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Championship Expert Vet Classes Clubman Classes Evo/CE1 & CE2 Classes Sportsman
Had to feel sorry for the Normandy Club with the event nearly being cancelled twice due to land issues and with very short notice got Slab Common and luckily the Normandy Club have such a close knit membership that so many came and helped set the course up and made the event happen, and with Rob Mussell doing the majority of the course we knew it would be fast and hairy and was very much a different lap than others events that have staged here and fair play to Normandy for thinking about the lower level ability riders by keeping out of the deep water areas and the deep sandy sinking stuff, lap was just over 5 miles. Championship Class Aaron Smith made a great start but was being hounded by Jon hunt and Bradley King with Jack Turner in 4th, Aaron was pressurised into a mistake which let Jon and Bradley through which made Aaron turn up the heat and was catching the two visibly until his throttle stuck wide open over a small whoop section that threw him about like a rag doll that totally knocked the shit out of him and ended his day, Jon and Brad continued their battle with Brad taking over the lead but unknown to them Jack Turner was moving in for the kill, Jack has never been a one lap wonder and is not considered as a great starter, however once Jack has done a lap or two he ups the tempo and that tempo never drops and whilst all the super-fast starters start to tire or lose a bit of concentration he just keeps going and is the Duracell rider of the SEEC and true to form he passed Jon and then Brad to take a most memorable and much deserved win, 4th was Neil Bowker who did nothing wrong and is such a class act in these conditions but out gunned today by the youngsters, Daniel Alldred was a late entry and used this as a training exercise and completed 14 laps despite show boating for most of it. Expert Class Conditions were tough, the sand was deep and the going was super-fast and flowing that probably didn't suit Mark (The Kirbinator) Kirby but give a warrior a battle and battle he will and without doubt The Kirbinator gave his all and despite a few off's he battled and pushed and took the win with pressure put on him I had not seen before and the pressure pusher was Richard Ball who without doubt is gonna give The Kirbinator a hard time all year and is very hungry and committed for the season and today's runner up spot is a testament to that, 3rd was an unknown rider for me in Neil Franks but never less posted same amount of finished laps as the two in front of him, Gav Maggs was 4th and rode very differently today than I had previously seen and seemed to be pacing himself a bit more and was keeping both wheels on terra firma but as the event wore on he seemed to up his game a bit and looked far more animated towards the end , 5th and a super ride from Dom Wilson who just needs to start that bit quicker as spends far too much time playing catch up as once in the groove he moves up the field but still good result in such company, 6th Steve White whom I thought rode well and looked more committed than his usual lazy looking style depicts but I do know that Steve is riding not in full health and is not quite as enthused with the sport as he usually is but should take some plus points from today, Jack Hooper could have well been in for a podium if he had bothered to enter earlier but this will hopefully spur him on to ride more, was great to see James Boyce back and despite not being on a bike in over 6 months rode damn well and was up the pointed end before his earlier retirement. Veteran A Class Neil Challice is very much the perfect enduro rider that we aspire to be and today started no differently with him taking control and riding to his game plan until Chris Stanger tried to spoil the party and I know I have said it many times but Chris with all his past injuries and operations should not really be riding off road but what makes Chris so fast and exciting is his enthusiasm for the sport which is so evident when you see the man ride and there is not a happier man than when on his bike than Chris and was great to see Neil pushed a bit but as Chris said the moment Neil realised he had to up his game he did just that which was a great compliment to give class winner Neil Challice and Chris was a very happy bunny with runners up spot, 3rd to Chris "Ginge" Howman who has not ridden as much as we would like due to work commitments and looked a bit less manic than usual which today helped his podium position, 4th to Croydon MCC stalwart and Mr Nice Guy Joe Beard who very randomly started talking to me and Kaka about partner swapping ;-) . 5th to LFB rider and Supermoto ace Darren Lee who is not a lover of today's conditions but will be well pleased for top 5 and will have come away from this plenty of positives, 6th Tom Moore will be another rider pleased with his place and on same amount of laps as winner and knows what he needs to do to improve, 7th Ian Mitchell who was very much a different rider today and not really known for his airborne activity but today he was very much a pilot in training which translates to me as riding with confidence and completed 12 laps and just missed out on 13, 9th went to The Goon James Brown who has this infectious grin every time he passes by and I swear if he transferred that grin factor into concentration he would be on the podium week after week, 10th was Paul Bennett on his Gas Gas, 11th Mick Stradwick who can take the positive factor for someone who has obviously over eaten in the winter that he was only a lap down from the winner. Veteran A O50 Class The O50 Vet Class winner was Graham Reid and runner up was Steve Taylor , both completed 12 laps and Steve is becoming very much like wine and is improving with age, 3rd went to Tony Copp. Evo Class Sadly only one entry in this class Manny Bernardez who managed 10 laps on his Yamaha IT, both rider and bike are still recovering but hope to make full recovery. ;-) Clubman A Class I may take the mickey out of Josh Kirby about his girlie haircuts and
dress sense but no doubting his ability to ride off road and today he really
looked like he wanted the win and saw very similar characteristics to his
Dad mark Kirby and equalled the old man on laps and I don't think it will be
long before Josh is beating up the old man and going on today's victory it
will be sooner rather than later, Runner up was Gregory Simon whom I have no
knowledge on at all but clearly a damn good rider, 3rd Niles Reid who seemed
to be having a battle out there with his Dad Graham, 5th and a great result
for Barry Keeys who will be well chuffed with a top 5 in such a competitive
field, 6th Chris O'Grady, 7th Jamie Moller whose bike just seemed to
struggle a bit in the deep sand and just seemed a more confident rider in
the tighter areas, 8th Felix Warren who will be disappointed with this and
not too sure why he finished here as riding very confidently and higher
placed earlier on, despite spending a fair bit of time building sandcastles
I think 9th place is a good result for Richard Morgan and towards the end
was looking rather jaded, making up the top 10 was Rob knight whose pace was
consistent throughout the 3 hours and jostled between 7th and 11th most of
the day and looked very noticeable in his TS top, 11th Matt Hubbard whom we
have not seen for a while, 12th Daniel Cooper whom I think had a problem at
some stage, not sure what happened to John Gilbertson of the LFB club, Alex
Mace had convinced me before the race he has become a man and there will be
no excuses for DNF's and was going to stop being a girls blouse, stop crying
at the film Babe and he had just bought a man's bike … a 250…. It lasted
about 2 laps and still awaiting the excuse and I am sure your Dad has not
disowned you for such torment put on your family, Veteran B Class Iain Judkins the class winner had the best sounding bike out there today ( New Sherco) and had an all-day battle with runner up Andrew Sharp which was interesting as Iain was a lot quicker in the woods and tighter stuff whereas Andrew was quicker on the open fast bits which made for a good duel, 3rd Stephen Haselden, 4th Ian Mace who will be happy with that and will gain a bit of self-confidence and self-belief and hopefully be regular podium finisher, 7th Tony Nother whom I know was pleased to finish and to be well in the top 10 will make his day and without doubt he rode his heart out and had a better day than his mate Gareth Allen who retired early, Andy Marlor on the Moto Ward Yamaha looked comfortable enough once he had settled in and posted 10 completed laps. Veteran B O 50 Class Bernie Coyne has been lying about his age for a good few years to Kaka as always saying he was in his early forties wink wink, joking aside to complete 12 laps and get the class win was a tremendous achievement and best result for Bernie for many a year and long may it continue for the lovable Kingston rider, runner up Stephen Scott, 3rd to the fastest copper on sand Dorset Police's very own Craig Redmond who started fairly apprehensively but once he found the scent he was on song for the rest of the event and looked like he was very much enjoying his ride, 4th Ade Wilkins (Mr Happy), 5th Hans Gilham whom on the very same weekend some 30 years ago at Slab Common entered his first event so quite a momentous day the man mountain, 6th Peter Moller which is quite amazing as sadly broke his ankle(wish you well Peter), 7th and his first O50 ride for the every young Carl Smye also on new machinery and completed 10 laps, 9th Orlando Bayne -Powell 9 completed laps and to add more misery was beaten by his fellow man mountain Hans Gilham, 10th and a rare outing these days for Croydon MCC rider Paul Chandler with a credible 7 laps, Neal Wailing sadly retired early with problems. Clubman B Class I know i hark on about his talent but Brad Warton yet again proves me right and on an aging Gas Gas and with 12 laps completed he rode well and did not look troubled despite being pressured by youngster and runner up Adam Brady who matched laps completed and looked a bit more natural than Brad in the tight stuff but Brad excelled in the deep sand, 3rd went to Ben Harding who can be reckless one minute then skilful the next and i am sure with more events under his belt he will become a very complete rider, 4th Sam Dimmock, Cole Nother 5th and the best ride he has had in a long time and seriously looked like he was trying and very much impressed me, 6th Tristan Bushnell who is the smoother rider of the two brothers but when it comes to aggression Oliver 8th is the man but both seemed to enjoy their day, Ben Young from the LFB club is a funny ol stick and i do have trouble reading his body language so today i am going to say he had an average day and knows he could do better lol, 10th Keith Fielder who was going to pull out with back injury but soldiered on and beat his good friend Pete Reid 11th , Rob Giles 15th who is more adept to the tighter trickier terrain and did not look as happy over the fast flat out stuff, Martin Biles was late entry but managed a healthy 11 laps, Connor Smith on his first adult event was flying on his wee 85 till he blew it to pieces so sneaked out on Adz's Beta 250 and despite Connor being as tall as a smurf he did fantastically and long may it continue, Daniel Dicker would have been class winner but sadly late entry but a great learning event for the Hampshire Farrier. Sportsman Class Martin Delves won with 11 laps completed, runner up David Valler also on
11 laps, 3rd place Tom Vandy on 10 laps, John Coyne started woeful like he
does at times but once he found his groove he plugged away and made numerous
places up in the closing stages and one thing JC is good at is not giving in
despite his body language screaming at high volume "What the hell am i
doing here" , he also hears voices "Apparently", 10th Phil
Harding who always looks in terrible pain but somehow enjoys his riding,
13th James Negus.
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Yateley Heath