The final leg of the four-event Rock Oil Ecosse XC Winter Series, supported by Drysdale Motorcycles, Wulfsport and Michelin, took place last Sunday the 25th of February. Held at the deep sandy Dunbar track on the south east coast of Scotland, the day was a chilly, but bright one and, thanks to the club’s great reputation for smooth running and great track prep, the entry was again healthy, with a good turnout of spectators.
With Carlton Husband, the runaway A Group winner at the previous three Ecosse meetings, absent due to a training schedule in Spain, the field was clear for a change at the top. The racing was incredibly tight and ultra-quick out front, it was widely predicted that Jay Hague would step into Husband’s boots and take the winner’s spoils, but he didn’t have it all his own way as, new-to-Ecosse, James Hutchinson beat him to the overall by one point. Ryan McLean was a consistent hole-shotter but, having been out of the scene for a while, didn’t have the stamina to maintain that pace through to the chequered flag. He did however, take a creditable fifth overall.
In the B class, Paul Benham won the first race, but Andrew Williams was dominant in the second and third motos, giving him the overall with 132 points over Benham’s 123.
The biggest entry was in the C group which saw Stephen Cown take the overall win by four points ahead of Gordon Peterson. Usual front-runner Gavin Lowes struggled a little but still finished third overall, whilst Ellie Sleightholm, returning to competitive racing after injury set-back, put in a sterling effort to take a much-deserved fifth overall in a highly-competitive class.
Showing that bagging the holeshot doesn’t necessarily translate to grabbing the win; in the Vets group, Tom Grant was first into the corner in each race, yet he finished third overall. Scott Murray, the dominant rider throughout the four-let series won each race and took the overall.
It was pretty much business-as-normal in the youth ranks with Ryan Thomson (Rookies), Sam Atkinson (BW85), Ollie Colmer (SW85) and Ryan Waggott (65s) all winning each of their class races and the overall. On the girl power front, Cristina Palmer showed she’s not ready to let a couple of broken wrists get in her way, and put in impressive lap times and race speed to secure fifth overall in her first season in the SW85 group. IMAGE CREDIT: PETER GREENWOOD OFF-ROAD PHOTOGRAPHY
RESULTS
A Group; 1. James Hutchison, 130 points, 2. Jay Hague, 129, 3. Tony Craig, 122, 4. Alexander Brown, 112, 5. Ryan McLean, 110, 6. John Robson, 105.
B Group; 1. Andrew Williams, 132 points, 2. Paul Benham, 123, 3. Ross Neville, 118, 4. Ben Stanley, 116, 5. John Bennett, 109, 6. Wayne Currie 105.
C Group; 1. Stephen Cown, 132 points, 2. Gordon Peterson, 129, 3. Gavin Lowes, 111, 4. Scott Foote, 110, 5. Ellie Sleightholm, 106, 6. Iain Harrison, 102.
Vets; 1. Scott Murray, 135 points, 2. Alan Thain, 126, 3. Tom Grant, 120, 4. Mark Dempsey, 105, 5. Jamie McKenzie, 100, 6. Richard Bryce, 100.
Rookies; 1. Ryan Thomson, 135 points, 2. Gregor Campbell, 126, 3. Mitchell Raine, 115, 4. Bradley Parkin, 114, 5. Ewan Kermack, 111, 6. Dominic Stevenson, 105.
BW 85; 1. Sam Atkinson, 135 points, 2. Jack Winthorp, 122, 3. Shay Page, 118, 4. Logan Ferguson, 114, 5. Jacob Cartwright, 107, 6. Jacob Miller, 103.
SW85; 1. Ollie Colmer, 135 points, 2. Jay Cheel, 126, 3. Gavin Scott, 114, 4. Declan Taylor, 112, 5. Cristina Palmer, 111, 6. Kian Duffy, 106.
65s; 1. Ryan Waggott, 135 points, 2. Conner Smith, 124, 3. Graham Haddow, 122, 4. Daniel Goodman, 114, 5. Zac Cheel, 106, 6. Declan Davison, 105.