THE TRAIL TECH DARK ONE RD 1... SATURDAY 15TH MARCH
OROR “MICHELIN” MUD SCRAMBLE     SUNDAY 16TH MARCH

RACE REPORT: GWYNNE TURNER

“A hard day’s night!!!!!”

In what can only be described as “unbelievably wet!” the vastly skilled WOR Events team conjured up a plan to once again take on and defeat the wet weather that tried in vain to dampen the spirits of the latest weekend of off road WOR fun.

The Saturday saw a very healthy line up of riders enjoy dry conditions and a fantastic 5 mile lap of Hare Scramble Race Experience joy.
WOR had Paul Edmondson and Jason Thomas, the best hare scramble riders in the UK, on hand to float round and offer help and skills to the lucky participants.
From the start at 10am through to the finish at 3.30pm, not one drop of the wet stuff came down ensuring that the circuit was in just about perfect condition.
Edmondson was displaying jaw dropping control on the grass special test areas and had lots of riders improved by the time he was done.
It’s these skills that show why the man is a four time world champion and legend on a dirt bike.

With a 3 hour gap before the start of the TRAIL TECH DARK ONE series for 2008 the WOR track team went out and shortened the loop to about 2.5 miles (to ensure safe marshalling in the dark!) and as they did so down came the rain.
Lots and lots of it with absolutely no let off whatsoever.

THE TRAILTECH DARK ONE.

Over 25 riders took to the line for the DARK ONE and a full range of lighting systems were on view ranging from home made ones through to UFO type brightness that could blind you!!

Starting at 6.30 pm in almost full darkness the warriors set off in pouring rain to tackle the 1.75hr event.
Jason Thomas was the first man into the lap tracking zone and simply just pulled away from the rest with his usual flowing style and awesome speed.
Lincoln Brewster on his Gasser was again strong and quick and secured the runner up place on the podium. Local Plumber Shaun Turner rode real well and had very bright lights, Shaun held second place for most of the race until being passed by Brewster late on.

The top Clubman was Young Gary Daniels with a very comfortable win over Lewis Belfield in second place and Daf Jones in 3rd.
Allan Hopwood beat Ian Barnett in the over 40’s and the top sportsman was Ben Ball from Mark Bell.
Although not supported by masses of riders this Dark One series really does have a good feel about it.
WOR are once again leading the way for other clubs to follow with proof that excellent, safe racing can be achieved in the dark and offer yet another angle to the UK off road racing scene.
Well done to all marshals and helpers that braved the horrendous conditions to ensure the event ran smoothly.
The next round of the TTD1 series is in April and will hopefully be under much calmer sky’s and in drier conditions.


The MICHELIN mud race!!!!!   12.00 NOON on the Sunday!

The Sundays race format was planned to be the 1st round of the MICHELIN FAST CROSS which would have incorporated 4 x 1 hour races and fastest lap awards cumulating in one result come the end of the day.
However with one of the heaviest overnight rainfalls in recent local history the whole days racing was put into jeopardy.
The hard working WOR team had a late night meeting on Saturday night and sorted out what was going to be the best plan of action.
With first light dawning on the Sunday morning, A track assessment was carried out and then a decision was made to scrap the 4 race format as the conditions would simply have just not allowed it.

Knowing that lots of eager riders were on their way to the venue and not wanting to disappoint as well as wanting to fulfil the agreement between the very helpful and keen venue managers, race director Steve Ireland made a decision to run a one off 1.5 hour Hare Scramble for the riders that were really committed and ready to ride no matter what the weather.
Lots of riders chose not to ride but in true Enduro fashion, lots of real dirt riders did choose to ride.
With classes for the whole scale, but no championship points being awarded due to the 4 race format not being able to run a committed line up of riders took to the start area for the 12.00 noon mud fest.

Luckily the rains of the last 19 hours disappeared and a new 4 mile loop was slippery but ultimately fully ride able for any one with a committed throttle.

Once again that man Jason Thomas was flying.
Out on the Austin Red Bull Honda 250 2t, Thomas simply picked quality lines and skated round the smoothest corners to rack up yet another WOR win.
Sadly for the UK Jason is off to Canada and the States in April to carry back on from where he left off in the GNCC’s. We all wish him well with that mission.
Jason Was the only Elite rider (pro level) to finish and what is nice to see is that at his level of riding and ability he still wanted to collect his trophy and add it to his collection (for his dad!!), nice touch.

The circuit was very wet of that there was no doubt, but on covering most of the track with the clerk of the course on the ATV it was really riding well and offering the riders huge smile and grin factors as the rolling grass fields dealt up mud challenge after mud challenge.
The Expert class was topped by Damien Butler with a near 3 minute advantage from Harry Hillas.
3rd place went to Paul Mcsorely who seemed to be enjoying flying through the mud on his machine.

Top Clubman was young Scott Hughes.
Hughes was out on a new TM 2502t and has been missing from some recent WOR races, however the youngster came back with a huge bang in this race with an unbelievable ride that not only won him his class but secured him a brilliant 2nd place OVERALL.

Scott was just effortlessly floating through the mud and everybody was commenting on the youngsters pace. Let’s hope some consistency and good luck comes his way now over the coming months.
Runner up in the Clubman was another young star, Josh Taylor.
Taylor is improving all the time and his riding style and line selection is coming on in leaps and bounds.
Yamaha mounted Taylor was 7 minutes ahead of KBR rider Lewis Belfield in his second podium of the weekend in third place.

3 veterans classes ran with over 35/over 40/and over 45 all lining up together but scoring separate classes.
The top vet was Ray Whittle, on his cr 250 2t.
It really was a powerful performance from Ray as he battled with over 35 front runner Jack Twentyman and took the win.
The conditions suiting Whittle as he took the over 45’s from CF Racing owner Gareth Lloyd in second and Neil Duncan in 3rd.

The evergreen Twentyman was only just ahead of Brian Green to take the over 35’s with Rob Morris rounding out the podium in 3rd place.

Allan Hopwood was a double winner over the weekend with a win in the over-40 class on Sunday to match his Dark One victory.
As in the previous night's Dark One it was Ian Barnett taking second place and Craig Parkes took the final Sunday award in the bronze position.

The top sportsman riders were Ben Ball (another double winner)
With a comfortable 4 minute advantage over young Ryan Faulks.
3rd went to Scott smith.

The top place in the novice class was taken by Elgan Roberts with Gareth Lewis and William Charnock in second and third place respectively.

A special mention must go to young Joe Wootton in the youth class.
This young man is getting better and better by the week and is putting in some very stylish rides indeed.
Joe battled his little 85 through the gloop to take a great class win from Gethin Humpries and Huw Jones.
All the top 3 in the youth class did 7 laps and were very close come the end of play.

And so...
What could have been a lost weekend due to the weather, in fact turned out a great weekend and proof that were there is a will, there is a way…. But we all know that anyway because the commitment and determination that makes an off road rider simply does not let the weather win.

Well done to WOR and all the riders that took part over the weekend.

WOR’s next event is at the awesome MAESHFN venue near Mold.
Sat/ Sun 29/30 March. Check www.worevents.com for full event details.
The same weekend that the clocks go forward and the start of a much anticipated British Summer time.