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Fast Eddy Edmondson Racing |
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As we signed off our final BEC championship at last weekend's NATTERJACK Enduro, we have to say that the partnership between the Fast EDDY Race Team Riders and the support of all the boys back at Edmondson Racing has been a tremendous success! It couldn't have been achieved without the help of all our Team Supporters of both product and attendee's which is why we give them a special mention at the beginning of the newsletter instead of the end! The list is considerable but without the week in, week out commitment it really could not have been achieved. Proseal and Michelin as the major support along with all the other product sponsors listed to the right hand side as normal. The mechanics of Jonny, joey Sam, and Jim P. The support of the Sagar Family as a whole, and all the other regular helpers of Rudy, Ryan, "Tacklebury", Tim T, Anthony + Dan, Bob at Enduro News and not forgetting the very "Special Abigail" ! A very gracious thank you to you all. Back to the boys on the end of the throttles as they are the ones doing the business..... Tom Sagar has been the leading Rider and been crowned British Enduro Sprint Champion, British G.B.X.C Champion, E2 British Enduro Champion and runner up overall in the 2011 BEC series! Add to that a gold Medal in the recent I.S.D.E. and we can honestly say that's pretty darned good by anybody's standards. A feat of achievement only dreamed of by other major UK teams! Moving on to "Grandad" himself (as he's more recently become
christened)! That's the team leader Paul "Fast EDDY" Edmondson who
has juggled his role between both rider and event organiser throughout every
month this 2011 season. At the age of 42 he has become a legend in the sport
of Enduro with a world record of 17 Gold Medals in the prestigious ISDE Event
and finally sign's of his intended regular BEC competition as the newly
crowned 2011 E1 / 4t British Champion! As fast as he ever was, he just sweats
more now as his skill level maintains but the stamina and energy levels drop! With three riders in the squad chasing the same Overall Championships, not
everyone can be "top of the Tree". That doesn't mean to say they are
not winners as the third member Lee Edmondson still managed to become the GBXC
Sprint Champion for 2011 as well as placed eighth overall in the BESC series
aboard his smaller two stroke machinery. Add to this a Gold medal in the
I.S.D.E representing Wales and eventually becoming runner up in the E1 2T
class of the BEC, it speaks volumes for his efforts as a valued team and
family member. Lee graciously gave up some of With brand Machinery still in negotiation, the team will be again present during the same 2012 championships with its New "Edmondson Racing Team Truck". A massive 37 foot "Damon Outlaw" that will grace the paddocks with Awnings both sides to house the main team one side and the "Junior Academy" the other. New and existing sponsors will be very welcome as at 8 miles to the Gallon if we are lucky..., their support will be greatly needed! Bring It On Again in 2012!
As expected, our front runner Tom Sagar did not disappoint and rode his heart out to show all the spectators and other teams alike that he his undoubtedly one of the quickest off road riders this country currently has. Right from the off he challenged the KTM Factory rider "Knighter" in every test and proved that his current 450cc mount is the right capacity bike for him as he was able to put more than a minute between him and his arch rival for the championship by the end of Day 1. For Day 2 it was nothing short of a win that would secure the overall BEC title with a much needed maximum 20 point score for the day. Sadly a runner up position would bring the total to three short needed for the overall championship but more than enough to secure the 2011 E2 BEC British Enduro Championship crown. His current tally of British Sprint Enduro Champion and GBXC champion makes three out of four which we can all agree is an outstanding achievement for the 2011 season as a whole. Well done Tom. Team Principal Paul EDMONDSON did his bit and rode at maximum effort to try and put extra positions between Tom and the opposition. In his own private battle to secure the 2011 E1 / 4T British crown, FASTEDDY did just that and secured the title by the end of Day 1 after a spectacular crash from arch rival Daryl Bolter. Not badly injured but very dazed, Daryl's retirement effectively handed the title to Paul and the Fast EDDY team and he was to take no further part in the weekend's event. A respectful and gracious congratulation's from Daryl at the end of the day was a sign of a true sportsman and commended by all the Fast EDDY crew. Congratulations' both.
Downside to the weekend was the retirement from the event by Lee who went out on Day 1 with a broken bone in his foot from an encounter with a piece of Concrete. Not a major break but all the same it is to the foot he badly injured last year and we wait anxiously for few weeks till a review of its progress in time for the Weston Beach Race. We have sung the praises of our junior member Brad Freeman on many occasions and the Natterjack was to be no different. Taking part in his first Time Card Adult Enduro, he learned that the Longmoor ranges are hard on a young body never mind an experienced campaigner like Fast EDDY and he was to finish both days without incident. His day 1 result of outright 2nd in clubman class was superb although a minute's road penalty on day 2 is a mystery to us all as he stayed clean on time all weekend. The continued timing issue that seems to plague some of this year's BEC was again present and it is a sad and genuine shame for those riders affected. Once again the ARMY organisation of this weekend's event was spot on and the two tests were simply fantastic. Time for a well earned break until we kick off again early next year as we will be back sooner than we know it. Big thanks to all the BEC organisers and our team supporters and of course to all our team riders for their hard work and effort.
The closing rounds of the 2011 GBXC "Sprint Cross" Championship and the main GBXC Championship once again bought success for the Fast EDDY team at last weekend's final event. Our No 1 rider Tom Sagar (already crowned ACU British Sprint Enduro Champion
for 2011) added to his trophy cabinet by taking an outstanding win at Ashby de
la Zouche on Saturday against fierce competition from a handful of very fast
riders. Less than 24 hours later, he would line up again amongst a host of other pro riders for the main and final GBXC race of the season. Following a very fast start from Ryan Voase, Tom quickly reeled him in to take command of the lead and hold it through to the race end, cementing his overall Championship victory and securing the No.1 plate for next season. Team mate Lee Edmondson was not prepared to let Tom take all the weekends glory and raced his heart out to take third place in the Saturday Sprint Cross event and in the process he too was to bag his first major title of 2011 taking the overall "GBXC Sprint Championship" in the process.
Like many of the UK's various cross country or "Hare and hounds" type events, not all riders set off together at the same time in a mass start. Brad started on the back row of the grid in the Youth 13-16 class whilst the very fast Veteran riders started more than a minute and three rows ahead of him. He has faced this challenge many times throughout the season and has very nearly managed to beat the whole field on more than one occasion. Finally he did just that at the last GBXC of the year and saw him duly rewarded with the overall win. At the beginning of 2011 he was aboard a big wheel '85 weaving round slower full size machinery in his efforts to get to the front. Now he looks every part "Full Size" aboard his 125 and his performances are a truly fantastic. His achievement inside a single season of racing was made all the more as he managed to pass every rider in the race including Dad Pete Freeman riding in the Veterans class by the fourth lap! Just before the halfway point he was to head the entire field and charge on to victory in front of a very capable and fast Jason Hope, one of the best Vet riders in the country. By the chequered flag it was nearly two minutes before second placed "Hopey" came into sight. Our congratulations to him and his family and we regard his results as testament to the reason behind the proposed 2012 "Fast EDDY Youth Academy" supported by ourselves here at Edmondson Racing.
Run by our "2012 Dakar" rider Stan Watt and his co director of Voltcom group Mark Wright, the Recent purchase of a fleet of Edmondson Racing XC's saw a near clean sweep of the results at the recent "Dawn to Dusk" race where Stan himself took a podium position in the single rider "Ironman" 24 hour class aboard his 350 XC-F. The team also took the win in the expert 12 hour two man race with Tim Foreman and Carl Jones on 250 two strokes who in turn also took the top spot in the previous days "Funduro Rodeo". Last but not least the Frontrow junior riders of Garin Rosser and Keaton Allen took the win in the two man clubman class aboard the 250 four stroke XC-F's and it was good to see the ever young (at 50 years +......) John Mitchinson compete with his fully Rally Kitted 690 Enduro "R" in the 10 hour through the night race! Everything was going well till a fall ripped the switch gear from the handle bars and all went dark in the process. With "Head" torch and insulation tape at the ready, he made suitable repairs trackside and continued the full remaining hours without stopping for fuel courtesy of the 22 lire tank capacity! The opposition must be getting frustrated at all our riders taking the lion's share of the silverware from so many of the recent events but that's where our quality experience and service pays dividends! A big thank you and full congratulations to all concerned, especially to our own sponsors and individual team supporters for their help and encouragement throughout this long 2011 season. The end is in sight with only the Putoline XC and Natterjack BEC to go, not forgetting a little trip to a tiny island in the Irish Sea for three days to play on Knighter's home track and practice ground at the end of October!
The 2011 International Six Day Enduro held in Finland proved to be extremely successful as it provided all three Fast Eddy-Edmondson Racing riders with Gold medals. Paul Edmondson and Tom Sagar collected Gold as representatives of the ACU-GB Trophy Team and Lee Edmondson representing Team Wales. In addition to his riding duties, Paul was standard bearer for the team at the opening ceremony and again set a new standard when he achieved his incredible 17th ISDE Gold Medal, a record breaking total gained from 20 years as an ACU-GB rider. With the current high standard set by modern riders, this record is likely to stand for a very long time and may even go down in history and never to be beaten. This is the true magnitude of his achievement and his efforts over the last two decades in the sport of Enduro and the ISDE! Tom entered the event with a slight injury to his right leg which was added
too by a flat out, fourth gear crash in one of the demanding special tests mid
week. Tom was to dig deep after such a high speed "get-off" to gain
"Gold" in the ultra competitive E2 class. The daily special test's
were becoming very tough after several heavy downpours which brought his skill
and natural ability in difficult conditions to the fore front.
Paul Edmondson: 'This was a very tough ISDE. As a team we have competed at the highest level all season long in a variety of events but for all three of us to achieve gold at such a prestigious event as the ISDE, against the best riders in the world, it has made all our efforts worthwhile. We could not have achieved this result without the tremendous support we have all received from many people and companies, sponsors new and old and especially my brother Derrick and his team at Edmondson Racing together with our new sponsor "PROSEAL UK" who have worked tirelessly to give us the machinery capable of such results. Tom, Lee and myself are extremely grateful for every ounce of support we have received. Thank you all.'
Lee Edmondson was already on his way to Finland but a rapid replacement (rapid in every sense of the word!) was quickly found in the shape of Voltcom sponsored Carl Jones. Carl has a motocross background and has already tasted Enduro/XC racing at a recent Putoline XC event. His entry into both the GBXC Sprint Cross and GBXC proper was intended to build his experience and familiarise him with the different terrains and challenges of XC racing. A slightly slow start in the Sprint Cross, a few technical difficulties and teething problems, saw him improve tremendously in the afternoon session and his confidence was high as Sunday dawned. Tom Sagar decided to get a few last minute laps under his belt before flying off to the ISDE and promptly won the Sprint Cross by a significant margin, showing just how high his confidence is and just how good form he is in. Sunday morning witnessed another great ride from Brad Freeman to add to his Youth class victory in the Sprint Cross. Starting again in the Youth class, on the second row behind the Veteran riders, Brad soon worked his way through the pack and firmly established himself in third place overall and light years ahead of most of his class competitors.
Jack Edmondson was not too far adrift. He had backed Brad up in the Sprint Cross with a solid second place in the Youth class and was snapping at his heels once again until a series of small offs saw the final crash dislocate his elbow and he retired to Wrexham hospital for X rays. He is fine now. Carl Jones was immediately involved in a battle for supremecy the moment the afternoon race started. Carl tailed Ben Wootton for a couple of laps, gaining from Wootton’s knowledge of the venue before mounting a serious challenge for the lead. Wootton crashed and snapped his throttle cable as Carl really put some distance between himself and the rest of the field, taking an impressive win in only his second XC race. A sign of things to come perhaps? A huge thank you to all our sponsors and especially to Voltcom for the loan of their new rider who did them and us proud. Congratulations also to Stan Watt, Voltcom director, on becoming the latest entrant to the 2012 Dakar. He must be mad and we must be even madder because some of us will be out there with him to hold his hand and stop him getting lost. 2012 is already looking interesting!
The opening round’s of the Enduro World Championship (EWC) saw the Fast Eddy Racing – Edmondson Racing Team as only one of two UK teams to make the long trip out to Spain. Team riders Tom Sagar and Ben Burrell were well supported by mechanic Ivan Finklestein and Ben’s Dad Pete ‘Fudge’ Burrell (who made the trip all the way from Australia), in addition to the vastly experienced Derrick and Paul Edmondson who acted as outriders for the two competitors. The event got underway with the Super Test on Friday evening with both riders putting in good performances around a local floodlit MX track. Both riders won their respective heats, which was a real confidence boost, especially for young Ben in his first EWC event. Saturday dawned clear and sunny and the temperatures rose steadily throughout the day as the riders tackled three tests; Enduro, MX and Extreme once per lap with three laps scheduled for the opening day. Tom was riding well in the E2 class on the Fast Eddy Edmondson Racing 450, until he was suddenly hit by de-hydration at the end of the fifth test. His outrider Paul Edmondson assessed the situation and pulled Tom from the competition in the hope that a swift recovery would see him make the start line for Sunday. Sadly Tom was in worse shape than originally assessed and even spent most of Sunday recovering as 17 year old Ben took on the mantle of sole team representative. Riding in the 125cc Youth Cup, Ben had an impressive first day with the team mechanics working feverishly to get his bike running correctly in the increasing hot temperatures. His special 125 XC-E suffered some Carb problems, which after some changes showed a significant performance improvement midway through the second day. Finishing the first day was an achievement in itself as more than 30 riders failed to make the Sunday start line including factory rider David Knight. With continued effort and team encouragement, Ben rocketed to fourth in his class for day 2 setting some good foundations for next week’s round in Portugal. As the whole entourage moves on for rounds 4 & 5 next weekend, a replacement Carb is already on its way with Ben pretty upbeat on his EWC debut. Hopefully Tom will be back on song with a stiff lesson learnt that De-Hydration is a condition not to mess with as once below a given level, there’s no going back no matter how much liquid you take on board. A big thanks to Ivan + “Fudge” who looked after the mechanics duties at the time controls and the rest of the team who made the long trip to this first and second round.
This weekend saw the Fast EDDY boys back to the third and fourth rounds of the British Enduro Sprint championship at Monmouth with a first class 12 minute plus lap of the finest going the surrounding Herefordshire hills had to offer.
Star of this week's show was our Aussie import Ben Burrell with a fine win on day one followed by a close second on day two. Ben gave a superb effort with a sudden misfire on his last run which caused the normally reliable XC-F250 to stall three times during the lap, undoubtedly losing him the double victory. With just over a week to go before his WEC debut aboard a special 125 XC-E, we wish Ben the very best as he will see his Father for the first time since he left his native Australia nearly two and a half months ago. We hope the WEC under 19 results matches your efforts during your time here in the UK. Sincerely "All the very best" from the entire Fast EDDY and EDMONDSON RACING crew!
Just one final comment on the lap times posted by the big Manxman "Knighter". With so few seconds between most of his runs, this really shows the up and coming riders the effort and speed he puts in from the "off". This underlines why he is the current E3 WORLD CHAMPION! Go for it again Big Fella! A continued show of appreciation to our sponsors, team mechanics +
helpers etc and not forgetting the land owners and officials who make our
weekends away rather more enjoyable than the painful D.I.Y back home! On behalf of Edmondson Racing and Fasteddyracing.com and their product partners new and old. |
2011:
his promised support when Aussie
Import Benny Burrell unexpectedly joined the team back in February stretching
the already limited budget at his expense. Benny's results for the team were
assured of a virtual under 19 BESC title until his entry back in to the UK was
refused and the eventual title was lost by a solitary and single point in his
absence at the last two rounds.
As
we signed off our final BEC championship at last weekend's NATTERJACK Enduro, we
have to say that the partnership between the Fast EDDY Race Team Riders and the
support of all the boys back at Edmondson Racing has been a tremendous success!
Day
two was no let up and Paul's determination was there to the very end of the
event. Title won and overall P6 for his weekends work may now see the end of his
long reign of regular BEC competition. 18 ISDE gold medals, four world
Championship titles and countless individual UK Enduro titles, is one that we
doubt will ever be matched. 2012 will see him still holding a pair of Renthal's
but not week in week out in the BEC, so we all wish him the very best for a
deserved break from the championship scene!
Three
GBXC wins
Never
out of the top three positions, Lee ran a new 250SX-F MX bike and found it very
much to his liking. Moving from his usual two-stroke to the very different
four-stroke he adapted instantly and consistently put pressure on the top two
riders throughout all 10 runs at the course. Resigned to track marshalling
duties for Sunday, Lee circulated and watched firsthand the opening race of the
day as young team mate Brad Freeman went on to take the top step of the podium.
We
can't end this bulletin without a mention for another Team supported by our
current involvement from our 2011 racing activities and this is in the form of
our association with Frontrow GB.
The three Edmondson Racing bikes ran faultlessly throughout the six tough
days of competition which is very gratifying considering the hour upon hour of
prep work which went into each machine. Years of experience gained at all levels
of competition proved invaluable and with all three riders bring home gold,
every hour spent on the bikes was worthwhile.
"Mixed fortunes" was a reasonable way to describe the rest of
the four man team with Tom Sagar, Paul EDDY and Lee all posting consistent
top ten times. Tom finished on a 5 / 3 position with no real drama's but
not the "Fire" or sheer speed that he used to beat Knighter in
round two. The biggest surprise of the weekend was that all the team
riders chose to try a different Michelin rear tire on day two, which made
a massive ten second plus faster time over the average 12minute lap. The
better time achieved by all the riders proved it was no fluke and again
showed that of all the years experience the team has, we learned something
new this weekend. To all those riders that think a MX tire gives better
grip than an Enduro tire, then take it from us it's not the case!
With the track having many ultra fast meadows it was left to young LEE
to uphold the two stroke flag aboard his little 150 XC. Some really good
effort from LEE was hampered by the loss of his rear brake before pulling
back from outside the top ten to finish day one in tenth and one place
less for day two. With the 150 being the lowest capacity machine in the
elite class, he showed great speed against the might of the bigger bikes
and should feel happy that his result was very well earned in the quality
of riders he is up against. The tide will turn at the next round's when
Rogers Hill Raceway will have the tighter, technical sections that will
lessen the advantage that have so far favored the more powerful bikes
during the BESC. Well done LEE, your time is not long coming!