Enduro Checkpoint

Published: 07th January 2009

THE waiting is almost over and the excitement is certainly building! The fifth edition of one of the best extreme enduros in the world is just over a week away. The awesome WOR Events Tough One (T1) is here. The daunting Nantmawr Quarry in Oswestry, Shropshire will be the home to the event for the fifth and final time and the action and quality will be guaranteed in bucket loads on Saturday, January 17.

Published: 02nd January 2009

ROUND two of the RideOffRoadUK Winter Series took place on Sunday, December 21, in near perfect weather conditions. The event was very well supported by regular riders with the highest number of newcomers attending. With its events now established as some of best organised in the North of England, many riders are now making the change to RideOffRoad.

Published: 02nd January 2009

DESPITE the fact that it was running just five days before Christmas, the second round of the MXC series, the latest offering from Fast Eddy Racing and WOR Events was well attended and hotly contested.

Published: 18th December 2008

AS the new year fast approaches, TM UK has announced details of its 2009 race program. Once again, TM will operate its enduro squad under the Electraction Team awning with riders Phillip McLaughlin, Gordon Clarke and Jamie Paget.

Published: 18th December 2008

ASTON Bird has been signed by Yorkshire-based MPS Husqvarna, for the 2009 season, to join Si Wakely and Gavin Houson in its assault on both the British and World Enduro championships.

Published: 11th December 2008

FOR the second year running the CH Racing Husqvarna team will be entering fresh new talent into the WEC, having recently announced that another former Grand Prix motocross racer will be joining the team for 2009. Matti Seistola, a former World MX2 Championship rider, is the latest recruit to the Husky team where he will join Antoine Meo, who made the switch from motocross to enduro at the start of this year.

Published: 11th December 2008

ALTHOUGH apprehensive as to how the newly built track would withstand the battering from riders after a week of torrential rain, all fears were soon put to rest as the course for Docklands Riders first Extreme Enduro Cross practice day held up well as riders of all abilities gradually conquered their fears and the obstacles one by one until they found a level that pushed them to their limits.

Published: 04th December 2008

THE 2009 D3 Racing Team of Triple D Motosport, the enthusiastic KTM dealership in Kendal, Cumbria and run by the Neil Crayston, broke cover last week and three riders will do the business for D3.

Published: 04th December 2008

A FREEZING, fog-shrouded Corbetts Hill Raceway greeted riders on Sunday for the second Motul Moto-duro, organised by WOR Events. The ground was perfect and the course easily manageable for all classes of rider, fast and flowing – even in the wooded section.

Published: 27th November 2008

TWO worlds collided on Saturday as Motocross met X-Country in the opening round of the Moto-X Country series, organised by Paul Edmondson and Steve Ireland, at Boreton Farm, near Shrewsbury. Riders with long memories will shudder with dread when they remember the opening round of this season’s Putoline XC Championship, which was also held at Boreton Farm, but this event was in a different location at a different time of year and the ground was absolutely perfect. Even the sun came out to play, warming up a cold day on occasions.

Published: 27th November 2008

SATURDAY, January 17, 2009. Mark the date in your diary! That’s the date for the UK’s number one Extreme off-road event – the Tough One – at Nantmawr Quarry, near Oswestry, Shropshire. The event has grown in stature over the last five-years and now stands alone as Britain’s top spectator enduro fest.

Published: 19th November 2008

FOR the 2009 season, Tom Sagar will defend is British Enduro crown on a Husaberg, teamed with Ollie Moyce under the team banner of Midwest Husaberg UK. Sagar’s schedule will include the full British Enduro Championship calendar, in addition to European and World Enduro championship rounds, plus the GBXC series and Erzberg and other extreme enduro events.

Published: 13th November 2008

IT would appear that BMW Motorrad is keen to establish itself in the top echelon of the World Enduro scene with news that it has secured the services of David Knight, Juha Salminen and Marko Tarkkala for the 2009 season. BMW will front up at the opening round of the 2009 WEC series with an impressive line-up of top riders. The signings of Knight, Salminen and Tarkkala will strengthen the BMW Motorrad Motorsport factory team. In the 2008 season BMW Motorrad entered all eight rounds of the world’s toughest off-road motorcycle championship for the first time with the G450X. Obviously the bar will be raised even further in 2009. Three top riders will enrich the team with their vast experience, high level of motivation and a strong will to succeed.

Published: 13th November 2008

ELLINGTON Banks, Ripon, played host a complete weekend of hare scramble action, the hard working DirtBike-Traxs crew had laid on a variety of off-road motorcycling activities, starting on Saturday with a training academy day, with Husqvarna’s Si Wakely in charge. Running alongside this in the morning was an open practice session and for those that wanted to try out the 2009 model Husqvarnas, NTB Racing was on hand with the full range of enduro models assisted by the MPS Racing team. At 2pm on the Saturday the Youth and Ladies races. On Sunday, two races were staged.

Published: 06th November 2008

FOLLOWING persistent overnight and then early morning rain, conditions both on and off track were very sticky and slippery for round seven of the Hewitt National XC Series promoted by the Midwest MCC. Thankfully, Midwest’s choice for this event proved to definitely be the correct one, as Whitley, near Melksham, is probably the least demanding of the club’s excellent cross-country venues.

Published: 06th November 2008

IT’S a boy! The Tough One’s Little Brother has arrived, kicking and screaming onto the extreme enduro scene as Sunday witnessed one of the most exciting races of the 2008 season. It had a lot to live up to, but when its day of birth finally arrived, the Tough One’s Little Brother didn’t disappoint and it can rightfully claim to be the UK’s second toughest extreme enduro, close behind its big brother, and equally spectacular.

Published: 30th October 2008

FOR many X-Country riders it is becoming traditional to attend the final round of the Putoline XC Championship at Jurby, on the Isle of Man, each October, but this year there was a special test thrown in for good measure, which began for most competitors when the ferries left port and headed out into the Irish Sea. Wednesday and Thursday saw the area battered by gale force winds – rated at Force 10 – and mountainous seas combined with driving rain. The outlook didn’t look good for the weekend but, as if in the eye of the storm, Friday was sunny and the final round of the Youth Championship enjoyed near perfect conditions at the challenging Jurby Head course. Saturday was not so lucky as the wind and rain returned for the Putoline XC Tough One Iron Giant Extreme Beach Race Hurricane Championship, where points were awarded simply for standing up – something which few riders actually managed.

Published: 23rd October 2008

THE DirtBike-Traxs team was once again in action at the famous Butts Quarry, in Derbyshire. The course had undergone significant changes from the June event, with the course designers including a lot more of the motocross track, plus the traditional Butts routes around the quarry wall and the rocky woodland climbs all mixed in to give the circuit its own distinct Hare Scramble flavour that keeps riders coming back.

Published: 16th October 2008

WITH the 2008 US Grand National Cross Country title, his second consecutive crown, wrapped up with his victory at round 11 of this year’s series, David Knight turned his attentions to the infamous Weston Beach Race last weekend. He once again entered both the quad and solo classes. He last raced at Weston in 2006 when he won the solo class, so his goal for 2008 was to try and do the double and win both classes. Knight’s ‘just for fun’ outing in the Quad race saw him finish fourth overall.

Published: 16th October 2008

THE final round of the popular National Putoline Hare Scramble Championship took place at Driffield, East Yorkshire, at the weekend organised by True Grit Off-Road. Despite the unfortunate clash with Weston Beach Race – the organisers have to take the dates allocated to them by the MoD – the Driffield event attracted over 400 riders, a staggering achievement.