Beta blockers
By TMX Archives on 14th Mar 14
Chavenage, near Tetbury, in a stunningly picturesque Cotswold valley was the venue chosen to launch the Edmondson Racing-supported ACU British Enduro Championship.
However, less than two weeks earlier, with large areas of Gloucestershire under water and ground conditions totally saturated following non-stop rain, the event must have been in serious doubt.
So members of the organising Midwest MCC take a well-deserved bow for not only running the event but also producing a well-organised and memorable opening BEC
Following endless hours of hard work, Simon Molter and his merry crew had set up a challenging 20-mile lap which meandered along a steep valley, featuring a combination of fast, flowing, open grassland blasts, tight tricky forestry trails and two challenging special tests.
So, after the long winter break it was time for the talking to stop and get those throttle hands working, as the ACU BEC blasted into action.
Defending champion Tom Sagar, proudly displaying the No.1 plate on his Colwyn Bay KTM, led the full 170-strong rider entry away.
Desperate to get off to a flyer in defence of his title, Sagar though had to settle for third spot in the opening special test behind Manxman Danny McCanney and Jamie Lewis.
On the longer second special, the top-three order was again McCanney from Lewis and Sagar.
However, showing just why he is the champ, Sagar then bounced back in style to top test number three.
With the early morning cloud and drizzle being replaced by a clear blue sky, riders were now well and truly dialled into the Chavenage terrain, stretching their throttle wires
and upping the pace in the race for glory.
In the remaining day-one action, McCanney blasted his Beta to the quickest time in four out of the five remaining tests, with Lewis going fastest on the other one.
So McCanney took top honours on day one with a 45-second advantage over Sagar,
Lewis held third ahead of Brad Freeman the only E1/2T rider in a great fourth and Steve Holcombe, Daryl Bolter, Jack Rowland, Alex Rockwell, Ryan Mclean and Robert Johnson rounded off the top ten.
Right from the off on day two, the sun was shining and Sagar made the brightest start by being fastest in test one ahead of Holcombe, McCanney, Freeman and Lewis.
On a mission, Sagar also topped laps two and three before McCanney and Lewis were quickest on circuits four and five.
However Jamie Lewis' joy at being fastest on that fifth lap soon turned to despair next time out when he ran out of fuel.
From there on, McCanney again took control to post best times on the last three laps, including the final back-to-back special tests.
So, on day two the overall results sheet showed another victory for McCanney ahead of Sagar, Freeman, Holcombe, Bolter, Rowland, Johnson, Mark Roberts, Rockwell and Joshua Gotts.
In the Expert class, Joe Wooton was in devastating form, taking victory in the opening five special tests on day one, before Lee Sealey got the better of him.
However, after blasting to another quickest time in test seven, Wooton almost suffered the embarrassment of throwing the good work all away with a big mistake, which dropped him down to 11th on the final test of day one.
But with accumulated times, Joe was relieved that he had still done enough to take the Saturday honours from Sealey, Fraser Flockhart, Charles Evans and Scott Austin.
On day two, Wooton made no mistakes though, topping seven out of eight special tests to earn another win as Flockhart made his long journey from Berwick well worthwhile by bagging a deserved second spot ahead of Evans, Sealey and King.
Seven very determined female riders tackled this BEC opener.
Facing six special tests on day one, leading lady Jane Daniels was fastest on each occasion to take the win from Katie Walker and Rhian George.
Stamping her authority in style, talented Lancashire lass, Daniels, also topped all six tests on day two with Walker again second and George in third.
With a 54-strong entry, the BEC Clubman class was always going to be an ultra competitive affair, and that's how it it proved.
On day one, Daniel Price set the fastest opening test time but then had to settle for a final fourth spot overall as Harvey Dark took the win from Jon Hunt and Lee Green.
On day two though, the roles at the top were reversed as Hunt took the win 35-seconds faster than Dark with Green third, Price again fourth, Tom Ellwood fifth and Jake Morgan sixth.
Tackling three laps of the Chavenage terrain, Derek Little could not close the gap on leader Andrew Reeves despite being fastest in the final two tests on day one in the Over 40 class.
In a field of 28 riders, Paul Davies, Michael Turner, Russell Millward and Gary Baker were next best in Saturday's action.
Right from the off though on day two, Little proved that his strong finish on Saturday was no fluke as he took a fine win with Reeves having to settle for second with Millward in third.
Completing this superb Midwest MCC promotion was the new BEC Over 50 class, with Paul Armstrong the fastest rider on both days. On Saturday, David Johnson took second and Robert Murfin third before the battling duo swapped positions in Sunday's action.
Throughout the weekend, Phillip Davies was the next best Over 50.
