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Report Ken O'Brien

Pics Gary Dowzall

Extremely wet conditions under foot greeted sixty plus riders who tackled four laps of ten for the first round of Ixion's 2009 Championship campaign.

Due to recent deforestation the woodland sections are somewhat limited until regeneration however four subs were plotted and these were the most testing of the day.

Section two a new sub proved no problem for Expert winner Stuart Robinson piloting his Gas Gas though a deep muddy turn to be faced with a low bough and then hopping it though a rather awkward tree arrangement.

Best performance on the hard route today was that of young Bradley Cox with an impressive 31 marks lost having just a single dab on section four a slick all the way job with open turns over roots.

Adrian Steele posted the best score on the alternative route taking his Gas Gas around for a creditable 47 in the well supported Clubman class,Steele going particularly well on the long muddy climb of section five.

A close run contest in the Twinshock class saw Local Motorcycle Dealer Rob Faulkner TY 250 take the win over Alan Taylor Bultaco both riders revelling in these testing conditions,three cleans and a dab on the very tricky off-set downhill camber over roots on section seven was good enough to secure the points.

The Enduro style tactics of Sam Cherry had a quality ride to snatch the Novice class from Alex Collett,Sam flooring it in fourth gear to get to the summit of the infamous Swamp-man section eight.

Twenty eight Eased Blue route riders set off with K P McCullagh returning a card of 46 next best was Tony Brown Scorpa,the going was tough on many sections as the mud dragged around but most battled it out to end and can look forward to the next round when things will be a lot easier.

Many thanks to all the observers and would appreciate any help in this way at the Norton trophy Jan 25th.