A youngster who turned up on the LEC scene on Sunday went from being unknown to very much known, in a short period of time. Hailing from Redcar and riding his Graham Charlton sponsored Beta 200RR, 16 year old Sam Boyd will have gone back to the North East with a pretty convincing debut ride at the club.
Race Report by Martin Southwick – Images courtesy of Graeme Taylor
Whilst Sam didn’t put in the fastest lap of the day, he didn’t need to. When the flag dropped on the three hour mark, he had the ever important extra lap over his nearest rivals, and came away with a big victory over the other riders… most of whom have had class wins themselves fairly recently ! Looking at the lap times. Sam’s nearest rival on the day (Dan Johnson) was perhaps making inroads into the lead put out by Sam early on. Whenever Dan recorded a quicker lap time, it was in the last half of the race every time. However, In the end it was a case of too little too late really. In third place was Elliot Millburn. Once again looking at the lap scoring, Elliot and Dan had a fine battle that certainly went on well past the half way mark. It was only on lap six out of the ten that the elastic began to get stretched somewhat. In the end, it snapped and that gap extended to four minutes separating the two riders. All ten riders finished in this, the Experts class. Early days yet obviously, but Dan’s runner up place on the day now sees him lead the yearly standings.
Taking place at North Willingham, this was the third round of the 2023 LEC/Back Office Pro sponsored season. Conditions could not have been much different to the last outing here just a few weeks ago. That day saw pretty wretched conditions, with recent heavy rainfall making the terrain somewhat “testing” to say the least. Due to the recent dry spell, the main difficulty this time out was the dust kicked up by the rider in front. The six mile course had the normal mix of tight woodland, a couple of ditch crossings, and open grassland. The dust made it a bit gnarly in the open soil field sections though. Anyone going off line here would have been followed quite easily if his/her nearest rival was too close behind …. mainly due to the orange camouflage screen being thrown up !
Only one rider over all of the classes has taken maximum points in each and every round this year. Scarborough’ lad Mark Peckitt in the over 60’s group drifts further away from his adversary’s for the season with another victory. Whilst the top five riders in class attained eight laps on the day, Mark’s winning margin was a little over five minutes from Chris Woodward in the runner up spot; Kevin Bartle Sr was three minutes further back in the Bronze medal place.
Staying with the “Gentleman” classes, the Over 50’s produced one of the biggest groups of the day again with twenty two riders on the start line. With the top eight riders all on nine laps at the end, it was always going to be a fairly close race. To add to his two runner up placings in rounds one and two, Ian Shepherd went one better this time, but it was only by some ninety seconds over the three hours. Lee Smith was the lad chasing Ian home for the win, and Indeed it looks like some of Lee’s middle laps were faster than the victors. It wasn’t quite enough in the end though. Derek Carr took third spot, some five minutes down. In the Over 40’s class Paul Hanks took a massive win, by nearly a quarter of an hour. The first three lads were on ten laps at the end but the distance between second and third could not have been much closer. Lee Hattersley was second, beating Richard Price by just eight seconds. Lee remains on top for the year.
The Clubman class saw the 2023 leader further extend his chances of the title with another win this year; his last one being at the same venue a few weeks ago. George Pearce must have one eye over his shoulder though. Callum Woodland who came second on Sunday is the guy awaiting any slip ups from George as the club moves to the half way point in the year. George’s victory was just under six minutes but the gap between Callum and third placed man Thomas Hodgkinson wasn’t anywhere near that…just twelve seconds.
The biggest class of the day came in the Sportsman 2T division, with twenty four riders. Once again, there was a clear winner, but second and third places were a lot closer. Darren Wells had a ten minute gap as he crossed the line in front, on ten laps. Just over two minutes separated Finlay Harris in second from Dan Smith in third. (It was closer still behind Dan. Simon Cadman was breathing down his neck three seconds adrift in fourth). Dan has a slender lead in the 2023 table. The 4T version of the Sportsman class was a bit closer at the front with the winning margin being just over half of one minute. Dean Carter took the spoils with Dan Brown finishing in runner up spot. As these two lads were a a lap clear at the end, the gap between them and third placed man Archie Juszczak was some distance. Archie still leads the charge for 2023.
Shaun Avison and Steve Kemp cant be separated in the title challenge for the year in the Trail/Classic class. Shaun won this time whilst Steve succumbed to third place, and Sean Price squeezing home in between them. Once again a healthy line up of Beginners started, with eight riders.
The next event with the club is on 18th of June. It is a practice “Stubble X” day at Scampton. Entries are here . . . https://acu.sport80.com/v/948564/e/events/201302/overview.
Results
LEC Rd3 Willingham Final Result
