Report: Mike Watson
Images: Nick Guppy

Round 3 of the Southern Counties Enduro Championship took place on Sunday 22nd at the Rogershill Raceway complex in Dorset.

The event was dedicated to Lee Wheatley who tragically lost his life in a recent motorcycle accident. Lee was an avid supporter and competitor at the SCEC events and his many racing friends contributed towards the purchase of a magnificent trophy in his memory, which would be awarded to the best expert.

The 3 hour Hare and Hounds event boasted a 7 mile loop consisting of fast cross-country sections linking a mixture of small woods, stream crossings, two motocross tracks, a supercross style section, sand dunes(!) and various enduro style obstacles including an extreme climb for expert riders. Heavy overnight rain followed by a beautiful sunny morning presented the course in perfect condition. Race director Gary Warr warned the riders at the briefing to take care on the first lap as the circuit would be slippery in places before going on to promise Velcro like grip as the race wore on – and he was as good as his word!

The championship riders set off at 11am sharp with the uphill start leading into the first of the two moto-x tracks. Mark Cornick grabbed the holeshot on his 530 Sideways KTM followed closely by Gary Wright on the 250 Yamaha and Frontrow GB’s Stan Watt on his 250 Honda. Gary and Stan battled hard with each other from the very first corner while, the obviously back on-form, Mark Cornick started to slowly but surely build his lead.

Midway through lap 1 Stan moved into 2nd place in an attempt to close down the leader; this only made the encounter with Gary more interesting as the pair consistently made do-or-die manoeuvres on each other in an attempt to take control of 2nd place and settle their own race speed.

The pair continued to swap back and forth until lap 5 when Gary opted out of the extreme section and Stan decided it was an opportunity to establish an additional few seconds. Although Stan had cleared the extreme section on the preceding laps this time he made a mistake, dropping his 250 Honda at the top of the sheer climb and handing the advantage to Gary.

Stan pushed hard on Lap 6 pulling back 40 seconds but again on lap 7 made the exact same mistake on the extreme section dropping off 2nd place by a further 2 minutes.

Over the next two laps Stan was unable to make any impact on Gary Wright’s 2nd place, only being capable of closing the gap by 30 seconds. Unaware of the intensity of the battle behind him Mark Cornick got his head down and rattled off 11 blazingly fast laps to take a comfortable win from Gary of 3mins 17secs, with Stan securing 3rd place a further 3mins 50secs behind.

The expert class is always hotly contested and, with the Lee Wheatley Trophy to fight for, this race was sure to be hotter than most. It was clear from the first corner that two riders in particular were really on fire as Dave Nuttall and Steve Harding were riding like we’ve never seen them go before. In spite of battling with each other for the full 3 hours they just got faster and smoother as the race progressed, so much so that they ended up 4th and 5th in the overall standings! As Lee’s mother presented the trophy to Dave he said that both he and Lee had dreamed of winning the expert class, and that today, they had done it.

In the Expert Vets class Peter Archer took another strong victory but 2nd placed Michael Brooks is getting closer each event and no doubt will be challenging Peter soon. Paul Tossell too is showing ever increasing pace and stormed to an impressive 3rd place.

Dan Beaven, Ross Harvey and Mark Postle made up the top three in the E1 class, all completing 10 laps. Ross and Mark both put in flawless rides and both must be wondering what they will have to do catch Dan next time as he built up his lead to over 10 minutes by the time the flag came out.

Tyson Mayton Jones was equally dominant in the E2 class managing 11 laps to Gary Webb’s and Tony Borrows’ 10. Tyson’s performance was good enough to place him 7th in the overall standings and an upgrade to expert status cannot be far away!

The Sportsman, Sportsman Vets and Novice classes had a shorter two and a half hour race but Ian Hughes, Phil Jones and Neil Fripp each managed 8 laps to win their respective classes.

As the riders gathered around at the end for the awards presentation and to collect their Pro-Clean product prizes the overwhelming consensus was clear – classic SCEC; slick organisation + superb track = awesome race. As Patsy Quick excitedly said to one of the organisation team at the end, “Wow that was absolutely fantastic, it’s inspired me to start racing again – I LOVED IT!”

Not much you can add to that, except the next SCEC event is the July 2nd evening race also at Rogershill Raceway – get the gen at www.enduro.org.uk.

FRONT ROW GB REPORT
PODIUM FINISH FOR FRONT ROW GB AND STAN WATT

Sunday 22nd June, saw the 3rd round of the Southern Counties Enduro Championship take place at Rogershill Raceway in Dorset, UK. The 3 hour hare and hounds event boasted a 7 mile loop, consisting of fast flowing sections linking a mixture of small woods (including an extreme climb for expert riders), two motocross areas, a multiple jump segment and manmade enduro obstacles.

The event was dedicated to Lee Wheatley, who tragically passed away after a recent motorcycle accident and whom over the years has been an avid supporter and competitor at the SCEC events.

The championship riders set off on the allotted time (11am) as Josie Warr dropped the flag to initiate proceedings. With the start line facing uphill, it always makes for an interesting first corner, which takes the competitors straight onto the main motocross circuit.

Mark Cornick on his 530 KTM took the holeshot, closely followed by Gary Wright on the 250 Yamaha, Stan Watt on his 250 Honda, Jeff Goss on the 250 Suzuki, Danny Hall 250 Honda, Brad King 250 Gas Gas. The first 3 riders appeared to make an initial break with Mark Cornick edging a gap between the battling pair of Gary Wright and Stan Watt.

Midway through lap1 Stan Watt moved into 2nd place in an attempt to close down the leader; this only made the encounter with Gary Wright more interesting as the pair consistently made do-or-die manoeuvres on each other in an attempt to take control of 2nd place and settle their own race speed.

The pair continued to swap back and forth until lap5 when Gary opted out of the extreme section and Stan decided it was an opportunity to establish an additional few seconds. Although, Stan had cleared the extreme section on the preceding laps, unfortunately he made a mistake, dropping his 250 Honda at the top of the sheer climb handing the advantage to Gary.

Stan pushed hard on Lap 6 pulling back 40 seconds but again on lap 7 made the exact same mistake on the extreme section dropping off 2nd place by a further 2 minutes.

Over the next two laps Stan was unable to make any impact on Gary Wright’s 2nd place; only being capable of closing the gap by 30 seconds. Mark Cornick put together a series of fast and consistently impressive lap times to take the win from Gary Wright by 3mins 17secs, with Stan securing 3rd place a further 3mins 50secs back.

A good result for Stan and Front Row GB as everyone prepares for the Welsh Two Day enduro due to start in two days, Llandrindod Wells, Wales, UK where Stan will be back on his favoured KTM 250 2t.