BP2

Hafren 2004

The 2nd round of the ACU British Enduro Championship took place in the Hafren Forest on the 17th & 18th July. The conditions were extremely difficult following 2 hours of steady rain on Saturday morning. The 2nd test had to be cut for the clubmen. The times were tight. Daryl Bolter - currently 4th in the Championship - was a non-starter after sustaining a broken wrist in the Italian round of the UEM series on the previous weekend. David Knight won the first day by the finest of margins from Paul Edmondson. In the Experts Tom Sagar (250 Honda) won despite dropping 2 minutes. Local rider Jason Darby was runner up with only a single minute penalty but slower tests. Wyn Hope - in 7th place - won the 125 class. There was a close finish in the 400 class with Matthew Reed (14th overall), Vinny Fitesimons (15th), Keith Horsnell (16th) & Darren Wheeler (17th). Matthew dropped 2 minutes when he clocked in early at one check. There was a large retirement with only 32 finishers out of 74 starters. Peter Houghton finished Day 1 but lost his clutch. To the relief of the riders still competing the second day was drier & the course was heavily modified. David Knight repeated his Day 1 performance with another win to give him maximum points in the Championship. Paul Edmondson was runner up. Tom Sagar won the Experts from Lee Edmondson. In the Clubman class Neil Allen won Day 1 & Darren James won Day 2. Katie Wakely failed to finish Day 1 but was 5th overall on Day 2. With 2 4ths veteran Graeme Naismith consolidated his lead of the Clubman championship.

D3-Racing press release by Jonty Edmunds

Manxman David Knight added overall victory on days one and two of the second round of the British Enduro Championship to the double event win he claimed at the BEC season opener back in march to increase his lead in both the Overall and Over 500cc four-stroke British championship classes. With horrendously cold and wet conditions making the opening day of the Hafren Enduro one of the toughest events for many years, David claimed the narrowest of winning margins in front of Paul Edmondson on day one. Having performed well on the opening motocross test, and the day's two cross-country tests, David came close to handing the overall day win to Edmondson due to falls on both of the final two back-to-back special tests. David's winning margin was less than one second. On day two dry skies and a heavily modified course meant that things were a lot easier for all competitors. For David the drying special tests meant that he was able to use the power of his 525 KTM to the full and he again posted blisteringly quick test times on the day's three enduro tests. That, added to the fact that he won two of the three motocross tests, meant that he topped the day by just over 26 seconds. Helping to make it a truly memorable weekend for the D3-Racing KTM team was the fact that Edward Jones finished in third overall on both days, second in the 250cc two-stroke class. Coming much closer than any other rider to matching both Knight and Edmondson for pace on the grassy motocross tests, Edward managed to keep Juan Knight on his return to two-stroke machinery behind him on both days.

The D3-Racing KTM team's next event will be the third round of the BEC, the Crychan Enduro on August 7/8.

David Knight: "The Hafren certainly wasn't an easy event - it must have been really difficult for the Clubman and Expert riders. The weather really made things hard on day one but I got the results I wanted so I'm happy. I nearly made a mess of things on day one when I messed up the final two tests. It's so hard trying to ride a big four-stroke in slippery mud and after I fell twice on the first of the back-to-back test I pushed too hard on the second when I needed to ride relaxed. "Day two was much better. A shorter day was more enjoyable and with the ground being drier I was able to push harder. Both the tests were getting more and more grippy and I felt really good on the enduro test. All in all it was a spot on weekend really. It took me a while to get used to special tests that have so many lines on them because at world championship events all the riders are going the same speed and use the same line. I'm really looking forward to the Crychan Enduro now."

Edward Jones: "I'm really happy with my results. I think everyone knew that the event would be tough but I don't think anyone was expecting it to be that tough. I really enjoyed it though and was really happy with the way I rode on the motocross tests, especially on day one. I needed to be a bit quicker on the enduro tests if I'm to close the gap to Paul and David but all things considered I'm pleased with the way I rode."

HRFE press release

Honda Racing Fast Eddy team leader Paul Edmondson narrowly missed out on claiming his first overall win at a round of the '04 British Enduro Championship on day one of the Hafren Enduro after closing to within less than one second of eventual winner David Knight. Starting the day a little too cautiously, Edmondson then made the most of both his two-stroke advantage and mistakes by Knight to win the final two special tests convincingly. After six special tests Paul finished less than one second behind Knight. In finishing second overall Paul comfortably topped the 250cc two-stroke class. On day two a revised course and shorter day meant that once again the top positions in the Championship class would be decided on the events motocross and enduro special tests. Again comfortably topping the 250cc two-stroke class Edmondson placed second behind Knight in the overall results. The Hafren Enduro also proved to be a good one for the HRFE team's 125cc class rider Simon Wakely. In what was only his second BEC event as a Championship class rider the youngster placed tenth overall on day one and fourth in the eighth litre class. Si then upped his pace and moved to an impressive seventh overall and third in class on day two.

Paul Edmondson: "Day one was a really hard race, it was like a traditional style enduro. For the Championship class it was really good to have an event a hard as that. For the Clubman it was just too difficult, but there is nothing anyone can do about the weather. My result on day one was pretty good, I just needed to be a bit quicker on the enduro test. Knowing that the special tests weren't timed as accurately as they could have been is disappointing, especially as there was less than one second between myself and David at the end of day one. Having no tests times were available for day one's final test until after the event isn't good for the British Enduro Championship. "Day two was much like day one really but again I wasn't fast enough on the enduro test. There was very little between us on the motocross tests, I've just got to work on my enduro test speed now before the next round of the championship. "Simon rode really well, which is really encouraging. He put in a few really good test times and finished top ten overall on both days. He's still learning so he's coming on really well. Unfortunately, we don't know when Paul Whibley will be back on a bike but hopefully he should be fit for the Crychan Enduro."

Wayne Braybrook – Honda Racing Team Sandiford

Finally, after a 2 day delay in the official results being made available, we are able to advise you of Wayne’s result at the above event. Renowned for being one of the best organised events, with excellent start area facilities, signage, route marking for both riders and support crews this year’s event was unfortunately marred by two factors. The first was the horrendous weather, completely out of the club’s control. It rained subsequent to the bikes being placed in the secure Parc Ferme Compound on the Friday night/Saturday Morning and didn’t stop until early afternoon. This forced the organisers to cancel one of the Enduro Stages (much to Wayne’s disappointment) but the same would not have been rideable on Sunday had they not taken this decision. Sunday was dry all day and all tests were then used. The 2nd factor which certainly needs addressing was the manual timing system and the delay in production of official results. With an event of this calibre this surely cannot happen again.

More than happy with his result on Saturday (6th overall and a win in his class) including staying clean on time (several of the championship riders lost time on the tight check of the day) his Sunday result was affected by a complete “get off” in the first Enduro Stage when he landed off line and cross rutted after one of the jumps. Winded and with bent handlebars a certain 20 seconds was lost. This left him 8th overall but still the first 250 4 stroke home and clear leader at the top of the Championship Class table.

Our Expert Rider, Justin Wilson suffered with the tight check on the Expert Schedule, losing 9 minutes, however every Expert Rider lost time and 13th overall was better than expected. Sunday was much more enjoyable for the Accrington based Rider but only improving by one place left him wondering if his test times were indeed correct.

A wash down on Monday morning and the start of preparations for this weekend’s 3rd Fast Eddy Event left the Hafren as “done and dusted”. Both riders must now look to the next British Championship event “The Crychan” based in Llandovery in 2 weekend’s time to make amends.

John Shirt's Gas Gas report

As event sponsor i must start by congratulating the Hafren Dirt Bike Club in the superb organisation of this event. The Paddock/Start area was very well organised with all the major teams parking together etc.

The event itself was made extra tough because of the overnight rain on the friday night and continuing into the saturday for a few hours. The superb course cut up very bad leaving the marshalls no choice to cut out certain parts and re-route some of the checks. This was done and the event ran smoothly. The tight check on the Saturday rode very well and was safe to ride fast. Only 10 championship riders stayed on time which i think is about right. I've always said the result should not only be decided on the special tests times alone. The special tests were superb. One was 100% grass, situated near to the paddock which attracted alot of spectators, especially on the Sunday. The other cross-country style test was also superb to ride which was also mainly grass but with some fast and technical parts aswell. Both tests were very very slippy on the Saturday due to the rain and were hard to ride but when they dried with the improved weather they were superb and a pleasure to ride.

The expected battle between PAUL EDMONDSON and DAVID KNIGHT commenced with 'birthday boy' Fast Eddy just missing out on winning the first day by a mere 1 second. This result will anger Paul because the days result came down to the last special test where Paul won,and was unofficially timed by several parties who all agreed that he had just pipped Knighter for the win. However, the official results now state that David wins! I'm not going to comment on this but i will say that its about time that we had transponders. The rivalry between these two riders is obvious, and i think it's good for both of them. They have been pushing each other all season and they are both at the top of their game. They are both lying second in class in the World Championship standings and they are both pushing each other to the max here in the UK.

The Sunday was a lot less close with the conditions drying out considerably, the win went to David fair and square.

Team GAS GAS had a good weekend which saw JUAN KNIGHT revelling in the conditions. Juan simply loves these wet, Welsh enduros and was one of the few riders with a smile on his face on Saturday! His trusty EC300 also excells in these conditions and he was quite visably more at home than he was on the FSE450.

JOHN SHIRT JNR. also rode in the rider/manager role again aboard the FSE 450. With the conditions on the saturday not suiting ANY 4 strokes, i knew i was in for a tough day. My result is not important. What is important is that the FSE450 is at events and finishing trouble free. There is no better test than the British Enduro Championship to prove a bikes reliability and especially a wet Welsh one !! The bike ran trouble free all weekend and both man and machine were glad to finish this event in one piece!

WOODY HOLE rode through the pain barrier 'again' with his ongoing hip problem which could well see him not riding the remaining two British Championship rounds. The long 8 hour days of B.C. riding do not suit his injury and especially when this particular weekend was spent mostly riding in deep ruts with some heavy leg work needed. Woodys usual stood up technique was not possible and for him to finish on Saturday was indeed impressive. He decided not to ride the second day, opting to hopefully recover for this weekends 3rd round of the FAST EDDY RACE SERIES where he can ride for 3 hours on the footrests!

RICKY MAIR (Expert Class) retired from the tough first day with a clutch slave cylinder repair on his EC125 forcing him to lose time on the going. He opted to save man and machine for the second day where he rode well and improved as the day went on. These conditions do not suit his riding style at all but nevertheless he rode hard and got a good result on Sunday.

Press release from Team Charfield KTM - Gary Clarke & Paul Kingston

Having successfully squeezed through the zealous noise test at scrutineering, Team Charfield KTM's first problem was in finding a piece of paper big enough to write down all the checks, as the Clubman course was virtually the same length as the Championship. The lack of any map of the course added to the confusion, and meant that all the jerry cans would be needed out on the course (no service crew as usual). Walking the tests on Friday, all the team agreed that the Hafren club had done a superb job with some excellent terrain. Particularly popular were the wimp routes around the big logs on the MX test. Saturday was a different story though, with the tests more suited to grasstrack than Enduro, both the team's riders struggled to stay upright in the gloop. Leaving the tests, Gary was grateful to be starting at the front of the Clubmen entry as the first big hill was littered with casualties and took a good 15 minutes to get up. 40 bikes behind, by the time Paul got to the same hill, the time on this section was more like a gut-busting 60 minutes. In fact, Paul reached the top just in time for the marshalls to tell him to ride back down as the section was being cut out. Not known for his staying power, Paul had the perfect OTA excuse to ride back to the start and get ready to watch the top boys come round. Made of sterner stuff, Gary ploughed on, wondering just how bad the conditions would have to be in order to run the 'B' schedule. Gary was, of course, gutted to be told that the second lap was cancelled for clubmen, as a 10 hour day always represents good value for money. The improving weather on Sunday, coupled with a heavily modified course made the team think about reversing Saturday's oath of 'never again'. The last MX test of the day just starting to show how much fun it could have been, if only the club had erected a waterproof canopy on Friday night. The team would like to thank the marshalls, who certainly knew where they would be needed in the forest and to curse the rugby club key holder for locking up the showers on Sunday.

one was pleased to see the return to fitness of Dave Bayliss. Of the 126 starters, 54 riders were classified as finishers but only 40 finished within their hour.