Report: Keith Williams
Photos: Kev In Focus

The wet weather did nothing to dampen the spirits of the riders at WOR Events last competitive outing of 2011.

Running in one of the club’s awesome forestry complexes, over a long, flowing and hard-standing loop, the riders battled against the elements on Christmas Friday to round out the 5th and final round of the Autumn / Winter Enduro Scrambles series in style.

Torrential rain came and soaked the venue for 3 days before the event, but the nature of the terrain in the forest soaked up the drink and allowed a great event to unfold.

With the two-race format being the order of the day it was the Sportsman level race that went first with the Veterans first away.
Leading from start to finish was Allan Price, Price revelling in the old school enduro conditions in some parts of the wood.
Come the end of the 2 hours it was Price in the gold position just over 40 seconds ahead of the Veteran Winter champion, Duncan Humphries. Duncan making big inroads into Prices’ lead.
John Jones again showed true grit and strength to take 3rd place and secure himself the runners up spot overall in the Vets after 5 rounds.
Phil Hutton Bates 3rd was the runner up overall with a very determined campaign under his belt.
All 3 did 9 laps.

In Sportsman 2t it was that man Rob White again that took the top honours, securing himself the winter title and an upgrade to Clubman next year. Rob has been one of the most improved riders at WOR this year and is certainly going to have an impact on the sharp end of the Clubman results in 2012.
Runner-up was Young Tim Thornton with Mark Lewis in 3rd place.
Sean Berry took 2nd overall for the series with Tony Pederson securing that 3rd place overall he was dreaming of. Well done to those riders.

The Sportsman Thumpers was topped on the day by Ed Fray, followed by Tom Szymczykiewicz and the always smiling Stuart Atkins.
These guys all did 9 laps.
The overall champion for the series in the Sportsman 4t went to Lee Essex with a consistent 5 rounds under his belt.
Runner up was Stuart Atkins with Adrian Williams in 3rd place.

The Youth Class was dominated by Young Jon Hunt as he matched the adult top riders on 9 laps.
Callum Imrie was runner up on 8 laps (Callum is another most improved rider through the WOR ranks this year) . Richard Newbrook was the Bronze medal finisher.
This is how the overall winter series top 3 in the youth class was as well with the 3 young lads putting in some superb racing performances.
A special mention must go to little Reece Pickersgill, Out on his little KX 65 and with the smallest legs of any rider there, the little man showed huge Enduro skills as he tackled the 6 mile course with passion and full effort. He fully deserved the praise heaped on him at the end from all the staff and spectators at lap scoring. What a guy! Well done young man.

Emily Davey was the top lady with Wendy Swales in the runner up position. Emily has sheer determination and has fully deserved her overall ladies title at WOR this year.
Wendy too always delivers determination.
Missing from action with a broken ankle and a sad face was Glesni Jones, watching as a frustrated spectator, Glesni always puts in 100% and watching must have really hurt, More than the injured ankle.

Delaying the second race was a must as the medical team had to deal with a nasty injury to poor Mick Hammond. Mick is a great friend of WOR Events and was enjoying his ride around in the Vets class.
A very stylish rider that loves tough conditions, Mick was late to the start line and still picked his way through the pack to 4th place, However on the last lap disaster struck and an out of character crash left the likeable northerner on the floor with a badly broken leg.
After a mission to get him safely off to hospital the second race started and hour late. (Best wishes to Mick for a speedy recovery!)

Race Director Steve Ireland made the decision to cut the 2nd race to two hours and with pouring rain coming down and darkness only 2 and a half hours away, this was a safety first call.

Leading the Experts home from Start to finish and looking like he was not even trying was Andrew Edwards.
The 34-year-old former British 125 Enduro Champion was simply a class above and was revelling in the conditions he is so well trained in.
Riding a Steve Plain prepared GAS GAS 250, Andrew simply floated to the win, seemingly not even touching some of the nasty ruts that were by the lap scoring area.

Runner up was Owain Humphries with another strong ride, this family have a few stars in their pack and he is one of them.
The bronze went to Aled Bellis who in turn did enough to win his first overall Enduro Hare and Hounds series. Nice to see a good Moto X rider like Aled come over and ride the Enduros and take a series win.

Top Expert Vet was Chris Wagstaff. Waggy has had a superb year at WOR and is the undisputed top Veteran rider at the club. Always putting in solid top 5 overall results, the man and the Yam 250 2t take on any course and give it their best. Chris topped the Winter series overall with 3wins and a second.
The train that is Ian Barnett finished runner up on the day and runner up in the series. Barnett will not be keen to allow that to happen next year.
Jim Buchanan was 3rd on the day and after some much improved riding through out the winter this year secured 3rd overall in the series for Expert Veterans.
Jim had a bad start on Friday but showed true grit to keep strong and pull a result off.

Clubman 2t was topped on the day by Mike Evans, Evans used to be a feature at the WOR races but after a lengthy lay off the stylish rider returned to pull off a fine class win.
Runner up on the day but the overall champion was Lee Sealey. This young man can motor, still very young and learning, Lee is another superb rider that has come on in leaps and bounds this year. Keep an eye on number 101 in the WOR next year.
Third place on the day went to Aled Evans.
Runner up in the series for Clubman 2t was consistent podium man and WOR stalwart Paul Engerlen.
The bronze series place went to Michael Evans, Mike had to borrow a bike for this event and he just did not have luck on his side.
Having had some superb battles with Lee Sealey over the winter , his super smooth riding style was let down by a bad start and some bike issues. Better luck next time Mike.

In the Clubman 4t class there was a proper battle going on.
Jon Hill and Gwion Prys were battling like hell on the day with some great bar to bar racing, Going out onto the very last lap it was Prys ahead of Hill, but as the riders came to pass the chequered flag it was the hard charging Hill whom came through as the victor.
Both riders shook hands at the end with Prys calling Hill an Expletive but in a very friendly way.
Bronze on the day went to overall series Clubman 4t champ, Carl Critchlow.
The top 3 ended up overall a mix of these 3 names. Critchlow the winner, Hill the runner up and Prys in third place.

This winter Enduro Scrambles has been a great series and with a messy and sometimes unhappy 2011 now out of the way all at WOR Events are looking forward to a much better 2012.
2012 club memberships are flying, The awesome TOUGH ONE is less than two weeks away and the future is looking good.

Happy 2012 from all at WOR Events.