Metzler Melville Motor Club

2008 Hare and Hounds Scrambles Championship

Final Round – Lochhouses

Report and pictures: Graham Milne

‘FAST Eddy’ Edmondson is aptly named as he made the trip north to Lochhouses, near Edinburgh, recently, for the final round of the Melville MC’s three-hour Hare and Hounds Scrambles Championships.

Total domination was the order of the day in the Expert class for the former multi-world enduro champion from the start, bang on 12pm to 12 laps later when he crossed the finish line seven minutes ahead of second placed man, the newly crowned Scottish motocross champion Neil Flockhart and third placed Richard Hay, looking trim and fit, but both just one lap down on Edmondson.

The Melville club organisers had set out a four mile loop over stubble fields and through dark forest trails with Paul Eddy taking 15 minutes dead on to complete the first of his 12 laps before slowing as he came up to the back markers in the other classes for the rest of his time.

"A fantastic circuit, laid out well with interesting sections and definitely hard work in places," said Eddy after his race, "the club have worked hard at giving us a good track and am sure everyone enjoyed the Melville experience."

Young Englishman Matt Moffat had taken to the Lochhouses circuit for some endurance training and looked to have Eddy in his sights on the opening lap, however, whilst in second gear he lost his Honda’s gear lever and took six minutes to replace it in the pits at the end of lap one.

But, fate is cruel sometimes and he lost that shifter too later whilst in third gear, but Matt still circulated as one of the quickest riders, eventually finishing in sixth place.

Hugh O’Neil swept into the lead from the start in the Over 40s class before succumbing to eventual winner Tommy Drysdale, who also had to survive with his bike stuck in third gear after whacking a tree sump in the forest, but he completed 10 laps.

Jim Lauder finished in second spot a lap down just ahead of third placed David Hill.

Sportsman James Watson led his and the Clubman classes out next for their two-hour race before Stuart Ross took a hard earned win in the Sportsman class as the hard charging Stuart Mowbray looked done in after winning the Clubman class as Richard Bryce eased to the Clubman B class honours.

The Motocross A class saw a hard close battle on their shortened course between early leader Dale McAuley on a buzzing two-stroke KTM and eventual winner Steven Smyth as in the Motocross B class, former Scottish motocross championship contender David Lawson brushed aside a groin strain to take the top spot.

Results

Experts: 1 Paul Edmondson (Suzuki) 12 laps, 2 Neil Flockhart (Honda), 3 Richard Hay (KTM), 4 Neil Chatham (Honda), 5 Derek Little (KTM), 6 Matt Moffat (Honda) (all 11 laps unless stated).

Over 40s: 1 Tommy Drysdale (KTM) 10, 2 Jim Lauder (Suzuki), 3 David Hill (KTM), 4 Douglas Page (Suzuki), 5 Alex Kirk (KTM), 6 Hugh O’Neil (??) (all 9 laps unless stated).

Clubman: 1 Stuart Mowbray (Honda), 2 Liam Beaty (Yamaha), 3 James Harvey (Honda), 4 Oliver Hart (KTM), 5 Ben Metcalfe (Suzuki), 6 Iain Martin (Honda) (all 10 laps).

Clubman B: 1 Richard Bryce (Yamaha) 9, 2 Paul Benham (Honda) 9, 3 Craig Scotland (KTM) 9, 4 Dale Wilson (KTM) 8, 5 Roger Summer (KTM) 8, 6 William Beaty (Yamaha) 8.

Sportsman: 1 Stuart Ross (KTM), 2 Liam Lamb (KTM), 3 Alister Watson (KTM), 4 Stuart Jenkinson (Suzuki), 5 Grant Gillender (KTM), 6 James Watson (KTM) (all 9 laps).

Motocross A: 1 Steven Smyth (Honda) 22, 2 Dale McAuley (KTM) 22, 3 Jason Martin (TM) 21, 4 Colin McLuckie (Honda) 21, 5 Sean Doherty (Yamaha) 20, 6 Michael Graham (Honda) 20.

Motocross B: 1 David Lawson (Honda) 19, 2 David Watson (Suzuki) 19, 3 Craig Pearson (KTM) 19, 4 Brendan McDonagh (Yamaha) 19, 5 David Fergus (Kawasaki) 18, 6 Alistair Wark (Yamaha) 18.