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 By Tim Tighe
The second round of the Putoline XC Championship ran on a beautifully clear, sunny Saturday and Sunday in Kent, a far cry from the muddy opening round in Shropshire.
The event ran on M.O.D. land close to Chatham, hastily arranged when the Culham venue became unavailable. It was a little further to travel for many competitors but it was well worth the long drive South. The Putoline XC Championship is a National event and this season will see more new venues added to the list.
A great course involved two woodland areas, two fast MX type field sections with numerous jumps and a few steep bank sections but best of all was the hard-standing paddock area. Typically the all-weather surface was unnecessary because the weather was superb, the track was in great shape and the event was very well organised.
 Relentless Suzuki’s Paul Edmondson (pictured right) headed the Pro class although James Jackman was first off the line and took the holeshot. Fast Eddy was closing him down after a few hundred metres when Jackman’s Husaberg found some unexpected grip on one of the straight sections and looped out in spectacular fashion. He picked himself up and went on to the finish but Fast Eddy has taken the lead and stretched a massive gap between himself and the rest of the field, finishing a lap up on everyone, 26, by the end of 2 hours thirty minutes.
Darren Carter took second in the Pro class followed a few minutes later by Tim Foreman and the fully recovered Jackman. Lee Jones took fifth while Chris Tett crossed the line for sixth place. Tetty and TM’s Philip McLauglin had battled lap after lap for third and fourth spots. Tetty finally took the Irishman only to lose the bead in his rear tyre and have the mousse pop out. On-the-spot repairs with baling twine got him slowly to the finish line as, amazingly, McLauglin ran out of fuel just yards after Tett’s disaster and withdrew from the race.
Mark Roberts steadily put over 18 seconds between himself and Garath Hopkins in the Expert class. Not much of a gap over the whole race but the course was fast for all riders and Roberts’ performance was terrific. Matty Holcombe was a lap down on the leaders, finishing third, but two minutes up on Jack Twentyman in fourth. Craig Chamberlain worked his way through the field as the race progressed and took a deserved fifth place in the Expert’s.
James Gidding rode to victory in the Super Clubman class as three minutes covered the tyop three riders. Richard Ely finished only yards ahead of James Harvey in third, all three posting 23 laps. Sam Robinson, fourth, was a lap down on the top three and a minute ahead of Mark Mealham in fifth.
A great line-up for the morning race saw over 100 riders tear around the course, which held up extremely well. The two-hour race had quite a few quality riders with vast amounts of experience. By the end of the two hours, the five of the top seven riders were from the Veterans class.
Experience triumphed over youth and enthusiasm. Chris Walton and Peter Clarke had a great tussle and it wasn’t until the latter stages of the race that Walton stretched a 80 second lead to take the win with Clarke second. The top five riders all banged in 18 laps, with only 3 minutes between them. Yet another Edmondson claimed a podium place, Derrick took third in the Vets class and fourth overall, much to his surprise. David Lote took the Veterans fourth spot, a lap down on the front-runners but just 40 seconds ahead of Peter Benton in fifth.
Sean O’Neil headed the Clubman 4T taking third overall in the race but Stu Keedwell pushed him hard to the finish and narrowed the gap to a minute and a half, both riders posting 18 laps. Gareth Delahay fought his way to third in class, a lap down on the leaders and two minutes clear of Gary Sims in fourth. Bob Allen took fifth a further two minutes behind Sims.
 Karl Day (pictured left) loved every minute of his race, along with Steve Holcombe this pair led their class from the word ‘Go’. Seventeen laps later there was just a minute and a half between the two with Day triumphant and Holcombe second. Keith Jones and Trevor Jones had their own private tussle for third and fourth spots. In the final stages Keith put the hammer down and pulled a very slight gap to take third pushing Trevor to fourth and James Burrows to fifth.
Andy Broadley had a great outing. To say he was riding Novice 4T his performance was impressive, matching the Clubmen lap for lap and winning his class a lap clear of the rest. Wayne McGill finished in second place ahead of a flurry of chasing riders. Third place went to Paul Austin with Lee Carpenter fourth and Duncan Moore fifth.
The Army entered a complete novice in this class. Andy Brown had never raced before and did well to finish although conditions were in his favour and he looks set to be chosen for a spot on the Army team in future.
Johnny Jones banged in another great ride, he took fourth in the Youth 125-150 class the day before and went on to win the Novice 2T class by a clear two minutes ahead of Jason Boyle, second. Lee Day, third, had quite a breathing space between himself and Colin Wilson in fourth, a lap in fact. Wilson also had a lap advantage over fifth placed Gary Wright.
Richard Main was at his best in the Vets35 class. Twentythree laps and a three minute lead of Ryan Griffiths saw him take the class win. Chris Roberts, third and Dennis Harrison, fourth gave the top four riders a 23 lap race, onlyColin Bott who took fifth was a little way behind on 19 laps.
The Youth Championship ran on Saturday afternoon following a well attended morning training session Matt Burrows showed his determination by taking the lead early on and holding it for the full 90 minutes over 14 laps, winning the 125-150 class by a long way. His only real challenger was Scott Clifford who posted the same number of laps but trailed into second place some 40 seconds behind the winner. Thomas James grabbed a well-deserved third place, a lap down on the leading two riders. Johnny Jones trailed in nearly two minutes behind for fourth spot, a lap clear on Grant Harrioson in fifth.
The only other rider to post 14 laps was Brad Freeman, winner of the 85cc class. Brad rode out of his skin to claim a well-deserved victory, despite being chased for most of the race by Fraiser Flockhart, who eventually took second in class finishing nearly two minutes ahead of Joe Wootton in third. Aaron Coupland and Sophie Thomas virtually tied for fourth but Coupland took it by less than a second.
The Edmondson winning ways continued as Jack Edmondson landed his first victory by taking the 65cc class win. Henry Williams, second, and Oliver Benton, third, matched Jack Eddy on 12 laps but couldn’t close on his two-minute lead. Alex Walton was two laps down on the leaders, finishing in fourth, just ahead of Kieron Mills in fifth.
Both days ran extremely well and there is no doubt that this is all due to Steve Price and his team who helped Paul Edmondson in organising every aspect of the event. The were more marshals than ever before, especially static marshals at the trickier sections of the course, and plenty of roving marshals on bikes and quads who were on the spot at a moments notice to give assistance where necessary.
Great location, excellent course, superb marshalling and fierce competition from all riders made this one of the best Putoline XC Championship rounds to date.
Results:
Pro
1 Paul Edmondson
2 Darren Carter
3 Tim Forman
4 James Jackman
5 Lee Jones
Expert
1 Mark Roberts
2 Garath Hopkins
3 Matt Holcombe
4 Jack Twentyman
5 Craig Chamberlain
Superclubman
1 James Giddings
2 Richard Ely
3 James Harvey
4 Sam Robinson
5 Mark Mealham
Veterans
1 Chris Walton
2 Peter Clarke
3 Derrick Edmondson
4 David Lote
5 Peter Benton
Vets35
1 Richard Main
2 Ryan Griffiths
3 Chris Roberts
4 Dennis Harrison
5 Colin Bott
Clubman 4T
1 Sean O’Neil
2 Stuart Keedwell
3 Gareth Delahay
4 Gary Sims
5 Bob Allen
Clubman 2T
1 Karl Day
2 Steve Holcombe
3 Keith Jones
4 Trevor Jones
5 James Burrows
Novice 4T
1 Andy Broadley
2 Wayne McGill
3 Paul Austin
4 Lee carpenter
5 Duncan Moore
Novice 2T
1 Johnny Jones
2 Jason Boyle
3 Lee Day
4 Colin Wilson
5 Gary Wright
Youth Results
65cc
1 Jack Edmondson
2 Henry Williams
3 Oliver Benton
4 Alex Walton
5 Kieron Mills
85cc
1 Brad Freeman
2 Fraiser Flockhart
3 Joe Wooton
4 Aaron Coupland
5 Sophie Thomas
125-150cc
1 Matt Burrows
2 Scott Clifford
3 Thomas James
4 Johnny Jones
5 Grant Harrison
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Gary Sims (#255)
Darren Philpot
Ready to go
James Giddings
Mark Roberts
Novice Andy Brown
Phillip Mclaughlin
Chris Tett's tyre
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