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Talsarn H&H 2006

Talsarn Hare & Hounds

September 3rd, 2006

A bright, dry day greeted the riders at Dyfed Dirt Bike Club’s Talsarn Hare and Hounds on Sunday, but Saturdays wind and rain had completely saturated the track and had the making of an interesting race ahead!!!

Being the second round of the new Welsh Hare & Hounds Championship and the third and final round of the West South Wales Centre Championship, a lot of work had gone into lengthening and improving the Talsarn course, with a lot of new woodland sections included in the lap. However, following Saturday’s heavy rainfall this excellent new going turned into an extremely tough section of slippery cambered uphill and downhill trails which gave most of the entry problems during the early stages of the 3 hour event. Club officials wisely cut out the worst bits after the first 2 laps, much to everyone’s relief, immediately turning the track into an enjoyable, fast flowing yet challenging Enduro course.

At the drop of the starters’ flag, it was local rider Will Jones who led the pack through the MX section, across a tricky off-camber, over a shallow ditch, up a long cambered hill and into the first bit of woods. A tricky cambered climb followed by a fast blast through the woods took the riders down a rutted farm lane to the tough woodland sections at the far end of the track. Chaos reigned here during the first few laps as rider after rider struggled, pushed and heaved their bikes up the tricky root-strewn camber before crossing a wet ditch onto cow pat lane. Huge gasps of much needed oxygen were then taken and another steep climb led the riders through bone shaker trail, through a short boggy section, around the lake and out onto the wide open fields for a fast blast back to the woods leading onto the MX track. This excellent section of technical wooded singletrack took the riders down a steep bank onto the MX track and to the end of an exhausting lap.

William Jones revelled in the tough conditions and led the field during the early laps of the race before being overhauled by both Greg Evans and Kip Herring as the track became dryer, faster and smoother. Both Evans and Herring went on to complete 12 laps each with Jones completing 11 laps and only missing out on a 12th lap and the chance to chase down the front two by a mere 13 seconds. Following Jones home in fourth, again on 11 laps was local DDBC rider Calvin Williams.

The Clubman class racing was just as intense with two riders finishing on 10 laps and another 3 on 9 laps. Setting the early pace on his KX 125 was local 16 year old MX talent Lewis Cutter from Tregaron in his first ever Hare and Hounds. However, the strength and experience of rugby playing Anthony Griffiths eventually saw him hit the front after 3 laps, and although challenged by Tregaron’s Alun Davies at one stage it was at the front where Anthony stayed for the race duration winning his second DDBC event in a row.

With the top two out in front on 10 laps a good battle ensued for 3rd place between Nick Abbott, Tom Williams and Aled Evans. All three finished on 9 laps but Abbott, back racing after a short break, powered into third spot a good 10 minutes in front of Williams who was another 2 minutes ahead of Evans.

The Over 40’s class was completely dominated by usual Expert Class rider Brian Collins who clocked up an impressive 10 laps on his way to the class win. New Quay’s Paul Elder and Builth Wells’s Nick Morgan chased him hard all day but had to settle for 9 laps each at the end of play, Paul finishing in second place 2 minutes ahead of Nick, who was riding Talsarn as practise for this weekends’ BEC Rhayader Enduro.

Glenn Phillips returned to Talsarn for the third year running, clocked up 8 laps and went away with the Sportsman Class victory a full lap ahead of his nearest rival, young Craig Thomas who managed to beat ever improving John Hunt into second place by 6 minutes.

Saturday’s torrential rain spoilt what would have been a fantastic Hare & Hounds track, the resulting slippery conditions taking its toll on many of the riders from Expert to Sportsman. However, the two Dylans – Hughes and Stephens, can take great heart from all the praise given by everyone towards the track preparation and the way that they managed to keep the event going in such difficult circumstances and making it an enjoyable day for all.

Results Photos by Keith Bowen

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