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| Life’s great at CTR EVENTS WSC RD5 in Caerphilly East South Wales…Pics by Roadrunner Photography |
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| CTR EVENTS did it again and made an awesome new racetrack in Energlyn, Caerphilly CF83 East South Wales, with beautiful panoramic views of Cardiff, Newport and the Bristol Channel. Team CTR had been hard at work all week, planning and making out a fantastic 7.5 mile cross-country hare & hounds enduro racecourse. |
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With approximately a 1000 acres of fallen forestry, with rough road type tracks, fallen branches, boggy holes, nice hill climbs and fast twisty fire roads for the riders to catch a breath and a few hundred acres of farm tracks and woodland, with some very fast bits and hill climbs, descents, cambers, a very steep hard loop and banking, all linking up a 12 minute (faster boys) XC loop.
As 11am approached and with nearly everyone ready and on the start line, Jack Twentyman was still in the back of his van getting ready, after his long trip up from Cornwall. However, he wasn’t the reason for the 15 minute delay on the start, as Clubman rider Dominic Morgan turned up to the race with two right boots, so all the riders on the line agreed to wait while his better half brought his left boot (like in the song by Alanis Morissette; “It’s like 2 right boots when all you need is a left”). So, after a CTR briefing with the boys and girls on the start line, it was 11.15 as the flag dropped for the experts to get on their way as they raced for the first turn and tussled their way around. The Vets class was flagged away followed by the clubman and then the big bunch of Novice-Beginners. It really was an awesome sight and as someone spectating said to me, it was an awesome buzz to watch.
As all the bikes disappeared off into the race course, it took Nike Life just 11:55 to appear into lap scoring, closely followed by Derek Bawn, with another super fast lap time of 12:01, with the rest of the experts chasing hard behind. Third into lap scoring was Richard Perkins on 12:34. First of the Vets through was Gary McCoy on 13:06 with chasing Ryan Leary on 13:36 and hot on their scent was Dave Wolfe with 14:40.
The first clubman in was local lad Gareth Berezinski and his mate Nikki Whiles, and with Andrew Morgan right on them, you could of put a blanket over them it was that close. With the Novice class next to come through, it was Charlie Frost on his little 125 2T first to cross lap scoring with another local boy on another 125 2T, Jack Davies second and CTR member and showing good results time and time again, Owen Cooper in third on his 300 smoker.
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As the race progressed, it was left to Life and Bawn to battle for the top spot, with Life never slowing down and putting in consistent fast lap times. Bawn was also on the pace, constantly pushing and never slowing his pace, ready to pounce should something go wrong for Nike Life. On lap three, Tim Trueman made his move into third and started to settle into the top three, all three on 2 strokes! And that’s how it would stay for the whole of the race, with a really great ride from all three riders, but I salute a great ride from a controlled performance, well done to the winner Nick Life.
The Vets class battle was between Ryan Leary, Gary McCoy, Adrian Evans and Dave Wolfe. Leary was right on McCoy’s tail on lap two and made the move, on lap three, to pass lap scoring in front of McCoy. Meanwhile, on lap two, Wolfe was being hunted down by Evans, who by lap three, had moved into third shaping up the top three. As Leary started to put the hammer down and pull an extra lap, finishing with top spot with 11 laps, McCoy taking second and Evans third, both with 10 laps, a great performance from the gents.
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In the Clubman class battle, the win went to Aaron Martin who waited until the very end as he kept pushing and pushing with good fast lap times to take the top spot. Second place went to Gareth Berezinski, as he also kept up the pace right to the end and with a big high 5 from Harvey Dark at the end says it all. Third was taken by Dark, well done all, great racing in tough conditions.
In the Novice-Beginner class, Charlie Frost lead from the first lap and was never challenged, showing his trials riding experience with a great ride putting in 9 laps, one more than second place rider Owen Cooper, with Lewis James coming in third. Very well done lads, you pushed yourselves all the way to the end, in some tough ever-changing conditions; you really deserved your Rhinogoo at the end.At the chequered flag, CTR was getting some great feedback from the riders and they really enjoyed the challenge. Thank you very much to all the riders, their helpers, the marshals that worked so hard and the spectators for their support and help. The medical team, Lap scorers and signing on, land owner, all the sponsors and the weather, for waiting until the very end before you started snowing.
CTR WSC Rd 6, the last round, is 26.02.2012 - watch the web for details.
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Derek again Bawn wins at CTR EVENTS Winter Series Championship Rd 4 at a very demanding Tyr Shon Shenkyn Nr Pontypool East South Wales 11.12.11. |
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Team CTR put in a full week’s work in some very testing and changing weather, on the very beautiful and scenic Welsh hillside with spectacular views of the valleys and the Bristol Channel. A 3.5 mile cross country course was chiselled out of this valley with steep descents and hill climbs, some man-made and some historical, with coal slag and machined roads following off cambered fields, road jumps and drop offs, fast road blasts with switch backs and twists and turns, all marked out with Mojo suspension tape.
At the crack of dawn, CTR and the team were at the venue getting all things ready despite the cold heavy mist of winter. The high hillside venue was subject to hard blowing winds, which can help with track drying, however the wind also vandalizes the already prepped track. A full team were busy repairing and planning changes and with the start time drawing closer, there was a 30 minute delay as everything was put right. At 11:20 am, CTR and the riders were going through the pre-race talk with the event sponsored by RhinoGoo, the top three in each class getting RhinoGoo at the end to clean their bikes and the welcome news for the Novice-Beginners, that a Marshal would be redirecting at a tricky steep hill climb. |
At 11:30, the flag dropped and the Experts got away as they swapped and tussled for positions. The flag dropped for the Vets then, with a 30 second delay, the Clubman got away with the Novice-Beginners last away and everyone set of to battle their way around this very testing course. It was 10 minutes 22 seconds before the leaders came into sight, with young Tommy Alba leading and Derek Bawn a close six seconds behind and Shaun Buchan 14 seconds behind, unfortunately this would be Shaun’s only lap, as he pulled out with mechanical problems. The rest of the chasing Experts of Neil Thomas, Richard Perkins and Tim Trueman followed the top three. A near minute later, Bawn and Alba were very close, with a gap of around 5-10 seconds upto the one hour fuel stop, when Bawn made his move to take the lead from Alba. At the same time, Tim Trueman was putting in some constant fast times and was getting closer to Alba and on the last lap, Alba made a few mistakes, with a 14 minute lap, and Trueman put in an 11 minute lap, snatching second place and crossing the line just under a minute in front of Alba, with Bawn taking the win and pulling an extra lap, great job boys.
In the Vets class, it was David Thomas first into lap scoring with a lap time of 11 and a half minutes, with Terry Beecham 38 seconds behind Adrian Evans and Dai Beer another minute later. As the race progressed and the top three spots were up for grabs, it was down to Evans, Beecham, Ryan Leary and Chris Porter, all with very consistent times of around 13/14 minutes and a 12-minute laps of Evans and the same from Beecham. Unfortunately, Beecham’s 17 minute last lap allowed Adrian Evans the win, with Beecham second and Ryan Leary, on the recovery from a big cash on his new bike, taking third, well done gents great racing.
In the clubman race, it was Roger Holland around the lap first with a time of 13.10 minutes followed by Dai Jones 4 seconds later and Harvey Dark and Tom Kayes, a full two minutes later. As the day went from damp to wet, to drying up, then wet and so on, this made extremely hard conditions for the riders and helpers but the riders kept going with some kind of grin on their faces, and by the end of the race, it was left to Roger Holland, who led from start to finish, to take the win and pulled an extra lap from Harvey Dark. With a great come back and on the same laps, was Rhys George in third, another great battle between Man and the mix of winter weather.
In the Novice-Beginner class, it was going to be a real test of spirit as the weather conditions were going to be real tough, “sorry guys”. Neil Davies was lapping first, with a time of about 15 minutes, with Owen Copper 15 seconds behind and Martin Howitt, Chris Dixon, Nathan Jones and Ross Clements all close together, another three seconds later. With extra tough going and with the course constantly managed by the CTR team, the class really had a test of mind over determination to get to the finish, with the top three position starting to show. Young Wesley Hann’s trials riding skills started to show and with half the race over, it was left to Hann, Cooper and Jones to battle on for the top spots, with Hann putting it down and pulling away with the extra lap and crossing the line without a clutch lever, well done. Owen Cooper took second with Nathan Jones third. Boys, I have to say to all the class for starting and finishing this tough race in bad conditions, I’m very proud of you all, very well done.
With a massive thanks to all involved; the landowner Hayden Powell, all the helpers and Marshals, Dad and the CTR lap scoring girls; Kerry and Carla.
Next Round of CTR Winter Series Championship is on 29.01.2012, with the final on 18.02.2012. See you all next year, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. |
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