It’s tough at the top. 2024 Lincolnshire Enduro Championship Round 3 – Race Report and Results

Looking at the available three “R’s” (“Records/Results/Riders”) for Lincolnshire Enduro Club over the past 8 years, its back to its very first year when a rider in the Experts class won every single round in one particular year to take the title. That rider was George Birchall, way back in 2017.

Race Report by Martin Southwick – Images courtesy of Billy Parker

With another victory at the weekend though, Bawtry lad Jack Rowland has his sights set on at least equalling that, with this his third win on the bounce. Taking place over a somewhat shortened course at Dembley Heath, there were only two riders in class to achieve sixteen laps when the three hour finish flag descended. Its not like Jack will find that accomplishment easy though, he is being hunted down all the time. Once again, it was the current title holder making sure any victory was hard won. Reigning Champion Dan Johnson and Jack’s lap times were very evenly matched throughout the race. In fact it was only on three occasions when they could be separated by more than just a few seconds per lap. Those three occasions came towards the end of the race. It was on lap’s 11, 12, and 13 where the elastic may have become somewhat stretched between the two. As always though, it is down to fine margins; Jack’s win was by just over one minute. With another third place to his name, Lucas Travers is waiting in the wings for any unseen “errors” from the top two. He was though, a full lap down on Jack and Dan this time out.

“The Heath”, is fairly well known these days as being one of the longer and faster courses on the clubs fixture list. Track’s here have been as long as twelve miles but this time out it was shortened to just under six miles. With a mixture of some of the quick stuff found in previous years, woodland areas to get through and a few “bomb holes” to negotiate, some of the 126 riders may have found the heat pretty hard to contend with also. With the warmth and humidity on Sunday, it may have made up for the first two races of this year, which were seen as perfect for racing in.

The closest race of the day came in the Sportsman 2T class, which delivered the biggest class of the day once again too, with 32 riders entered. The winner of the last round Jodie Lambley, had to succumb to the runner up spot this time out. He was beaten by Jake Wilson, who must have been elbow bashing with his rival throughout; they could only be separated by 16 seconds over the 13 laps. Just over a minute behind the front runners, but on the same amount of laps was Christian Humphrey. This was Christian’s 3rd place on the trot and as we saw with the Experts class in 2023, consistency is key. The rider who takes the years crown does not necessarily have to win one single race !

The other Sportsman group (the 4T’s), saw a win that was a bit more defined than in the “valveless class”. Simon Owen came away with another clear win, by nigh on 4 minutes. Also on 13 laps was Charlie Edwards who took the second step of the podium. The runner up last time out Barrie Atherton, yielded to the other rostrum place on this occasion, albeit a full lap adrift. In the Clubman class, Nicholas King has probably gone down as a very early title contender for the year. Sunday saw a second win of the year for him, to go with his runner up placing last time out at Willingham. On the same amount of laps as Nicholas was Darren Wells in the runner up spot. This is a vast improvement from Willingham in mid April when Darren couldn’t quite make the podium places. Also on 14 laps was 3rd placed rider Alex Cumberland. This adds to his high points tally from rounds 2 and 3, and a maiden victory for the year must surely be just around the corner. Andy Myers has made an early bid for a title this year.

In the Over 40’s, this second win of the campaign has added more points to the runner up position he achieved back in March at Ashby. However, Lee Hattersley has gone marginally better perhaps. Lee was runner up on Sunday, which adds to two earlier victories in the clubs first two races. Lee now has a narrow lead for the year. Not seen on top of any race leader board this year so far, Richard Cookland took third place this time out.

Alan Vissian added more points to his runner up spot last month, with a win this time out by over two minutes in the Over 50’s. In the same group, Lee Smith went one better than last month too with a silver medal this time, whilst Ian Shepherd did similar. He improved in this race by one spot, taking third overall. Only three in the class attained 14 laps at the race end.

In the Over 60’s, it was second win of the year for Mark Peckitt, with Kevin Bartle Sr in second place some 4 minutes adrift. A lap down was a newcomer to the podium for this year, Ricky Widdowson in third. Into the newest class within the club, Neil Tapper now has a Hat Trick of wins for 2024 with the Slam bike class, with family member Joe taking 2nd spot. Kyle Ardito took the Bronze medal. Two attendees entered the Trail/Classic bike group, Sean Price taking the win from Andrew Malkinson. Six Beginners were also on the start line at 10.30 AM. Well done to you all.

The clubs next race is on June 23rd at, where they are back to North Willingham. All details of the club are here (for members)…(https://www.facebook.com/groups/LincolnshireEnduroClub) . . . . . . . . . . . and here for non members.. (https://lincolnshireenduro.wixsite.com)/lec2016

Results