In complete contrast to the first two rounds of the 2009 GBXC series, the course at Maeshafan saw riders battle over the harsh and rugged hills of North Wales. The GBXC series provides all types of terrain and most riders agreed that this was one of the toughest.

The venue was home-turf for Steve Ireland and the course laid out was a real tester. Technical and rocky, it didn’t suit those who were out for a nice ride around on Sunday, every finisher had to work hard for a result. Tom Sagar breezed to a win in the afternoon Pro class race as Ade Bradley took the ultra-competitive Over 40’s class in the morning.

Bradley: ‘When I first looked at the course my heart sank, rocky with loose shale and very technical, you needed to think to do well here and being from a MX background I thought it wasn’t going to suit me. I couldn’t get into it for the first couple of laps, it was slippery, but then it firmed up and I really enjoyed it.

The course improved with every lap and I realised that this was a proper XC course. I had a few offs, my most spectacular being the cartwheel over a low wall, which took me a few minutes to recover the bike and gather my thoughts, but out of the three events so far this year, this was the one I enjoyed the most and was definitely the best course and hardest challenge.’

The five-mile course wasn’t all rock and shale. A couple of small woodland sections and plenty of open straights, which whooped out, made this a course where you had to hang on tight and many riders had the added annoyance of arm-pump to contend with.

Torrential overnight rain did the course no end of favours and as the first race took to the line the weather was perfect.

As the Over 40’s basted off the line Ray Whittle, always a top runner, was dead last and had his work cut out. Richard Main took the lead early on as Ade Bradley and Keith Jenkins struggled to get to grips with the course but disaster struck Main when his rear wheel collapsed. His race was over and Jenkins took up the running with Bradley in hot pursuit. Both riders had significant moments and big offs but both battled on and in the closing stages Bradley took the lead and clung on for dear life to take the win some three seconds ahead of series leader Jenkins. Sneaking into the line up was TM Electraction boss Nickie Craigie. He doesn’t ride that often but still managed to pile up 8 laps and finish inside the top 30 in a very competitive class.

Two hours of fierce riding saw Ray Whittle fight back to a top three finish just ahead of Maury Thompson in fourth. Thompson had travelled a long way from Garveld in Scotland and was thoroughly chuffed with his top five finish. Local rider Colin Jones had a great race, yo-yoing up and down the top five places and finally finished in fifth.

Leominster rider Chris Pryce had tough competition in the Sportsman class but proved himself by taking the win with nine laps to his credit and a gap of 12 seconds over second placed Nathan Holtby. Luke Smith nailed third place some two minutes behinfd the leading two riders while IOM rider Ian Skillicorn took fourth ahead of Graham Owens in fifth.

Danny Morris had a great outing in the Novice class and led for most of the race but Mike Windsor never gave up hope and made his move on virtually the final corner to take the win from Morris. Ian Blackwell rode to a solid third place and matched the leaders lap for lap while Elfyn Evans followed him home in fourth just under a minute later. Chris Coulson was a further 30 seconds down in fifth place.

George Bayliss once again showed why he is regarded as a real up-and-coming talent by taking the Youth class win some three minutes clear of second placed Gethin Humphries. The top two had a lap clear on Joe Wootton in third, who just missed getting through the time check for a ninth lap. Fouth placed James Dent kept a two-minute gap over Alex West who took fifth place.

Jane Daniels and Sophie Thomas battled it out in the Ladies class with Daniels taking the win, Thomas second and Kate Lloyd, a lap down, third. Rhian George pushed hard and took fourth ahead of Leah Jones in fifth as Helen Spiers, the final finisher in the Ladies class took sixth.

A long delay separated the two races. The afternoon riders waited patiently on the line for nearly 90 minutes while an Air Ambulance made its way to the venue for a sportsman rider who was in difficulty. Despite the delay the day ended happily and the rider returned home at the end of the day.

When the race finally got underway it was Matt Ridgway who took the hole-shot and early lead but Tom Sagar soon reeled him in. Sagar had a terrible start on the Midwest Husaberg 450 but rode like a man possessed, took the lead on the second lap and never looked back. He wanted to finish quickly to make his way to ride the Scottish Six Day.

Initially KTM mounted Darryl Bolter, Si Wakeley and Greg Evans were in the chasing pack but Evans clipped a tree branch with his head and retired having completed only two laps. He wasn’t alone in retiring as Mark Roberts complete four laps then DNF’d with broken bones in his hand following a big crash.

Bolter charged on and got to within a minute of Sagar although the two were in different classes, Bolter went on to win the Pro-lites some seven minutes clear of Lee Edmonson in second spot followed by Linc Brewster third, Jon Hinam fourth and Gav Houson fifth.

Si Wakely cut Sagar’s gap to four minutes when he took second place in the Pro class with Aston Bird taking third, a great result for Mick Seeward’s MPS Husqvarna team. TM Electraction rider Phil McLaughlin rode well to take fourth in class ahead of early leader Ridgway, who took fifth.

Ben Wootton looked like finally taking a well deserved victory in the Experts and led for most of the race but stomach cramps over the final two laps slowed him considerably and allowed a chasing Rob Reese to catch up and overtake him for the win. Wootton struggled on to take second just ahead of Joe Jones, 14-seconds behind in third. Gary Daniels kept his head down and took a creditable fourth place just ahead of Jake Gowan in fifth.

The Clubman 2T class went to Callum Hicks. He managed to keep second placed Ross Benton at bay by just eight minutes as George Knowles charged to third ahead of Dennis Harrison and Tom Howe, fifth.

All of other top four Clubman 4T riders were on 12 laps. Less than four minutes covered them at the finish. Shaun Buchan took the honours ahead of Lee Hattersely, Jamie Faulkener and James Harvey while Mark Cheatham completed the top five line-up.

The event was in the mold of all GBXCs. Well though out, well run and well organised and was, without question, the hardest GBXC this season.

Standing atop one of the hills Co-organiser Paul Edmondson commented: ‘This course requires some thought from riders. They need to use their heads. It’s not all about power, it is really about endurance, pace and knowing where and when to push hard’.

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