben Haycock with a very spirited ride. However Gary Daniels in the silver runners up position deserves a mention for fighting on and coming through the riders to make a late charge and end up on the podium after losing the leaders early on.
Third went to young Owain Humpries who is showing now that his move to Clubman from Youth is a real positive one.

The Hobby class riders had fun riding for no silverware, just the craic, and it was Neil Hawksey beating his mate Gary Rothwell into the winner’s position.

So, the weather did not win this time, WOR Events did, so too did the riders.
Some very different and lovely glassware was handed out at the end to the deserved riders all emblazoned with the ACERBIS logo and results were presented within two minutes of the final rider crossing the line. A quality event by any standards.

WOR’s next event now is this coming weekend at the awesome Robins Mountain Circuit near Abergele. It is round 1 of the new FMF Junior Hare Scrambles Championship on the Saturday and also round 1 of WOR’s prestigious MOTUL GBHS on the Sunday, this is the series that kick started the huge boom in off road racing in the UK about five years ago.

The track up at Abergele has had some grading work done to it and several new loops cut into the woodlands, to compliment this the landowner has also allowed the use of some new” grass going” incorporating some brilliant ski slope type hills and field work.

For more details visit www.worevents.com or call 07944378432.