David Kinght rientra e vince l'ultima prova del campionato Inglese di Enduro.
FONTE:
ENDURONEWS.COM"The final round of the British Enduro Championship" "Knight wins 10th BEC @ Eelmoor Enduro"
13th and 14th October 2012 Aldershot, Hampshire.
DAY 1
RISULTATI "CLASS"
RISULTATI "SUBCLASS"
DAY 2
RISULTATI "CLASS"
RISULTATI "SUBCLASS"
RISULTATI ASSOLUTA
Over the years the events of the previous few days will pass into legend but - against all the odds - for the SEEC team this will be their finest hour.
Saturday morning dawned cold but clear. Thursday's heavy ran ensured that dust would not be an issue. With only 4 rounds in this year's Championship series there were no clear leaders and for most of the classes there was more than one serious contender.
The big news was the return of David Knight after a stomach operation and the good news is that he has lost none of his guts. The Special test was 100 yards from the start and the big man from the Isle of Man devoured it on a KTM500exc. His first test time was 8 seconds faster than Alex Rockwell who set the second fastest time.
Jack Lee's new 450 looked a cracker but sounded like a fire cracker as it's banging echoed through the trees. Fortunately for Jack the problem cleared itself. Jack Rowland was less fortunate with his rattling motor and he was soon headed for the pits of disappointment with the consolation that he already clinched the E1.4 class. With a packed season of British and European events behind them, this was the MPS Racing teams only breakdown in 2012. An enviable record of reliability. MPS's Jamie Lewis appeared to have dropped 2 minutes on the going but this was the result of a time card error in the pits. The boys have been working hard on their joined up writing but they need to concentrate on their numbers.
Paul Edmondson was busy with one of his own events this weekend so he was unable to attend but in a tribute to the ISDE hero Mike Rees has decal-ed his new Enduro News Tip Top Toilets Wayne Mounter KTM in a set of 1988 stickers and he was setting an "almost as Fast as Eddy" pace.
Despite the hastily re-gigged format, everyone soon settled into their rhythm with the exception of series leader Tom Sagar who retired after a recurrence of a fuel problem he had at the ISDE.
At 12 noon a heavy shower passed over and a second heavier shower passed over an hour later. The temperature dropped. From the pits the flat Hampshire landscape seemed to offer few challenges but in the woods there were plenty of difficult obstacles. On the out check a steam crossing began to cut up. The top boys launched themselves over the abyss but for the sportsmen it was a place to "abandon hope all ye who enter here". Aaron Smith was on hand to pull the weary out of the mud after he broke his clutch perch. The ditch soon filled up with marshals passing the time - between pulling out stranded riders - by directing their mates into the deep stuff. Veteran Chris Stanger (right) was left stranded on the far back when his KTM made a bolt for home. According to the results the bike finished 6th but it is unclear whether Chris had caught up with it by then.
Midwest's Alex Rockwell was pushing hard and he came within one second of David Knight's time on test 6 but - despite being surrounded by pools of water - Alex cruelly suffered a sudden and severe shortage of reeds.
The combination of the short laps and the tightened times led to some hold outs at the test so the Clerk of the course made the sensible decision to scrub the last check. David Knight won the overall by 43 seconds from Danny McCanney. Jamie McCanney was 3rd - best E1.2 - and Daryl Bolter was 4th - best E2. There were no E1.4 finishers in the Championship class.
The Humphrey's brothers Gethin and Owain were split by HM moto's Richard Ely at the top of the Experts leader board. Richard was looking like the class winner until he dropped 20 seconds on his 4th test. 16 year old Luke Flack was 4th. Rob Johnson retired when he lost his exhaust.
Brad Freeman was the best Clubman, Aled Price was the runner up and Keelan Hancock was 3rd. All three finished clean on time. The Veterans class went to Richard Hay. Fellow Scot Derek Little was 2nd and Paul Sagar was 3rd. Mark Hillier Rees needed A&E when a stone hit him in the face and injured his eye. All the best Mark for a speedy recovery.
After the 15 minutes of work time the bikes were safely locked away in a fenced parc ferme under the protection of a couple of very capable looking Ghurkas.
Sunday The crystal clear night sky lightened into a cloudless day. The first four riders - minus Tom Sagar - were flagged away at 9.00am. The Indian summer sun and sandy soil of the start area soon created a seaside holiday atmosphere in the pits but out in the woods it was another working day. The course was reversed which came as a relief to anyone whose head was still spinning after Day 1.
David Knight only needed one point to secure the Championship but he still rode to win - for David there is no other plan and the plan seemed to be working when he won the first test from Alex Rockwell by 2 seconds but when Alex took the second test it was a quick return to the drawing board. David came back to take test 3 by setting the fastest time of the day. He looked unstoppable although a stump on the going had other ideas when he drifted wide and clipped it with his rear wheel. The rebound highsided him over the bar but he went on to win and take his 10th overall British Enduro Championship. Alex Rockwell was runner up. Alex rode with the assurance of a man looking to start his own collection of BECs.
Daryl Bolter was on the pace in a comfortable 3rd place until his exhaust snapped on the last test of the day and Danny McCanney slipped passed him. Daryl coaxed the Crescent KTM over the line to post two 4th place finishes for the weekend - an excellent result. Jamie McCanney finished 10th. It was good enough to clinch the Ei.2 title but Jamie was already looking forward to next weekend's EWC final in France.
The Humphrey brothers must have been brought up in a very caring household by the way they share their prizes. On day 2 it was Owain's turn to win the Expert class and Gethin settled for 2nd. MPS Racing's Rob Johnson lit up a new exhaust to finish 3rd. Aaron Smith lashed his clutch reservoir to the bars of his Husaberg with zip ties to start the second day. The Husaberg user's manual recommends 8 zip ties but Aaron went with 6 and he still finished.
Brad Freeman won the Clubman class and Gethin Francombe was the runner up. Aled Price was 3rd.
Richard Hay was the best Veteran ahead of fellow Scot Derek Little. Local hero Neil Bowker was 3rd. Paul Sagar was 4th. After the event he said "It was one of the hardest events I had ridden this year, there was no let up". Danny McCanney agreed " It was like a 5 hour hare and hounds".
Special thanks to Richard and Andrea Snowden for their results service and Andy Greenwood for starting the test and getting splattered with rocks for 2 days.
Gethin Francombe summed up the weekend for me when he wrote "it was weird but it was good". In the face of adversity the SEEC team pulled together and overcame every obstacle thrown in their path with determination and good humour. It was a truly "British" Enduro Championship round. Well done.
