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Breckland - Round 1: '05 Motul British Enduro Championship, Thetford Forest, Norfolk - 6th March 2005 Photo by Helena Hunt

Like the rest of the field, 2004 Champion David knight (pictured left with Gariant Jones) had a cold start on the first day of the Breckland finishing 3rd on the first test behind Paul Edmundson & Ryan Voase but he soon warmed up to win the first day. MX rider Voase took up BEC challenge last year but missed most of season through injury. Euan McConnell - on a Fast Eddy Honda 250 - has returned to the Championship class like he had never been away with a 4th place finish on both days. A new name in the Championship is Jake Stapleton. The 19 year old Australian from New South Wales finished 6th on both days. Ricky Mair visited A&E. In the Expert Class Oliver Moyce & Greg Evans traded places over the 2 days with Jon Hinam picking up 2 3rds. Ashley Wood was Best Clubman on Day 1 but the first three finishers in the class on Day 2 demonstrated the diversity of enduro with 17 year old Paul Chatham taking the Premier ahead of veteran Graeme Naismith & Lady rider Katie Wakely in 3rd. Paul Chatham - the reigning Scottish Clubman Enduro Champion - has started 2005 the same way as he finished 2004, with a win. After picking up the trophy for his Clubman win at the John Banks he went on to win his first British Clubman Championship event. It did not look that way at first as Ashley Wood was leading until the last special test. Paul's target was to win the E1 Class and if possible take the Clubman Class overall, he was delighted to achieve both goals. Graeme Naismith last years overall Clubman Champion finished third on day one and finished just two seconds behind Paul on day 2.Graeme won the over 40 Class. Scotsmen Paul and Graeme are looking forward to challenging each other for the rest of the Championship. The first test of Day 2 was cancelled because of the icy condition. Despite the wintry weather 260 riders out of field of 300 completed the course on Day 1 & 14 DNF'd on Day 2. Amongst the heroes of what may be the last Breckland must be included Andy Waters & his Diss MC team for putting on the event in such difficult conditions.

David Knight claims a double win at '05 BEC opener D3-Racing press release

D3-Racing KTM rider David Knight limped away from the opening round of the '05 British Enduro Championship, the Diss MCC Ltd organized Breckland Enduro, with two overall day wins to his name and the lead in the overall British Enduro Championship after finishing ahead of Paul Edmondson and Ryan Voase on both days in the Thetford Forest. With all competitors having to deal with snow, ice and rain during the opening day's competition the '05 edition of the Breckland Enduro proved to be every bit a challenging as previous Diss run BEC openers.

Getting the defense of his British Enduro Championship title off to the best possible start, Knighter topped all but one of the event's timed special tests, winning the opening day by nine seconds and day two by 17 seconds. Heading into day one's opening test first Knighter was forced to carve a line through the soft sand, one that all other Championship class riders would follow. As a result of being the first man on the test David was only able to post the third quickest time before soon moving ahead of his competitors on tests two and three.

Topping test two by two seconds, Knighter did enough to move himself to the front of the Championship class and with check times eased because of the bad weather it meant that the opening day's final test would decide the day's results. Posting a test time six seconds quicker than any other rider David placed his D3-Racing KTM at the top of the Championship class claiming an overall win of some nine seconds.

Despite there being no snow on day two a heavy overnight frost meant that the day's opening test wasn't timed. And with check times again much slacker than usual due to the challenging conditions the day's three remaining tests would decide the winners. Posting a test time eight seconds faster than his closest rival on the first run through the whooped out special, Knighter then placed five seconds clear on test two and a further four seconds ahead on the third and final test to top day two by 17 seconds.

Early on day two Knighter found himself sprawled out on the ground after clipping his foot on a tree stump he hadn't seen on the going. Despite being brought to the ground with a thump, as well as finishing the event with a swollen right foot, Knighter now heads to Italy to compete in the second round of the Italian Enduro Championship in preparation for the start of this years World Enduro Championship, which takes place in Spain in early April.

David Knight: "It's a great start to the British championship for me, I've enjoyed this year's Breckland enduro more than any other I've ridden - It's just a shame that it looks as if this year's event will be the last. "Day one was really slippery early on, it was difficult out on the first few checks because the ground was really hard in places under the snow. The first test was really tricky, not because of the snow and ice but because the organizers had rotavated the test so the ground wouldn't be too hard. "It was really, really soft, like I knew it would be, and it was hard to get my bike to do what I wanted it to. Half way around the test I backed off because pushing hard, and having to cut a line through the soft sand for others to follow, wasn't getting me anywhere. I knew that the riders behind me would be using my ruts so I wasn't surprised that there were three of us on the same second. "The course got much better on the second lap after bikes had been around it. I knew that there were some slippery bits on the test so I rode reasonably steadily on the second test and put in a pretty good time. I knew where I could push on the last test and again I felt that I was riding well, and well within myself. "The first timed test on day two was a little bit tricky as well because of the lines that the Clubman riders had left behind. I tried hard where I could, but I didn't want to push too hard or get caught out by the ruts. My first test was really good, I didn't know whether to go inside or out wide on some of the corners and I think I took quite a few different lines to most riders, which seemed to work. "Having pulled a good lump of time on the first test I didn't have to ride too hard on the second one, which I won. On the last test I tried a few different lines and really relaxed and managed to win that one as well. "My bike has been spot on all weekend and it's been a great opening round to the championship. The bike I rode was the same as what I'll compete on in the WEC. I really enjoyed the event. The test was really good. It's just a shame that the organizers couldn't run tighter times on the checks because of the snow and ice."

"Frosty reception for HRFE riders at Breckland" Fast Eddy press release

The Breckland Enduro provided a mixed start to the season for the Honda Racing Fast Eddy riders. The weather played its part providing a cold reception, with snow on day one and a heavy frost overnight into day two. As a result the event was run against a revised schedule to allow for the change in weather conditions. The weather didn't seem to make much of a difference to the riders as the pace was still quick. The first run through of the special test on day two was untimed for the championship riders to loosen up the ground after the overnight frost. Four times world enduro champion and 2004 runner-up - Paul Edmondson, trailed event leader and 2004 champion David Knight after day one's proceedings by only 8.6 seconds. New HRFE signing Euan McConnell was in fourth position after day one, a further 29 seconds adrift of team-mate Edmondson. Further down the table after day one were Simon Wakely in tenth position and Arnau Villanova in twenty-seventh position. Villanova's day finished with a bump as he collided with a tree in the third and final special test of the day, injuring his shoulder and forearm - he took no further part in the event. Paul Edmondson was in confident mood as day two started, keen to resume the battle from day one with Knight.

He added "second position isn't where I wanted to be, but at least I am a lot closer to Knight than I was last year considering we were using a production based bike against full factory competition ". It would not only be these two riders who dominated proceedings throughout day two. The battle between Ryan Voase in third and McConnell in fourth would be fierce too. McConnell and Voase were split by 14.32 seconds after day one, but McConnell was quick through the special tests on day two, finishing only 2.46 seconds behind Voase. The overall winning margin on day two was 17.04 seconds between Knight and Edmondson. Simon Wakely had a consistent day two and finished eighth overall, moving up two positions from his day one position. Although Edmondson did not win overall he leads the E2 class from Voase and McConnell. In the E1 class, Simon Wakely is in second behind Edward Jones and Daryl Bolter in third.

Bolter claims E1 class win at BEC Rnd 1 Huskysport press release

Husky Sport Husqvarna rider Daryl Bolter produced a strong performance on day one of the '05 British Enduro Championship to top the newly introduced E1 class and finish fifth overall aboard his 125cc Husqvarna. With the opening day's competition dominated by riders mounted on larger capacity machines, and made extremely difficult due to snow and ice, Daryl placed three positions ahead of his nearest E1 class rival.

Making day one a 'big bike day' the fact that the organising Diss MCC Ltd 'de-iced' the special test by rotivating it prior to the arrival of the Championship class riders meant that those at the front of the class, and especially those on smaller capacity bikes, suffered worse as the power sapping sand saw them struggle to compete on level terms with those further down the entry. Despite this Daryl managed to post the ninth fastest test time, the second quickest of the E1 class runners, which set him up well for the day.

Improving on his first test by posting the quickest E1 class time on test two, Daryl then posted the sixth quickest overall test time on the day's third and final special to open up a 17 second lead at the top of the E1 class and end the day in a strong fifth overall. Unfortunately, during the third special test Daryl aggravated a back injury that has been plaguing him for the past month, which meant that on day two he was unable to compete as well as he had on day one.

Riding in severe discomfort and unable to be either as aggressive or as precise as he'd have liked due to his back injury, Bolter posted the fourth quickest test time before then pulling out all the stops to record the quickest E1 class time on the second test. With the second day's final two special tests run back-to-back, Daryl managed to finish second E1 rider on the third and final test but due to his opening test placed third overall in the E1 class.

Also competing in the E1 class but aboard Husqvarna's 250cc four-stroke machine, Chris Hockey found the soft, sandy going difficult on day one placing as sixth best E1 class rider. On day two Chris again placed sixth in class but improved his overall Championship class position.

In the Expert class 125cc Husqvarna mounted youngster Jon Hinam posted two solid test times on day one to finish third overall and second E1 class rider before then again finishing as the classes third fastest rider on day two.

Daryl Bolter: "I've really struggled to ride like I wanted to ride this weekend because of my back. I knew that it was going to be a problem before the event but I hoped it wouldn't be too bad. It wasn't too bad at the beginning of day one but I hurt it again on the last test on Saturday and on day two it has been really bad. I just couldn't ride the way I want to. I tried to push as hard as I could but I couldn't ride my bike like I normally do and that was really frustrating. I'm glad that I was able to score some good points in the E1 class but I wanted to finish higher in the overall results." Photo & D3/Huskysport press release by Jonty Edmunds.

Euan McConnell's Report 

Gas Gas UK press release 

Paul Whibley made his GAS GAS UK debut at the weekends DISS M.C.C organised 'BRECKLAND' Enduro. With his injured foot more or less healed 'Whibz' looked forward to the event.

To be realistic everyone is fighting for 3rd place this year behind DAVID KNIGHT and PAUL EDMONDSON so this is what we had planned. With HRFE rider Euan McConnell and MX specialist RYAN VOASE, Paul knew it wouldn't be easy. The Championship class this year is VERY competitive with the usual British riders fighting for positions together with some 'foreign' riders which raises the profile of the series and also 'wakes-up' some of our UK riders.

Pauls 6th overall for the weekend,(7th on the Saturday and 5th on the Sunday) was not what we wanted but with losing three weeks of serious training due to his injury i suppose he did OK. His test times improved as the weekend went on and finished very strong proving his fitness etc. A slight suspension 'tweak' and a larger rear chainwheel for the Sunday also helped Whibz as the conditions got rougher.

Tom Sagars 'Championship Class' debut also went OK with no shortage of effort from the stocky Welshman. Sand is not Toms' speciality but he kept pushing all weekend and finished 17th overall for the weekend. (19th on Sat. 17th on Sun.) He actually posted the 11th best time on the first test on the Sunday which proved to himself that he CAN sneak into the top 10 if all goes well. He is looking forward to the mud and wet of Wales at the next round in April.

Also, worth a mention is GAS GAS Dealer supported rider JAMES YEARLEY who finished a VERY creditable 5th overall (6th both days) in the Expert Class on a CLARKS RACING prepared EC200. Well done !!

Honda Racing Team Sandiford press release

For it’s final year of running, the Breckland Enduro and it’s start area in the Thetford Forest was met by a covering of snow for the 8.30 Saturday start and as such the organizers opted for B schedule on the times. Back on a “Big ‘un” after a couple of years on the 250 4 stroke, the Honda Racing 450 fired into life and away went Wayne, closely followed by brother in law Martin (on a 250X) and our Expert Rider Simon Evans (also 250 X mounted).

The first test was awesome and Wayne’s test times consistently very good all weekend. Unfortunately on Day two, his Chain broke in between tests (twice) and he was forced to drop 3 minutes at the time control. This severely affected his overall result, but determined to continue with the day (despite this happening between check 2 and 3) he knew he could post some good tests for his own benefit and knowledge if nothing else.8th on Day 1 overall (and split by fractions of a second in many cases) 28th on day 2 (which should have been 7th) was not the requested start to the year.

Said Wayne “ It’s frustrating as I felt so good and confident on the tests. I’ve loved riding the 450 this weekend, it’s been awesome but unfortunately not my day today. I’m very disappointed, but confident of my speed and ability subsequent to my capacity switch. I just need the next event to come along now, hopefully I’ve suffered my gremlin for the year at the first event !!”

Martin struggled with his suspension set-up all weekend, but again treated the experience with respect and also looks forward to the next round. Clutch fade on Day one, due to his Chain overtightening also contributed to his test times, however after 3 years of AMCA Motocross (his last British Championship Enduro event being in 2002) he accepts that he must be patient to re-learn the Enduro discipline.

Simon crashed in the first test on Day one, but pulled back numerous places in the 2nd test. As the first rider to ride the test timed on day 2 (Championship was untimed due to ice) he was again disadvantaged, but also looks forward to the Brechfa and the additional Cross test common with Welsh events which do give more opportunity to pull back any such deficit.

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