Tom Lee's Muntjac 2007

One of our new club members who had his first ride with us at the Old Hendre Trail bike trial back in November was eager to try Real Timecard enduros. Needing an event that was totally off road purely due to his age - otherwise he would have had to ride a 50cc as Paul Edmondson did back at the Welsh of 84, the Diss club's Muntjac fitted the bill. Tom has only been able to ride various 3 hour Hare and Hounds events until now so this was a major change. Here is his report in his own words. Ed.

I did the Muntjac Enduro on Sunday - my first ever timecard Enduro. And I loved it!

We made the long trip to Thetford on the Saturday and had a look around the course and special test, I was impressed by the professionalism and size of the event. As I am 16 this was the first time card Enduro I was able to compete in, and I am glad I did.

All weekend I was being told of how tight the check times would be and leading up to my start time I was getting nervous! I went off the line knocking off my choke and making it past the 20m metre board, and I was off on my first Enduro! I ran the Clubman schedule and found the combination of tight check times and gnarly terrain tough, but do-able. I struggled with arm pump on my first lap as I went a bit hard and didn't relax. However, I made it round the 18 mile lap with 7 minutes to spare. So, I was pleased with this and began to relax and ride 10 times better.

I spent the second lap overtaking many riders and really adapting to the type of riding needed to conserve my energy, and I felt good making the end of the second lap once again clean on time! Many riders were beginning to drop time as the times got tighter, and I felt that a good result was on its way. My third lap was going really well and I was riding the lap with a couple of the lead riders. For this lap (my penultimate lap) I had 44 minutes, compared with 66 on the first lap, so I knew I had to get my foot down a bit and as I was nearing the end of the lap I glanced at my watch and thought I could make this lap clean also.

This is where my inexperience showed! And I pushed too hard on a fast whoop section in the woods and had a big crash. I jumped back up and didn't want to lose any more time so tried to fire up the ever bomb-proof Husky...but nope - it wouldn't start. So, I changed the spark plug and still it wouldn't start...I tried all I could think of but it wouldn't have it. I waited by the side of the track watching Chris Hockey, Paul Edmondson, Ed Jones, Tom Sagar, Daryl Bolter and Richard Hay fly past amongst others as I waited to get towed back to the start/finish. Disappointed at what had happened I was soon to find out the bike wouldn't start due to the switchgear being jammed which was holding the kill-switch on!

I could have had a fantastic result at the top end of the field in my first ever Enduro, however I made a mistake and paid the price. However, I gained invaluable experience which will help me improve leading up to the BEC this year, and thoroughly enjoyed my days racing with the top riders in the country, and the world. I'm already looking forward to my next Enduro, the Swindon and District's Corinium event in April and I'll let you know how it goes!

Tom Lee