Witley MCC's Boxing Day Enduro
Words by Richard Lee.
An early start as we travelled to Hampshire for Witley MCC's annual Boxing Day enduro. A large turnout greeted us on a cold bright day but the track showed the results of the heavy overnight rain with numerous boggy sections plus the sandbowl section from the Natterjack course. Signing on was the usual routine proving that there is such a club as WG&DFMCC as no-one down south has heard of us! Event sponsors had provided pre-printed numbers and backgrounds and the start area had banners and flags flying, the lap scorers were dressed as Santa's elves which all made for a festive atmosphere. A large spectator turnout made it all seem like a major event.
We hadn't had much preparation time before this event so the rear Dunlop tyre on the Husky wasn't at its best, but we needn't have worried as once again this tyre proved its worth. The Le Mans start was obviously a bit much on Boxing Day for some, one guy on a KTM wheelied off the line and completely looped it, much to the entertainment of the large crowd. With much elbowing and jostling off the line Thomas held his own and got a good start in the Clubman B class leaving the pits/scoring area and heading into the woods in about 8th position out of the 60-odd in the class.
The lap was 10km and the varied terrain made for tough going, with several large descents and climbs plus some quite rocky sections. Thomas was taking just over 30 minutes a lap so not much for me to do in the pits. I was able to give a friend a new rear brake pad pin and help him fit some new pads to replace the ones he lost on the second lap, I also explained about wiring up the pins to prevent this! Thomas came in after 3 laps at the half way mark and was shouting for a quick refuel and roared off out, others were taking a more relaxed approach to their pit stops, obviously suffering the excesses of Christmas Day. Thomas put in his best lap after the pit stop coming round 26 minutes later and would have finished in the top three if he had kept that pace up, but a lack of bike time lately meant he couldn't maintain that pace to the finish.
After the first hour a rider shouted at me as he went past but I didn't recognise him, a little later I met Si Pavey's son Lel in the pits who had retired after an off, I then realised it was Si who had shouted at me on his way past, they had been late entries and didn't appear in the programme so we weren't aware they were there.
The rest of the event passed uneventfully for us and Thomas finished with six laps and 5th place in Clubman B, which given the size and quality of the entry was an excellent result, although he believes he could have been in the top three if he had had more riding time recently. Once again Witley organised an excellent event at an equally excellent venue.
We packed up in the afternoon sunshine and set a course for home on Thomas Christmas present, a Sat-Nav unit, no more arguing about the best route home now, technology seems to take all the fun out of things!!