Dumfries

Melville MCC Closed to Club Hare and Hound

June 2003 Dumfries

Following on from the Melvilles succesful 1st Moto- X at their new track near Castle Douglas the local lads carved out a testing 3 hour hare and hounds for 90 keen off roaders. Using most of the track and a large chunk of nearby forestry it was a good event for beginners and a testing one for the more experienced. Careful choice of lines was crucial - with the high line in the forest proving very fast.

The first forest had some hard going with claggy ruts developing and lots of sharp turns and climbs. A couple of sharp climbs caught out the less experienced or those who didn't attack hard enough. These were taken out after an hour or so once everyone had suffered enough. A lot of hard work had obviously gone into the event with most of the tree roots taken out. Luckily it was a very dry day with high temperatures and the ground stayed firm.

Exiting the woods a fast blast along the wall brought riders back to the MX track where the speedier riders were able to blast away. The jumps were manageable by all the riders - but the experts were able to blast down the downhills and double the smaller jumps uphill.

Report by T Hay for TMX

It was a game of two halves at the Melville Hare & Hounds race on Sunday (15^th June). In brilliant weather, the 4 mile Castle Douglas circuit gave the 70 riders mixed going - a hard dry dusty moto-cross and a couple of enduro woods with slippery tree roots, ruts and bed-rock.

The wooded part of the track was hard work for most of the entry as there was no place to relax. At one point, a rocky climb with a sharp turn just before it proved too difficult for so many and the organisers had to cut it out after the third lap.

At the start, Chris Hay (125 Bikesport KTM) got the holeshot, closely followed by Murray Thompson (250 KTM) and Crawford Carrick Anderson (250 Honda) Hay led for the first 4 laps and then Carrick Anderson took over the lead, using his previous trials and present world downhill mountain biking skills to advantage in the tight wooded going. Hay shadowed Carrick Anderson just out of dust range until lap 7 when Carrick Anderson had to pit losing two laps to repair a front wheel puncture. This gave Chris Hay a clear run to the finish completing 22 laps. Next home 6 minutes behind was a consistent Murray Thompson also on 22 laps. Completing the Expert podium 1 minute later was Ally Lauder (250 Yamaha). Carrick Anderson fought back to 4^th with 20 laps completed.

The Clubman class was closely contested by the eventual winner Duncan Jamieson and Chris Buchan, who were only 2 1/2 minutes apart at the finish. Both completed 21 laps. Five riders were on 19 laps with Richard Neaves in front for 3^rd place.

For the sportsman class, there was over 4 minutes between first Craig Gordon and Andrew Alston, both on 17 laps. 3^rd was Steve Gilhouley on 16 laps.

Photos courtesy of Grant Allister - click to enlarge

The Regs

Experts away

Followed by Clubmen

And then the Sportsmen

Dumfries Hare & Hounds 15th June 2003

Expert Class			
Rider No       Name        Position     laps

992	Chris Hay		1st	22
2	.Murray Thomson		2nd	22
7	Ally Lauder		3rd	22
17	Crawford C.Anderson	4th	20
8	Jeff McCleary		5th	20
1	Jim Wightman		6th	20
3	Andrew Flockhart	7th	20
6	Dougal Walker		8th	20
5	Michael Lawrie		9th	17
4	Malcolm Bisset		R

Clubmen Class		
47	Duncan Jamieson		1	21
24	Chris Buchan		2	21
57	Richard Neaves		3	20
63	Ally Straker		4	19
31	Alex Kirk		5	19
46	Scott Maxwell		6	19
133	Campbell Chatham	7	19
52	Hugh O'Neill		8	19
34	Andrew McConnell	9	18
28	Keith Reid		10	18
54	John McGaff		11	18
23	Les Gamble		12	18
39	Findlay White		13	18
32	David Wheatley		14	18
37	Robert Laurent		15	17
51	Kenny Donaldson		16	17
33	Grant Miller		17	17
30	Fred Bainbridge		18	16
298	Fraser Watson		19	16
38	J Vega Lozano		20	15
24	Chris Buchan		21	14
44	Robert Smith		22	14
26	Charles MacKenzie	23	14
67	Keith Birst		24	13
29	.John Watson-Scott	25	12
183	Martin McMinn		26	10
72	Stewart Swan		27	7

Sportsmen Class		
95	Craig Gordon		1	17
112	Andrew Alston		2	17
104	Steve Gilhooley		3	16
103	Scott McNeill		4	16
300	Robert Farrell		5	15
97	David Fergus		6	15
96	Andy Muir		7	14
110	Alex Austin		8	14
77	Malcolm Miller		9	14
111	Jim Patrick		10	14
99	Garry Buckett		11	13
108	Alistair McGarry	12	12
102	Ellis Gaston		13	12
109	A.McKechnie		14	11
94	Kevin Ostroznik		15	9
92	Rod Widdowfield		16	8
93	Alex Hood		17	6

And the ladies who work out the results.

Thanks for your efforts.

Grnat Miller before it cut up	A wee problem - but plenty of marshalls	Dougal Walker
Chris Buchan admires the scenery as he returns to the MX track	Andy Macdonald - complete with Environment Mat And still smiling	Alex Hood - Ironman XR650 - more suited to the desert than Dumfries. Nice one.