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Northampton MCC

South Midland Centre Hare & Hounds Championships 2009
Final round, Woodend with NMCC

Northampton Motorcyclists Club held the final round of the South Midland Centre Hare & Hound Championships at their popular Woodend venue. This rarely used venue has a wide variety of terrain and the circuit laid out on this occasion proved quite testing by the end of the afternoon. The sun shone constantly through a clear blue sky, feeling much more like July than September. With wide open grassland sections, wooded railway embankments, tight technical sections, stream crossings, ditches and a small quarry section there was something for everyone. By the end of the event it was the water crossings that proved the most problematic, with some of the exits testing all but the best.

Starting from the front row of the grid, Ryan Griffiths set a blistering pace. Rarely putting a foot wrong he went on to set the fastest lap of the day at 6 mins 38 secs and completed 26 laps within the 3 hour race time. The next three positions overall all came from the very competitive Clubman class. Mark Bussey took second overall with 23 laps, closely followed by Laurence Wiltshire on 22 laps and Ross Holt in fourth, also on 22 laps. Fifth overall on the day went to second placed Expert Dale Raynor who set the second fastest lap time of the day but early retirement dropped him down the overall standings. Jon Gutteridge rounded out the top six on 21 laps, again from the Clubman class.

Thanks to the ever tolerant farmer for the use of his land, and to all the riders who helped bring the track in at the end of the day.

Results:

Expert: 1 Ryan Griffiths 26 laps, 2 Dale Raynor 21 laps, 3 Jack Barnwell 21 laps, 4 James Barney 20 laps, 5 David Frankland 19 laps, 6 Dennis Harrison 17 laps

Clubman: 1 Mark Bussey 23 laps, 2 Laurence Wiltshire 22 laps, 3 Ross Holt 22 laps, 4 Jon Gutteridge 21 laps, 5 Saxon Nel 21 laps, 6 Matt Willis 21 laps, 7 Sam Robinson 20 laps, 8 Martyn Rushbrook 20 laps, 9 S Pringle 17 laps, 10 Nigel McKinley 16 laps.

Sportsman: 1 Jason Hartwell 18 laps, 2 Stuart Green 17 laps, 3 Chris Hackett 16 laps, 4 Shane Moore 16 laps, 5 Michael Shook 15 laps, 6 Stephen Cornelius 15 laps, 7 D Collins 15 laps, 8 Justin Sedgewick 15 laps, 9 Roger Titman 14 laps, 10 Reg Willis 13 laps

Overall: 1 Ryan Griffiths 26 laps, 2 Mark Bussey 23 laps, 3 Laurence Wiltshire 22 laps, 4 Ross Holt 22 laps, 5 Dale Raynor 21 laps, 6 Jon Gutteridge 21 laps, 7 Jack Barnwell 21 laps, 8 Saxon Nel 21 laps, 9 Matt Willis 21 laps, 10 James Barney 20 laps.

See the website for full times & results