Deakin GRABS BOWLAND WIN
Deakin grabs Bowland win in another DBT extravaganza.
ROUND 6 NATIONAL PUTOLINE HARE SCRAMBLE CHAMPIONSHIP
Bolton by Bowland Lancashire was the place to be last Sunday if you are into cross country motorcycling racing as dirtbike-traxs staged the 6th round of the national putoline hare scramble championship. Attracting 350 riders to the event with nearly 80 disappointed riders turned away .
The dirtbike-traxs crew had spent the last few weeks altering the course and extending it to give a new feel to this exciting venue with its wide open meadows and pastures, with hills , descents, gullies , farm tracks and small plots of woodland all blending in to provide a fast flowing XC course. The youth and ladies had their own variation on the course which would take the average youth rider around 10 minutes while the adults track averaged around 13 minutes.
The action started on Friday as the masses descended on Ray head farm Bolton by Bowland to set up camp in glorious sunshine, Saturday dawned and the sunshine and blue skies greeted the youth and lady riders as they prepared for the midday start. The dirtbike-traxs CEO john kerwin took charge of the 12 noon start and signalled the excellent entry of youth and lady riders away bang on time to start there 90 minute race , as the senior b riders lead the field away , Scot Altass got out in front, Dan Bewlay took a tumble on the first corner resulting in an early retirement, Luke Flack who also involved in the first corner incident was making rapid progress through the pack and managed to fight his way as far as second place, Scot Altass took the win with a 2 minute 46 second margin from Luke Flack in second, Jon Aldritt claimed his first dirtbike-traxs podium finish by taking third spot .
In the juniors Doltan Shannon took the win from Archie Flack who was having one of his rare outing as he prefers to watch his brother Luke, Dexter Douglas returning after breaking his arm grabbed third place .
The ladies class is growing and once again Jade Gordon took the win, Gina Bewlay was second beating Molly Howe into 3rd by 1 second . The riders and spectators were treated to a quad race which nicely filled the rest of the Saturday afternoon (see separate report)
Sundays race format was different to previous rounds of the championship the dirtbike-traxs crew were forced to run one adult race by the local council , but with the extra long course and its width the dirtbike-traxs crew were able to comfortably accommodate 260 riders on the course.
In brilliant sunshine the massed ranks of riders were set off at 10 am around the Bowland course the expert and over 40s leading the riders away, with some the regular dbt expert riders missing on Erzberg duty the chance was there for one of the young guns to grab some glory, Gary Daniels took the hole shot and pulled a massive lead along with Ben Wootton on the first lap clocking through the transponder station a minute clear of the chasing pack. Joe Deakin had a crash on the first lap dropping down to about 20th position , Gary Daniels and Ben wootton maintained their lead over the chasing pack , then on lap 4 Ben pushed to the front a lead he was to hold until lap 8 when he holed his casing on the rm Suzuki forcing his retirement , meanwhile Martin Sandiford on the new x lite 250 Husqvarna which had been the center of much interest before the start had blasted his way into 2nd spot after a poor start and was chasing Daniels but martin ran out of fuel on lap 9 this let Joe Deakin into second , on lap 10 with victory in his sights Gary Daniels retired when his ktm s rear hub collapsed allowing Joe Deakin to hit the front , Joe then cruised the last 4 laps aware that Craig Reynolds was 2 minutes behind him in second as the flag dropped at the end of the 2.5 hour race Joe Deakin took the experts victory from Craig Reynolds 2nd and Paddy Langan 3rd .
Rob Butler stormed to a fine win in the 040 class a lap clear of 2nd placed Mick Kendal with Anthony Crowe 3rd. Niki Walker won the E1 clubman class from Dom Garnham while Levi Johnson took 1st in the clubman open a lap clear of 2nd placed David Appleyard with Rob Pearce in 3rd . Leading sportsman rider Jeremy Ashby once again won the sports E1 class by 46 seconds from Mark Lakeland while in the sportsman open class first placed David Dudley had a 20 second margin over 2nd placed nick Owen. James Dent won the senior A youth class from Scott Altass 2nd and Matthew North 3rd
Talking to dirtbike-traxs CEO John kerwin at the end he said we were really pleased with today’s event this has been our best event of the year so far, we have worked hard with the local council to provide a safer event, the riders will have seen the road traffic management we have provided on the access roads to the venue, the car parking and camping arrangements were superb. now that the road traffic management has worked successfully we will be able to go to a 2 race format in august this will mean everyone will get a ride it was terrible turning away nearly 80 riders, this level of commitment to the keep sport running is a true testament to dirtbike-traxs professionalism, SEE YOU ALL AT GISBURN ON THE WEEKEND OF THE 11/12 JULY NOTE THE DATE CHANGE