BEC Victory for Relentless Suzuki Enduro’s Paul Edmondson

The second round of the British Enduro Championship took place at Lossiemouth over the weekend and proved to be a very successful outing for the Relentless Suzuki Enduro Team.

Paul Edmondson piloted his brand new fuel injected Suzuki RMZ450 to victory on both days in the E2 class and a first and second place in the overall standings, putting Edmondson back into the title chase.

With just a few days to prepare the new bike for the event, Fast Eddy was over the moon with the result. After preparing the machine with a lighting kit and softer springs the 450 never missed a beat. Edmondson hadn’t ridden such a large capacity bike for many years but took to it immediately as the results show.

Following a disappointing opening round of the BEC, Edmondson is right back on course in the series and looks set to go from strength to strength on the new bike.

Paul Edmondson: ‘I’m really pleased with the result this weekend. The bike was fantastic. Initially it was a culture shock going back to a big bike after so many years but the handling was spot on and the new fuel injection system really supplied the power when needed. I’m very impressed; I think that fuel injection is the way ahead after this performance.

“The result has put me back in the running for the BEC, I feel I’ve got a good shout at putting in a string of good performances, especially with the Relentless Suzuki RMZ450 under me.”

Optoma Mortgages D3-Racing KTM

Front Row GB
Round 2 of the Metzeler sponsored, ACU British Enduro Championship took place throughout last weekend in Scotland, with the Grampian Motorcycle Club again using the areas near to Elgin, to include; Lossiemouth Forest, Woodside MX arena and Monaughty Forest.

With the weather forecast suggesting wintery conditions of rain, snow, strong winds and freezing temperatures, it was hoped the course and terrain would make up for the proposed weather conditions.

Stan Watt would be the sole rider from Front Row GB as Jon Stamper was restricted by other commitments and Stan would travel with Paul and Derrick Edmondson plus Danny Hall from Rogershill Raceway in Dorset, Rob Sartin from Talon Engineering and Bradley King.

The group left southern England on the Wednesday to carry out testing on Thursday in Tain with Scott Gardner in order to develop suspension for the coming BEC, prior to heading over to Elgin for the main event over the weekend.

THE COURSE
The course would incorporate starting at a disused airfield approximately 3 miles outside Elgin and a short ride to Lossiemouth Forest, where there was an interesting stage through the forest to the cross country test. The special test would run along the fringes of the forest, onto deep sand and eventually onto the beach before heading back into the trees to end the special test.

With another lengthy stage after the special in the forest area, a rider would return to the entrance of Lossiemouth Forest before riding back to the start to refuel and set out along a short road section to the MX test that would be a mixture of the Woodside MX circuit and surrounding area, making for a lengthy special test that most riders were looking forward to, although large amounts of time could be lost or made through this section.

After the MX test, a 15 minute road section would take you to Monaughty Forest for fuel and a stage that would resemble the terrain you would find in a typical Welsh forest of rocks, roots and bogs, just of a smaller scale. Once Monaughty Forest was completed there was an opportunity to take on more fuel and return to the start point to kick-off lap two.

A complete lap would cover 65 miles and proved to be demanding and physical for all riders.

For lap two, the stage times would be drastically reduced with a limited number of riders being able to stay clear throughout. Any riders staying on time on the tighter stages would finish with a good result over the weekend.

THE WEATHER
Much was made of the potential forecast for the weekend and thankfully this never came to fruition and it has to be said a certain amount of luck stayed with the event. Yes, there was rain, snow, wind, bouts of hail, freezing conditions and even sunshine. This cycled through the area every 10 minutes making for a variety of conditions but luckily did not affect the riders too much or the riding environment.

THE EVENT
DAY 1
Arriving at the start of the first off-road stage, a number of riders misjudged the route and the entrants were split between riding the proper route, which was fairly tight and those who followed different markers making for a route approximately 5 minutes shorter. Stan arrived well on time and prepared for the first cross country special test with Rob Sartin on hand for any needed assistance.

The test went well with Stan concentrating on a smooth fairly quick test to start the day. This was followed by a long stage in Lossiemouth Forest and again Stan cleared the check in plenty of time. After refuelling, he moved onto the MX test and set a reasonable time prior to heading to Monaughty Forest where again the check was made in plenty of time.

Lap 2 would be very different, with the first off-road stage being cut by 7 minutes and the 2nd check after the special test being cut by 10 minutes. All riders were aware these times would be extremely tight to make and would be physically demanding with a tight check, followed by a special test, followed by a tight check prior to a short road section before the MX test.

Pushing hard, Stan crashed on the first tight check and in total lost 1 minute. With little time to recover, Stan went straight into the special test crashing again, this time on the first corner. Handling difficulties were being accentuated as the course started to get whooped-up and on the next tight check in Lossiemouth Forest, Stan lost a further 2 minutes.

After refuelling, Stan set a good time in the MX test, an amazing 29 seconds quicker than his first attempt and 2nd quickest in class.

A road section to Monaughty Forest and another tight check, which Stan pushed hard to stay clear and arrive bang on his minute.

DAY 2
With the weather changeable and lower temperatures, the day would be reduced from 1 ½ laps to 1 with tight checks all round. Gordon MacDonald made some inspiring suspension changes to Stan’s 300 KTM, with immediate effect. The first tight check was made easily with 7 minutes to spare, cutting his time the day previously by 3 minutes.

The more supple suspension made for difficult going on the soft sand of the cross country test and Stan crashed twice, ruining any chance of a good time. The next tight check was to be difficult with Stan pushing hard and crashing several times losing a total of 3 minutes.

With the standard refuel, Stan made his way to the MX test and set a personal best time, even thought he crashed on the third corner in deep sand.

Monaughty Forest was set as a tight check and again Stan pushed hard knowing this was the final stage of the event and wanting to stay clear. The course was cutting up, but the suspension changes worked well on the exposed rocks and tree roots allowing Stan to arrive at the end of the final off-road stage with 7 minutes in-hand and 3 minutes quicker on the same stage the day previous.

Derrick Edmondson won both days in the veteran class on his 300 KTM whilst Stan Watt was lying 7th in the E3 class on his 300 KTM after day one and the team wait for the official publication of all results before final positions for both days will be known.