The fifth round of the highly competitive 2024 TBEC Enduro Championship got underway at Houghton Conquest on Sunday, 14th July. Once again, the TBEC team turned out yet another top-class Hare and Hounds Enduro consisting of two 2 hour races run over the 9-mile course, much of which encompassed the old, sandy motocross circuit. There were steep hills and descents, fast straights and bends, nadgery turns, big jumps and the obligatory twisty woodland, plus sand – lots of sand!
Race Report by Roger Allen – Images courtesy of Charli Petrisor Photography – Results by TBEC
The weather couldn’t have been much better at Houghton with the bright sun shining on the track, situated high in the Bedfordshire countryside. By the time the 10.30 am start arrived, the Elite riders in Row Zero were itching to get out of the blocks and onto the track. Making a welcome return to the fray was Dan Smith. The ‘Bedfordshire Bullet’ had recently taken time out due to a motocross leg injury but was now fighting fit and back on his reliable GasGas after trying out a Chinese-made machine, which proved to be grossly unreliable. Top runner, Dan Wheeler, suffered the indignity of having his #442 GasGas failing to start for the warm-up period, so he pushed his malfunctioning machine away to sort out the problem in the pit area. Consequently, Row Zero departed without him, which was led off by the previous TBEC winner at Ironstone, Edward Harris #135. He was followed closely by #25 Paul Field and #8 Dan Smith.
One minute later, Josh Watson led Row 1 away on his #80 KTM with Jamie Barnes #115 in close attendance, followed by reigning champion Tobias Bailey #1. The remaining groups passed through the time clock in some orderly fashion until, minute by minute, they had all departed. Thankfully, Wheeler eventually got his GasGas fired up and set off after the lead pack from Row 3.
The pace was fast and furious but strength-sapping, too, as the blazing hot sun peeped out from behind its cover. As Row Zero came around at the end of lap one, it was Paul Field who clocked in first with a great lap of 14:17. Seconds behind were Dan Smith and Ed Harris. Catching them up fast, though, was a hard-charging Toby Bailey on his TBC Engineering KTM. The defending champion had closed on the lead group and, while doing so, recorded a blistering opening lap time of 13:43. After one lap, he was leading on time by some 34 seconds. By the time lap two had gone into the record books, Bailey had forged his way to the front, both on the clock and on the track.
The morning race progressed along in a similar fashion, with Smith, Field and Harris circulating close to each other and champion Bailey, inch by inch, pulling away at the front. As the clock wound down, Bailey came around to the timing tent at 12.21 pm to complete his eighth lap but signalled to his pit that he’d do one more circuit as he had ten minutes to run. It was on this ninth and final lap that the ‘Cheltenham Flyer’ tore around the track to record the fastest lap time of the day at 13:17. In fact, despite taking a handful of penalty points, Bailey was the only rider to get nine laps in on the morning enduro.
After the standard one-hour lunch break, the afternoon session got underway sharply at 1.30 pm, this time in the reverse direction, with Dan Smith leading off from Paul Field. Missing from Row Zero was Edward Harris, who, it transpired, had knocked his head close to the end of the morning race and decided to sit out the afternoon session. The hot sun had parched much of the circuit, giving rise to dust clouds in certain parts of the track. With a few variations, riders departed in their respective groups pretty much as they did in the morning enduro, with the race taking on a familiar format.
Toby Bailey was relentlessly charging his way to the front. Young Josh Watson was doing his best to hang on, but Bailey pulled away with apparent ease. On lap two, however, the Under-21 rider appeared to be catching up with the champion. Bailey was definitely slowing! It looked like machine gremlins had struck again as they had at the previous round, but chatting with Bailey afterwards revealed the true nature of his dilemma! On the second lap, he told me, he was going through the wooded section on a fast right-hand bend. His right handlebar struck a sawn-off branch that penetrated his plastic hand guard and impaled the middle finger of his throttle hand, also breaking his ring finger! (It looked a real mess when he showed it to me after the racing was over).
Apparently, his Dad had called him to see what was wrong with the bike. When he saw the injury, he advised his son to retire, but the Cheltenham man was having none of it! He restarted again and quickly caught up with Watson (who had passed Bailey when he stopped) and blasted past him to resume his lead both on time and on track. Paul Field pulled out after 1 lap, but Dan Smith was still riding hard. Dan Wheeler had also made good progress through the field in his quest to catch up with the group at the front. In the end, though, it was reigning champion Tobias Bailey who emerged as the overall winner of both the morning and afternoon enduros. Claiming his first runner-up position was young Josh Watson who, it has to be said, rode quite brilliantly. Dan Wheeler, still nursing the remnants of a recently broken collarbone, did well to come away with third overall, bearing in mind the machine troubles he had earlier on. Dan Smith, too, deserves some credit for his brilliant 4th place performance overall. Phil Gilder kept the Vets flag flying with his fine 5th position. There was no disputing the overall winner, though. With his gutsy performance, Tobias Bailey showed why he is the defending TBEC champion!
In the Elite class, Tobias Bailey topped the group on his #1 KTM. Although he dropped 11 penalty points, he was the only one to have completed 17 laps. In second was his TBC Engineering teammate Dan Wheeler on the #442 GasGas, recording one lap less on 16. Dan Smith took a jubilant return third place on his #8 GasGas, also with 16 laps.
Paul Stone #357 came out top of the E1 class on his KTM. He completed 14 laps along with second-placed Richard Hancock #112, also on KTM. Jack Waplington brought his #243 Kawa home in third place.
In the E2 category, Darryl Friday #35 claimed the top spot just in front of #308 Finlay Woods, both on KTM. In third place was Lucus Harris #245 on his Husky. All three completed 16 laps.
The E3 class was won by #148 Sean Burch on his Husqvarna. Jamie Barnes #115 held down second place, and third was #94 John Paul Bowering, both these on Beta machines, with all three completing 16 laps.
Corey Edwards claimed the Legends class on his #48 KTM by completing 16 laps, one ahead of #22 Tommy Batts on his Yamaha, who in turn did one more lap than third place finisher Ian Matthews who managed 14 laps on his #23 Husqvarna.
Philip Gilder once again came top of the Vets class with his #24 GasGas, beating off the challenge from second-placed Simon Shinkins on his #463 Husky, both these two on 16 laps. Darren Carter slipped his #661 KTM into third spot having conceded just one lap to the top pair.
Young Josh Watson took the top place in the Under-21 class on his #80 KTM, heading off #29 Joe Jefferies KTM into second place, both on 16 laps. Josh Rowland on his #62 Beta just beat the Sherco of #17 Lewis Callaby to third spot, these latter two having completed 14 laps each.
The Supervets class was won by Des Pichel on his #166 KTM while Graham Hardcastle took his big #265 KTM adventure to a creditable second. In third place was Paul Webb’s #284 KTM, all of these three on 14 laps.
Neil Gilder managed to stay on top of the Trail class with his #165 Beta. He completed 11 laps, one more than second-placed James Swindells riding the #221 Husqvarna. On his big #268 Yamaha Tenere, Daniel Bloom took the third spot with four laps.
Of the Half-Day class, Darryl Gilder christened his new Triumph #517 with the top placing, managing a good 8 laps. Alan Mitchinson’s #33 KTM took the runner-up position, and Craig Emerson claimed third on his #251 Husky, the latter two doing 7 laps.
Once again, Houghton Conquest turned out to be a fabulous event organised by the TBEC team. The next Hare and Hounds Enduro is to be held at Abbotsley Arena once again on August 11th. It’s a fantastic venue, so get along there. Don’t forget to catch up on all the action here at DirtHub!
See ya, R.A.
Results
