Ailbe guns it at Gonerby! 2025 Lincolnshire Enduro Championship Round 2 – Race Report and Results

Lincolnshire may be known as one of the flattest counties in the UK, but the local Enduro Club managed to find what few hills there are for their latest round of their Hare and Hounds 2025 championship. Backed by …https://www.dustdevils.net, Lincolnshire Enduro Club once again attracted a large entry list for this year’s second round.

Race Report by Martin Southwick – Images courtesy of Graeme Taylor

Taking place at Gonerby, the track was last used by the club in June 2022 and over a 3.5-mile circuit. This time out, an extra mile was squeezed into the area, and with an addition of an extra 50 riders from the last visit, the start line was certainly a packed one. Given that the days leading up to the event were nothing but sunny, conditions for the event were perfect, apart from a little dust being kicked up, perhaps. The main “stopper” of the day seemed to be through a slippery tunnel section. Patience prevailed here for some riders as it seemed almost icy at times! With the sharpness of some of the inclines into the upper reaches of the track, it would have been a different world had it been wet! Those hills and the mixed bag of field terrain/off-camber turns proved to be no problem to the eventual winner, Expert Jack Rowland. With this, his 2nd win in two races, it’s a fine start in defence of his 2024 title. The club has recently set up a couple of sponsored “holeshot ” prizes, and whilst the Ace Suspension KTM pilot couldn’t claim one of those, another faultless victory by the Harworth lad was by a full lap over his nearest challengers. Those rivals came in the form of the “usual suspects”. Ever present Dan Johnson sealed the runner-up place and beat Lucas Travers into third spot by some 2 minutes. These lads were on 18 laps at 3 hours as opposed to Jack’s 19.

In the Over 40’s class, and with 17 laps in total, Rob Miller took the spoils. Rob’s win was a little over 2 minutes from Lee Hattersley in 2nd place. With this placing and his win back at Ashby a month ago, Lee has a very slender lead on the top of the leaderboard in the group. Going a lot better this time out was 3rd placed lad Richard Price. Richard was 30 seconds behind Lee, with all three lads on 17 laps when the chequered flag descended. Staying with the “elder statesmen” groups, Julian Cook had a pretty comprehensive win in the Over 50’s class. He and Gareth Lodge had 2 more laps under their belts than anyone else in the class, but it was a win by nigh on 5 minutes at the end. With a repeat performance from March, Andy Jackson took the remaining place on the rostrum. The “venerable class”, the Over 60’s, saw a swap of fortunes at the top this time out. Mark Peckitt took maximum points last month, with Neil Tapper following closely. Those roles were reversed on Sunday, though, with Neil taking the win by 3 minutes. Kevin Bartle Sr took the Bronze medal placing.

In the Clubman section, only two riders were on 18 laps at the end of play. Ailbe O’ Connell took the victory from runner-up Jodie Lambley by quite a small margin, just over a minute. One lap in arrears was 3rd placed jockey George Pearce. It’s worth noting that the top few in this class would be well placed in the Experts group! It’s worth noting that at Gonerby 5 years ago, it’s the only time in the club’s history that the quickest rider over all classes has not come from the Experts class. One or two of these Clubman are sneaking into the top 10 overall though.

Into the Sportsman Classes, there was another rider who had a fairly substantial win. It came in the shape of a full-lap victory in the 2T class for Matthew Knowles. Simon Cadman may have his nose in front for 2025 as he added a runner-up spot to his win in the club’s maiden event a few weeks ago. Taking the other podium spot was Joe Doel. Not to be overshadowed by the two strokes, Ryan Poole had his own clear lap win in the 4T section. Coupled with his 2nd place at Ashby, Ryan is another rider who now has a slender lead for the year. Callum Roe was in 2nd and on the same amount of laps as Spencer Smith (15) but 3 minutes adrift.

Ben Hampel, in the Trail/Classic class, is another rider with back-to-back wins this year. In a reverse of round one, Shaun Avison and Kyle Ardito swapped places this time round, Kyle being the runner-up and Shaun taking third spot. A shout should also go out to ex-LEC Chairman Ian Jackson, who, in his first race since 2018, managed a creditable fifth in the group.

The Novice class seems to grow bigger with every outing, this time with 12 riders on the start line. Well done guys.

The club wishes to say thanks to all marshal’s, first responders, track setters, food suppliers etc etc… who all give unpaid valuable time and effort to LEC.

The next event is at North Willingham on the 11th of May. Details of that will be announced asap.

For members >> https://www.facebook.com/groups/LincolnshireEnduroClub

And non members >> https://www.facebook.com/groups/LincolnshireEnduroClub

Results