Rob Warner	Sam Cherry
Brett Harbud	Rowan Hill

2014 Club Champs 2nd Round

Report Ken O'Brien

Pictures by Gary Dowzall, others can be found Sliders Gallery

It was decided after much heavy overnight rain that three laps of ten sections was enough for the most hardened of riders at the notoriously wet Folly farm Beckley.

This event was the second round of the club championship and attracted a quality entry with varying skill levels and if you could ride mud then this was the place to be. Experienced Mudlark Rob Warner could be heard from far afield as the Repsol Mont roared up the long slick wooded climbs as he went on to take the Expert class with a loss of 12 marks with Darren wheeler close on his heels for most of the day putting in a card of 31. Darren had three brilliant cleans on the very tricky rooted camber of section nine which began down the field where the wet stuff was constantly dragged up the bank to make things even slicker.

The standard route was very popular today with sixty percent of the entry making the best of the bad weather and with this in mind the course plotters laid out some very open sections so forth gear was an option at nearly all subs.

Pre-race favorites in the Clubman class Adrian Steele 250 Beta and Alan Taylor 'aging Scorpa' excelled in these conditions and were neck and neck going into the final straight when disaster stuck for Steele with a failed rear brake meaning only one thing fives had to be taken on the sheer drops of sections five six and seven. Eventual runner-up Simon Dowling 250 Beta had a great day losing forty nine although some superb cleans were recorded at section ten a combination of muddy turns and fallen trees with a stream to cross to reach the end cards.

Best Novice was Tim Maslin whilst Adrian Howard suffered mechanical gremlins early on and had to retire the superbly prepared Bultaco 250 in the Twinshock class. Anyone riding for the first time today on the Blue eased course and finished fair play to them as the conditions deteriorated badly with the rain and high winds in for the day. At the finish it was a close call with only ten marks separating the first four home with the honours going to Rowan Hill dropping forty one whilst close behind was Ixion evergreen Stuart Hayes on forty five.

A big shout for young Bret Harbud youth C who battled it out to the finish on the little 80cc Beta. Observers well what can I say, cold, wet, pens not working riders with little smiles on their faces after filling them in with mud as they rode off, you had to be tough to stick it out today.