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© Bob Mullins   

Tunstall

A cold misty and grey day in Tunstall Forest near Woodbridge did not dampen the enthusiasm. Over 160 riders entered this popular season opener in East Anglia with a strong national field doing battle with the local boys.

Special test action kicked off at the end of the first and second lap with a sting in the tail for the championship class with a final test after the 6 punishing laps. Local Woodbridge rider, Aston Bird out on a new 450 Kawasaki put the mark down for the Eastern Centre finishing the first test a second and a half ahead of HuskySport Husqvarna rider Si Wakely with Midwest Husaberg rider Ollie Moyce tucked in third place 0.4 seconds behind Wakely. After the second test things were even closer with Bird still in front but Moyce had the fastest second test a second up on Wakely with Bird a few hundredths behind. As the event moved on to the tighter laps Bird had a slender lead 0.9 seconds ahead of Moyce with Wakely a further 0.7 seconds adrift.

However disaster struck for Bird at the end of lap 6 – after the tight final lap required to be ridden in 28 minutes he clocked in a minute early – dropping him from the final special test shoot out. Moyce made no mistakes and again topping the test times, just over a seond ahead of Wakely with Bird a despondent third on the test but dropping to eighth overall. This left local championship riders Chris Hockey Julian Harvey and Jamie Roper to slot into third fourth and fifth places.

In the expert class newly upgraded Tom Howe was runner up after the first test from sam Toy. On the second lap he was again second, this time from local expert motocrosser Brad Tomlin but he left the tests 0.6 seconds in front. However he stamped his authority on the class by being the only expert rider to stay clean on the going – taking a well deserved victory. Tomlin slotted into second having lost a minute on the going along with Gene Womack (third), Sam Toy (fourth) and Jay Naruszewicz (fifth) – the only riders to only lose one minute.

Veteran David Stokes took the clubman win from David Ward and Ben Lee. Tom Hardy travelled all the way down from Harrogate to take the Sportsman class. Full results at www.dissmcc.co.uk