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SACU 2002 National ENDURO

Melville MCC Beef Tub Enduro
Moffat

20th October 2002

See below for report and photos. Remember  Last event of 2002 is on 3rd November.

Report by Trevor Hay (and some comments by the webmaster)

The Melville's Scottish Championship Enduro at the Devil's Beef Tub, Moffat was won by Derek Little (250 Yamaha) closely followed by Murray Thompson (200 KTM). (with only a few points separating the riders at the top of the Championship table every event has to count and there is no such thing as an easy win . )

Even though Murray put up the fastest time of the day in the Special Tests, a consistent Derek Little won the final two tests by enough margin to have a six second lead at the finish.

The feud for the lead in the Clubman Class this year continued between Stephen Scott and Joe Gilroy, with Gilroy victorious after Scott slipped in the final test.

In the Over 40's Class, Dougal Walker romped home, putting up special test times that would have been good enough for the Experts Class (who said the over 40's was easy ? ). Runner up, Hugh O'Neill was almost 70 seconds behind.

The sunny conditions suited Grant Miller who won the Sportsman Class by just 13 seconds from Jimmy Patrick. However all the sportsmen and a number of the Clubmen Class found the later part of the day 'challenging' as some parts of the 15 mile course cut up after the rain the previous week. Richard McVicker, third in the Clubmen, suffered badly on the last lap. He skinned a large part of his back after a brush with a tree ( actually he performed the classic "flying W" dismount and was then gouged by his footpeg on the way past - see photo below - ouch !!). Andrew Flockhart had a 'bad day at the office' when he punctured his front tyre just before the quickest lap of the day and lost six minutes which put him down the results of the Over 40's Class. Stephen Scott, runner up in the Clubmen also had the same problem, but it happened earlier in the day when times were easier. There were only 6 DNF's from the 52 starters and generally it was thought that the elements of competition were just about right for the time of year.

Ta Trevor for that summary from the organisers. Now for a riders point of view ....

Anyone who stayed overnight will tell you that it was a very clear night sky and a tad cool. Greigs cup of tea actually froze in his van ! and my throttle even froze shut . The morning was perfect and the ground looked fantastic as we started off in sub zero temperatures. The rain in the rest of the country had managed to avoid Moffat so the ground was near perfect. This was a new piece of ground and had some fantastic rides on it. Well done to the Melville team of Kenny Donaldson, Rab Moir (who ran the entire event on a trials rear tire - or was it just a worn S12 ?), Stan Peterson and Hugh O'Neill for doing a load of work and setting out a great ride.

It was obvious after the first lap that there would be problems later as some of the course cut up. I had forgotten how deep ruts could get or how firmly a bike could get stuck - but the trick is -- don't follow the brown line. With time to spare after the first lap times were tightened and some time was lost by some riders near the end. But the times were spot on.

The course had some fast forest tracks in it and a flying jump off a 6 foot drop just before the special test. Great fun. The test was fast with some very tricky tight turns in the woods. The start of the test was dropped after it cut up at the first lap and would have been too dangerous for riders at full speed. But it was a long test ( or so it seemed to me) but again the top riders were only separated by seconds at the end.

Dave Donald showed some local knowledge (he is from Aberdeen) and rode a trials bike all day - even beating some of the enduro riders in the test. Still he has finished the SSDT so this was only Day 1 for him.

Mark Clark (81) was out in his first event and finished 3rd in the sportsman. Nice ride and looked quick. And he came in smiling.

A couple of thank you's from the event.

Could you publicly say thanks to rider no. 40  who stopped and gave me a split link after my chain broke on Sunday. I eventually finished after losing a fair bit of time. Saved a long push back to the finish, plus it gave me more opportunity to enjoy a bit more masochism! Cheers Bob Laurent (No 50)

And Greig Walker picked up Richard Neaves and his pals bikes on the way to the event after their trailer axle broke. Plenty of space in his big truck there. Greig was out on his new Husky 360 but suffered from fouled plugs on the day.

Thanks again to the Melvile for a great event - and see you in November for the last one.

Photos taken by Davy Dick - thanks and some great shots

Click to enlarge

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