Lincoln tops the Quarry Men
Race Report by G.Turner.
Pics by WOR Events.

WOR Events used one of the “aces up their sleeve” last Sunday in the fantastic Nantmawr Quarry venue in Shropshire.

Heavy rain on the Saturday turned the Race Experience day into a challenge to say the least but with dry skies and howling winds acting like a huge hair drier on the Sunday, the TBM XC third round ran with military precision and the riders were once again shaking the Clerk of the Course’s hand come the end of the two races.

A 5 mile lap that was taking the faster riders around 12-13 minutes and others anything up to 40 minutes literally had everything in it. Rocky trails, open mountain, MX section and a new special test type loop in the quarry that kept the spectators enthralled and really added to the fun and action of the event.

With both races bang on time, results and presentations of the quality silverware for both races carried out immediately after the last riders had crossed the line, No injuries, a fantastic circuit with safe and professional marshalling, it is easy to see how WOR Events have established themselves as the major player in this form of off road motorcycling and event organisation.

THE 2 HOUR RACE... 9.30 am start.
The morning cross country was once again very well supported and the riding standard just gets better and better in this intermediate race.

The top class was the Sportsman and the first 4 riders all did 10 laps a piece, this was really a good pace and would have given them a fair result should they have taken part in the pm sessions.

Ryan Faulks was the man to beat again as he led from start to finish but only just though as Edward Briscoe caught him and nearly passed him on the last corner of the last lap. 7 seconds separated them come the end.

Craig Parkes took a well earned 3rd place just 17 seconds down on Briscoe as he gets more and more bike time under his belt in his training programme for the forthcoming Red Bull Romaniacs in September.

In the over 40’s it was that man Allan Hopwood again that took a great class win. Hopwood was 9 minutes clear of second placed Simon Evans, Evans did however match Hopwood’s number of 9 circuits. Third place went to Rob Lambert albeit down on 8 laps.

Jane Daniels had an absolutely fantastic ride as she not only finished as best lady by a mile she also finished 2nd overall in the Novice class!. Not bad for a 14-year-old female mixing it with adult blokes and beating them. Jane managed to pull a 1 minute advantage over 3rd placed Darren Moloney but the class winner was Dean Williams who managed to keep 31 seconds ahead of the smooth and flowing Daniels.

In the always competitive Youth class it was certainly a podium of quality riders. 3rd place went to Johnny Jones on 9 laps but 20 seconds down on runner up George Knowles. Jones had been leading in fact for quite a while until a small crash cost him some valuable time. Once again though the class win went to the young star rider Joe Wootton. If this young man continues in his development and riding skills then make no doubt about it, there stands a big name in off road sport in the future. Joe ended up on 9 laps like Jones and Knowles but took a 1.5 minute advantage with him. It really was apparent come the end that although the first few laps were slippy, the circuit had dried out beautifully and was riding superbly. The riders had really enjoyed themselves.

THE PM SESSION...
With all WOR’s afternoon races now going back to running over 3 hours, (this one ran for 3 hours and 38 minutes!) value and quality is what the riders are given. The conditions were now perfect and a small but quality line up took to the start grid for the 12.30 noon kick off.

Giving the different classes a rotation system in who starts first saw the Clubman class go first with the championship vets next and the Experts and Pros on the 3rd line for a change.
This allowed the Clubman have the glory of first lap leaders and also give them chance to see how long they could fend of the chasing Expert Hounds.

Lewis Belfield was on fine form once again as he blasted his KBR KTM 200 to another fine and determined win. The Clubman class is going to be left behind for this young man if he continues to ride at this improving rate. Lewis was the only rider to complete 16 laps apart from the two “Pro” riders that topped the event.

In the silver runner-up position in the Clubman class it was CF Racing rider Daf Jones that put in another committed ride to push Belfield all the way. Jones on his GG 125EC was flying and again on his recent showings that expert class is not far away. Jamie “podium” Robinson was in third place with another determined and trophy winning ride. Josh Taylor in 4th deserves a mention as he was pushing the top 3 all day with his super neat style and again here is a young man that is one to watch for a move to that higher group. There was never much in the gap between these riders.

The top two riders as mentioned before did 16 laps and were neck and neck for 1 hour and 30 minutes as they fuelled at the same time in the pits. The two riders were KBR’s Lincoln Brewster and Sandifords’ Martin Sandiford. After the fuelling it was KTM mounted Lincoln that set on pulling away as his leggy and flowing style eased him around the fast and rocky circuit.
Recent new daddy Martin, out on his new Husky 250 was going very well indeed but maybe a lack of bike fitness allowed Brewster to pull away and take an eventual 2 minutes and 14 second win come the end of the race. The top two riders did a nice handshake move at the end showing that they had enjoyed their epic battle together.

Ben Wootton took the win again in the small Expert class from Rudy Austin in the runners up place. The other 2 experts failed to finish due to one reason or another. Both Wooton and Austin were on 15 laps a piece with Ben a healthy 5 minutes clear of Rudy.

The Over-35 Veterans once again had a big battle going on with that man Jack Twentyman taking the win in great style by 2 and half minutes (a hell of a long time in XC racing!) from the always hard charging Ian Barnett. Barnett had a stuck throttle for a while which caused him some time loss but still got out there and pieced together a great ride.

The final podium place went to Gary Benniman, an old friend of WOR that whenever he gets on a bike he just manages to ride brilliantly and takes a podium place. Benniman was on a 450 Beta and rode it feet up like a 250 Beta Trials bike. Nice stuff.

Ray Whittal simply cannot stop winning in the Super Vet’s class as once again he left the rest of his peers with no answer. Ray was worried that at over 50 years old the change back to 3 hour racing would tire him out and he would not be competitive, he was wrong as he seems to be going even better the longer the duration of the race. Ray ended up 2 and a half minutes clear of Runner up Dave Smith. Smith is another one that loves the long hard races and it’s nice to see him back on the podium in the last couple of races after a knee injury lay off.

Gareth Lloyd was last off the line after a bad start but rode superbly to catch and pass most of his class and hold the runner up place right up until the last lap were a small crash by a fallen tree allowed the consistent Smith to sneak in and push Lloyd down to 3rd.

The small Sportsman class had Ollie Coop as the winner with Chris Kent in 2nd and Dewi Roberts in 3rd.

Another splendid day’s sport from the WOR Events team at another top drawer venue but there is nothing new there!!

WOR’s next event is at one of the clubs best venues, the awesome Peny bont Fawr on the Powys borders on the weekend of July 5/6th… more on this will be on the club’s website www.worevents.com and issued on various websites and national press this week.