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enduro
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Brass Monkeys |
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 Return
of the Brass
Monkeys Report by Ian Musgrove Photos by Mike Roose The Broadhembury Motor Clubs infamous Brass Monkeys Enduro returned to a new venue last weekend, after a gap of 10 years. Working together with the Xmoor Enduro Club a huge amount of effort had taken place to get the event up and running. The going was however very similar to the original event with a mix of farmland, forestry, Woods and open terrain. The big difference was in the lap length. At 15 miles the first check was as long as the whole lap of the original course and with check 2 measuring 12 miles the total lap length was 27 miles. The second check had no roadwork and was planned to make the riders work harder to stay on time. The weather was perfect, the riders left the start at 9.30 for what was to prove for many of them a challenging day out. The 90 riders had two laps for sportsman, three for clubman and 4 for Championship and experts. The championship then had to go out and complete one more test after 6 hours of riding giving them around 50 to 60 minutes extra of special tests! Timing of the checks was spot on with most riders having only 1 or 2 minutes at the end of check 2 which was still quite tight. Bradley King and Richard Tucker were the only championship riders to stay clean on time. Some rider's decided to make the job of the time check marshals and results team harder by taping their timecards to the rear mudguard so that they could get covered in mud! Still I'm sure they won't mind if their results are wrong!!
In the Expert class Ross Blackmore (Honda) triumphed over Stephen Powell (Gas Gas) by 69 seconds after their three special tests. Ben Scott (KTM) was a close third just 12 seconds behind after 50 minutes of tests. Richard Jay was fourth and the only other Expert to stay clean on the going. In fifth place was the driving force behind the event, Simon Thomas who has spent so many hours preparing the course that it was surprising he had the energy left to ride.
The over 40s was won by Rob Richards (Gas Gas) from Steve Whetman (Gas Gas) with Andrew Cundy (KTM) taking third. The Sportsman had two laps to ride and Chris Keirle was the winner from Brass Monkeys veterans Dave Muller and John Heal. Heal was also riding in the Pre 99 class which for a bit of fun, included bikes that could have ridden in the last Brass Monkeys at Smeatharpe, back in 1999 but the winner of this class was Steve Evans who completed three laps on his two stroke Yamaha WR. A big thank you to all the marshals and helpers without whom the event could not have taken place. Results - Bradley King's Report - Photos by Debbie Tucker The Brass Monkeys enduro returns! Many South West riders will remember riding in the Brass Monkeys enduro at Smeatharpe aerodrome. The exposed start area and often sub zero conditions meant that the event was a real test of man and machine. Well after a break of 10 years the Brass Monkeys is back The Broadhembury and Xmoor motor clubs have teamed up to run this new event on the 14th February 2010 to give the South West riders another true time card enduro. The event will be based in Huntsham, Devon and will be a mixture of woodland, forestry and fields. Due to a lot of hard work by the club the hope is for a minimum lap of around 22 miles but there will some short sections of roadwork so bikes must be road legal! The special test will be a mix of forestry and MX type going in a stubble field. This section will also be a round of the 2010 South West enduro championship. New for this year; we've included a class for pre 1999 bikes i.e. ones which were around (or even took part in) the last Brass Monkeys. We want to see the bikes you thought you could keep hidden in the shed!
Regs will be available shortly. If you want to get in early a S.A.E. to;
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Chris Dustow
(right: Gibbs Performance KTM) came out on top of the
Championship despite losing 2 minutes on the going, however he pulled out
enough of a lead on the tests for that not to matter! Bradley King (GAS
GAS UK) took second place just 18 seconds behind. Richard Tucker (KTM)
took third place just over a minute behind King. Wayne Mundell (below0 was
4th.
The quickest overall clubman was Ian Shuttleworth (KTM) who took
victory by a minute from Steve Jose (KTM) after the two tests that they
were required to complete. Just behind in third was 450 Husky mounted
Scott Johnson.