The Spitfire Sprint hosted by SEEC at Popham Airfield 19-10-14
The Battle of Popham
Report and Photo Rich Troth

What a great spectacle The SEEC can do when they get together (Well nearly all of them) to do a one off type event that had brilliant organisation, plenty of helpers, car park warden (Hee Hee), and also a great new venue that had plenty of hard surface standing and good viewing for spectators as well as a brand new sprint format that at the start of the event was being frowned on by some but from the feedback at the end all enjoyed, we had full entry and was so nice not to be able to offer day entries, 5.5 miles of super fast bits, gnarly horrible woods, mx type of flowing field, a few hazards and planes landing and taking off every few minutes, am just hoping it will be a regular venue in the SEEC calendar for the future.

Championship Class
Daryl Bolter’s first event after breaking his ankle at the Natterjack and set the standard on his first timed outing and simply was untouchable all day and looks like full ankle recovery, good battle for runners up spot between Rich Ely and Max Varney with Max taking the runners up spot after Rich had one terrible run when his rear brake failed which i simply put down to poor bike maintenance by Muppet Rich, 4th Jon Hunt and continues his great season of top results, 5th Mr Consistent Jack Turner whom did very well considering he is carrying a bad knee injury, 6th Adz Smith and great to see riding again but somehow i bet he still had that 500 Husaberg today Brapppp, 7th Dan Alldred who as usual looked silky smooth and problem free, 8th the much travelled Kyle Jacobs who loved the event and proved he can run at the front with the best, Ben Wibberley retired early but not sure why.

Expert Class
I remember Core Offroad’s Dan Mundell as a small teen a while back but not seen him ride as an adult till today with conditions and format that were obviously suited to him he simply ran amok like The Baby Faced Assassin and was on Championship times and form and loves a target to chase and had a good battle with my pre race favourite Tom Ellwood who had to make do with the runners up spot today, Mark Kirby was 3rd very focused and great to watch on the fast stuff as totally committed, 4th despite having a nasty fall over the concrete was James Foxley, 5th Brad Armstrong whom along with his army of supporters will be pleased with the result but am sure will have some excuse like his makeup ran or broke a nail.... you get the drift, 6th Greg Mills whom i know nothing about ...but boy he can ride, 7th Darren Laughton on a Sherco, 8th Dom Wilson on his new steed and did well considering first time out and 6 years of riding Honda’s to get out of his system, 9th Jack Hooper who looked happy all event and simply needs to ride more or even get married to Beth so he can get Father in law to pay for his entries (Yeah Yeah..... Blood / Stone and all that lol), sadly DNF for Steve White and not sure why, Josh Kirby broke another bike and this becoming weekly scenario, if i was his Dad i would go out and get him an old XR400 and say break that fucker.

Veteran Class
Darren Osborne was clearly pre race favourite but did not expect the efforts of Peter Foster who really gave Darren the chase but Darren knew when to push and push he did and secured the victory over the hard trying Peter, 3rd and a rare appearance to Ben Mayhew who very much seemed to enjoy the format and conditions, 4th Colin Cowley who will be pleased to have posted a finish as a rare thing these days, 5th to Ian Mitchell whom bettered his times every session out and had a very successful day, What a great result for Jeff Cannons in 6th and is very much talked about in the paddock and if does full season next year he will be a contender, 7th Manny Bernardez on his Bitsa Yamaha who had a great fun day playing and teasing 8th placed and fellow Witley rider Richard Alldred who came out of exile for this one and great to see he still likes to get on it, 9th James (Froggy) French who is another one on semi retirement despite his youthful looks had a great day and loved the format and conditions , 10th Carl Smye who was quite awesome on the fast sweeping bends but did struggle a few times i saw him in the very narrow woods, 11th Stewart Jackson who had a good ride despite a few moments of mayhem, 12th Kevin Adkins, 13th Mark Cavill, 14th Bernie Coyne who was happier playing with sticks in the wood than the fast open areas, Sten Pringle posted a DNF.

Clubman A Class
I have harked on about James De-Merist many times as a talent in the making but sadly he never commits to a full season and just appears at the odd event as he did today and simply rode his heart out and had a great ding dong battle with Wayne Tame whom himself has not ridden for a while and close it was with James getting the top spot over Wayne for that top spot, 3rd and a welcome return for Dave Downes after a season moto-crossing, 4th Felix Warren who did make a few mistakes today and had to make up some serious time in the latter stages due to poor early runs and a bit of tree hugging and maybe missing his Dad Johnathan, 5th Matthew Ward whom from what i saw had a 50/50 day as some parts he was excelling visibly but likewise on other parts he seemed he was having his worst nightmare, 6th Rob Knight whom i thought would struggle today as not a speed merchant but did better than i thought but was very much more at home on the true Enduro terrain, 7th and what a cracking ride for Andrew De-Merist despite nearly taking me out over a blind crest (My fault as usual) and considering he rides so seldom he looked fit and focused, 8th Harvey Bish who was too careful on his first two timed outings which put him on the back foot a bit but once he found his mojo he was flying.

Clubman B Class
Ben Churchill won the class but very much in the wrong class as on Clubman A top times, Adam Brady got the second podium spot and excelled in the very tight naggery woods, 3rd Lee Boulden who just does everything right and was very much a focused committed rider today, 4th Paul Chalwin who is definitely climbing up the Clubman B ladder, 5th Warren Lee, 6th Si Brown who was very much at home with format and conditions and can claim Normandy MCC bragging rights over Shaun Hayward 16th and Rob Mussell 12th whom both appeared to be under the influence as both talking utter bollocks, 7th and top result for Big Peter Reid who was very much enjoying opening his beast up along the fast straights and then nearly forgetting his braking marker which somehow made his eyes as big as saucers, 8th Daniel Dicker who needed to be a bit more aggressive trying to get past slower riders as got held up for a while on 3rd outing i think but never less good showing, 9th Aaron Pearce on the Husaberg, 10th Stewart Guilford who needs to change his kit as i kept thinking there was an invisible rider out there as he blended into the scenery, 11th Papa Johns who was very much enjoying himself..... maybe not as much as Peter Reid but a lot more than Keith Fielder who was simply still in holiday mode and thank you Papa Johns for our refreshments, 12th Lee Blackburn who was one of only a few who was enjoying the format and sulking as lost bragging rights to team mate Paul Chalwin, 13th Matt Casey whom was my shock result and thought he would have been top 5 today but having said that this would have been his first top speed event which will be slightly alien to some but on the positive side he beat Dad Jonathan 14th, 15th Rob Giles who is beginning to worry me with his Muslim like appearance of late.....please tell me i have nothing to worry about , By the way Rob ... you rode awesome ;-)

A few stragglers in the class and as usual top of the pile Darren Giggs who either didn’t swipe, swiped too much or couldn’t be bothered, however he did look pretty in his orange top, Mark Slade sadly posted a DNF but was still smiling last time he went past me so i feel a mechanical woe.

Evo Class
Graham Challis was the victor on his well presented RM Suzuki, sadly the other 2 in the class retired, Stuart Bayliss on his Husqvarna and Ian Proudfoot on his Moto-X-Fox Maico which i must say was immaculately presented and sounded awesome and the spectators loved his showing off antics of wheeling at every opportunity.

Sportsman Class
Edward Dyne dominated the class and would have finished top 3 in Clubman B so well out of class, Jack French had a cracking day and improved immensely as the day wore on to take runners up spot, 3rd Thomas McCabe who is usually on a trials bike and seemed very much at home on the Enduro bike and format here today, 4th Chris Smith who put in a good show, and 5th to bike supremo all rounder Rob Pelling, 6th James Bowman with a solid consistent ride despite a poor second run, 8th Phillip Stubbington who looked like an advert for a washing powder,7th Neil Wilkinson whom i know now swears after his log crossing, 9th Roy O’Mara who had one terrible run which marred his result, 10th Gordon Farquahson, 11th Andrew Rayner whom looked very happy and made improvements with each run, 12th Adam Dyne whom we have not seen for about 4 years i reckon so well done Adam, 13th Robert Blackshall, 14th Adam Mussell who is still in his novice year and this will be a great learning curve for the youngster who would like me to point out that Rob Mussell is no relation of his whatsoever, 15th Kenneth Bentley on a trusty old KTM..... sorry did i use Trusty and KTM in the same sentence..... i need a holiday, 16th John Coyne who tries so damn hard to come last failed dismally and will not be the happiest man this week without his wooden spoon, 17th and a major improvement for Harry Hellis who will get stuck in and grind away, 18th Lawrence Gordon who was very much top 3 but either missed an outing or missed a swipe which has catapulted him down to this unforeseen position, 19th Marc Wright who seemed to be enjoying the event and format, 20th Oliver Lee from Silchester, 21st Mark Barton who had fun on the slippery log in the woods, 22nd Howard Carter, 23rd Aaron friend on a Kawasaki.

Well i loved the event and hope it runs again and cannot express to you all how much effort Tristan Robinson put into making this event happen and by you all entering pre event and not relying on day entries which helps immensely, Thanks to Ben Alldred on keeping me company and doing a bit of goffering for me.

My only moan is why course cut, this moan is aimed at such a minority that it really does not deserve a mention but i feel i have too.... you may not think someone is watching but most of the time someone has spotted you, just enjoy your time on your bike like everyone else and it’s not like there is some financial reward at the end of it.

Photos - Results