Builth Wells MCC Round 3 – 6th November 2011
by Daniel Baynham

The morning of Builth Wells third round Hare and Hound event held last Sunday at Bwlchciliau forest started uncharacteristically dry and even sunny, a combination which hasn’t been seen at this event for many years. This sunshine, plus the event’s strong reputation in the past helped to entice 47 keen riders and a strong contingent of spectators to make the early morning dash to catch the 11am start.

The start got underway without any issues with Mark Perrott taking the holeshot for the Experts followed closely by Tim Forman, Neil Thomas and Shaun Buchan but by the time they re-emerged at the lap scoring Forman and Perrott had switched positions and over the remainder of the race Forman continued to open the gap from pole position being chased up by Neil Thomas who went on to finish 2nd after overtaking 3rd place man Mark Perrott.

The Clubman class got off to an equally exciting start with Ross Jones taking the holeshot ahead of Aaron Martin and Wayne James creating such a lead by the time they got back to lap scoring that Ross had caught up with the back of the Expert class in just the first lap! This race was hotly contested with positions being exchanged almost every lap, Aaron and Wayne having a particularly exciting duel for the first couple of hours’ racing.

The first lap of the Sportsman race was led by David Armstrong on the 103 machine before he unfortunately suffered a puncture after only completing 2 laps letting Kevin Jones take the lead and go on to win the Sportsman class ahead of Richard Holland and 3rd place man Matthew Bowen.

The Veteran class managed to finish the three hours without losing a rider to the dreaded DNF and saw Jason Reese win the class, completing a total of 9 laps ahead of Martin Paosila Jones in second place and Paul Davies in third.

Good reviews all round were received about the course which proved challenging but entertaining even to the best of riders, though the water holes did manage to catch out more than a few riders during the early stages of the race! The rest of the three hours went well with the flowing track ensuring plenty of overtaking and good spectating along with a few spills along the way.  In contrast to the previous year the track remained rideable throughout the three hours with the exception of a short hill climb which had to be cut out in the last half an hour due to it becoming impassable by almost all riders.

Tim Forman aboard his GB Front Row KTM was first to congratulate Clerk of the Course James Rees on a brilliant track with more positive comments received following the race. Builth Wells Motor Club would like to thank all competitors and marshals for making the event possible and congratulate Wayne James on completing his first event since his horrific sidecar accident six years ago.