Good things come to those who wait, as the saying goes, and they did just that at the weekend for local lad Mark Lonsdale. At the last round of the 2022 Back Office Pro Lincolnshire Enduro club race series, the Grimsby-based Husky rider eventually managed a much sought-after class victory after some near misses throughout not only this year, but 2021 also.
Race Report by Martin Southwick – Images courtesy of Graeme Taylor
It was possibly one of the closest races in the year, with each of the Experts all taking turns to produce a faster time than his rivals on different laps. However, the race was won in the latter stages as Mark saved his best while last and produced quicker times than everyone on six out of the twelve laps completed. Fuel “issues” played a part in the race too, in more ways than one. Dan Johnson succumbed to petrol problems late in the race, whilst Mark used a tactical early fuel stop to his advantage. The day’s victor also produced the fastest lap of the day on the 6.5 mile course, putting down a time of 14.51 minutes, and in addition, now claims runner up spot for the year. The Dembleby track is normally one of the fastest in the LEC calendar, and this time was no different.
The route for the 80 or so riders took in the local plantations, copse and quarry sections, as well as the now infamous super fast stubble fields introduced to give rest to man, if not machine! Coming home in the runner-up spot on the day was Josh Knight. Whilst Josh only had one lap quicker than everyone else, consistency is key. In fact, most of his lap times were within a few seconds of his others. Josh and 3rd placed lad Elliot Milburn must have been swapping paint early on in proceedings as their times were within just a few seconds of each other for 3/4 of the whole 3 hours. In the end, all those fine margins add up, though…Josh getting the better of Elliot by nigh on 4 minutes when the chequered flag was waved. With that third place, Elliot is now crowned L.E.C. Expert champion for 2022. Dan Johnson secured the third spot in the yearly standings.
As per above, a similar thing happened in the Clubman class where Victor Tizon finally got on the top step of the podium after a year of trying in this, the last chance to seal points towards the title. That win for Victor sees him share 3rd place in the year’s standings with his close rival Matthew Woolridge, who was a no-show on the day. Runner-up on the day was Darren Cox, who is now crowned Clubman class title holder. The win was by a little over a minute. A further 6 minutes behind that was Alex Cumberland in Bronze medal position. With his 4th place on the day, Matt Harris has claimed 2nd overall for 2022.
A large winning margin was observed in the Over 40’s class, where Lee Hattersley not only took another win but secured the division title. Whilst Lees’s winning margin may have been significant on the day, the gap separating Darren Thorpe in 2nd and Justin Lawson in 3rd wasnt so…. Just 8 seconds in fact. Without competing on Sunday James Andrew is now runner-up in class for the year, with Justin’s 3rd spot seeing him take the Bronze place overall. Just those guys in class completed 11 laps by the end of the race.
The Sportsman 2T class produced the closest winning margin of the day after 180 minutes of racing; just 24 seconds separating the winner Archie Kirk from second-place rider Scott Stone. Scott’s runner-up place was all he needed to secure the 2T class victory for the year, with Archie’s win on the day seeing him grab 2nd in the group overall. Third, in the year in class is Christian Humphrey. That was cemented with a similar placing on the day.
Alex Shaw is now the champion in the other Sportsman class, the 4 stroke division. Whilst he had to play second fiddle to Ben Lonsdale on the day, his placing was enough to see a 20-point gap appear at the top of the pile for 2022. Ben’s win on the day was over 3 minutes, which sees him take 3rd overall. Artur Juszczac was 3rd on Sunday and has slotted into 4th for the year, with Simon Owen not needing to race to take the runner-up place overall. There have been no clean sweeps in any class at the club this year. There has been some close run things though! Alan Vissian in the Over 50’s had another win at the weekend. That takes his tally to 5 out of 7 victories in the year and a class win for the year. Neil Tapper was 2nd on the day, and whilst he doesn’t feature near the leaderboard, Ian Shepherd in 3rd spot does. He claims second place in the rank.
It’s been a similar position in the Over 60’s group where Kevin Bartle Sr has also had 5 wins but has been chased hard by Keith Rowland for the years spoils. The roles were reversed at the weekend once more though, with Keith taking his 2nd win of the campaign. Kevin is crowned champion, though, but only by a handful of points. Shaun Avison is the overall victor in the Trail/Classic group, with yet another success at Dembleby. Steve Kemp has now grabbed 2nd spot for the year, with Peter Hoare taking the bronze medal placing.
The club would like to say thank you to all marshals, helpers, timekeepers, food suppliers, first aiders, photographers, and anyone else involved with LEC in 2022. The club wouldn’t exist without you. Roll on next year.
A reminder goes out to everyone that the club presentation in Woodhall Spa takes place on the 2nd December. Full details of that and all other LEC details are here for members>> https://www.facebook.com/groups/LincolnshireEnduroClub….. and for non members here >> https://lincolnshireenduro.wixsite.com/lec2016
Results
LEC Round 8 Dembleby Finalised ResultsFinal Standings
LEC 2022 Championship table
