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Cotswold Enduro Club
AMCA Rock Oil Hare & Hounds and Club Championship Rd 4
At Clearwell near Monmouth.

At a new venue in ancient woodlands not far from Monmouth Matt Porter stole the show at Sunday’s AMCA Rock Oil H&H, organised by Cotswold Enduro Club. Although Porter has an MX background his technical abilities were tested to the max in the tight and twisty woodlands.

A massive MX track was more than matched by two huge forested areas. Both were just plain nasty; cratered, covered in wild garlic, steep sloped and heavily strewn with roots just below the surface. Parts of the woodland contained rock strewn sections that were a throwback to ancient Roman iron mines, which made Clearwell forests a unique place to race. The lap was large and tough, the fastest riders managing between 11-12 minutes per lap. The field linking the woodlands and the MX track were a short but well received respite from the tough going and the only place to take a brief rest.

Coming from the MX track at the start and hitting the first woodland was a real shock to the system for many riders when the realisation that they had two hours ahead of them hit home hard. The fast a flowing MX was impressive in size although a few sections had been utilised to slow riders down as they left the course for a short but technical foray into the infield, around trees and along narrow pathways.

The event attracted a host of MX riders. This became evident at the first tough slope in the woodlands as many riders thought first gear pinned would do the trick. It didn’t. There was a flurry of activity in the pits at the end of the first lap as a few smart riders lowered the pressure in their rear tyres. Their improvement was plain to see on the next lap.

When the start flag dropped at the beginning of the 3-hour race Ben Adams got into the swing of things immediately and took the holeshot. The thickly grassed start straight claimed a few victims but the Pro and Expert ranks got away cleanly with Matt Porter and Brendan Griffiths just slightly behind Adams. Within a few hundred metres Porter had the lead and began his customary charge to take the win with 16 laps to his credit. Adams held pace fro quite some time before settling in second spot as Hayden Maller worked through the pack to take third in the Pro class.

Zeb Rhodes was just over a minute adrift of Maller, fourth overall but at the head of the Expert ranks, just 30 seconds ahead of a fast closing Matt McClean who took second in class as Steve Biddles secured third spot.

Kev Freeman and Martin Jakeman made the Veterans 40plus a two horse race, swapping places constantly throughout the race at the front of the class but it was Freeman who just managed to sneak in an extra lap to take the win as Jakeman nailed second with Darren Bedford just seven seconds behind him in third place.

The Veterans 50plus was also very competitive and the woodlands proved to be hard work for many riders, not just the over 50’s. Mick Belcher took the class win by just over four minutes from Simon Chelener with third placed David Smailes a further two and a half minutes behind Chelener.

The Clubman ranks were divided into 4t and 2t as usual. The argument over which was better suited to the terrain, which was mainly technical considering the amount of woodlands present, went to the wire as Tom Collett won the 2t class and was followed to the chequered flag just 18-seconds later by Paul Tomkins at the front of the 4t class, a very small margin after three hours of racing. Collett was pushed hard by Steve Norbury throughout the race, Norbs got within 15 seconds of the class leader at one point, but he had to be happy with second place and even happier that he beat his mate Blake Summers down to third.

In the 4t ranks Tomkins took a significant victory by over nine minutes from Jamie Maller and Russell Pullen who completed the top three in class.

Kye Banks manhandled his 450 KTM to a win in the Sportsman Novice class. He was only a Novice in the Enduro sense of the word and watching him force the KTM beast through the woods was a sight to see but out on the MX track it was plain sailing. Tim Woodhouse grabbed second in class, a lap down on Banks, with Mike Radcliffe a couple of minutes behind in third place.

Jonny Stagg stood up for the duration of the race. He had to, he was on a trials bike but still clocked 11 laps to win the Trail class by quite a margin from second placed Ian Jones.

Gemma Holtham and Wendy Ellis-Smith contested the Ladies class, which witnessed close racing from the pair up to the halfway mark but Holtham eased ahead and even managed an extra lap to take the class win.

Jerry Adams battled onwards in the Classic (Pre 86) class as the sole entrant and managed to finish despite spending some time in the pits clearing his back wheel of something he picked up.

Clearwell was really something special. The woodland was eerily dark and foreboding, the smell of wild garlic was nauseating and it hid hundreds of potholes and fallen trees, and that was just for the spectators!

It was clearly a shock to many riders who hadn’t bothered to walk the course the day before the event but it proved to be a fantastic venue that challenged riders to the max, thanks to great planning by Pete Carter and his team.

 

Results
Pro championship
Matt Porter
Ben Adams
Hayden maller
Expert
Zeb Rhodes
Matt McClean
Steve Biddles
Clubman 2T
Tom Collett
Steve Norbury
Blake Summers
Clubman 4T
Paul Tomkins
Jamie Maller
Russell Pullen
Sportsman/Novice
Kye Banks
Tim Woodhouse
Mike Ratcliffe
Veterans 40 plus
Kev Freeman
Martin Jakeman
Darren Bedford
Veterans 50 plus
Mick Belcher
Simon Chelener
David Smailes
Ladies
Gemma Holtham
Wendy Ellis-Smith
Trail
Jonny Stagg
Ian Jones
Classic (Pre 86)
1 Jerry Adams
Full Resuts