With rain falling on terrain which was still thawing out after a couple of days of penetrating frost,conditions were naturally slippery for the opening Midwest MCC enduro of the new season on Sunday. Despite the Wintry weather,a superb entry of some 254 riders still made the effort to travel to Chavenage and test their riding skills and stamina on the eight mile circuit.Top winner of this gruelling three hour muddy blast was Cornish championship class rider Jason Fraser who completed a total of 10 laps.

Appropriately sponsored by organisers Midwest Racing,Fraser on his 450cc Husaberg built the foundation for his Experts class victory with a stunning first lap.Setting the fastest time of the day,Fraser completed the opening circuit in 16 minutes and 53 seconds,and as he passed the time checkpoint for the first time,he was already nearly a full two minutes ahead of eventual runner-up Darren Wheeler.Both Wheeler and third placed Ian Mundell completed one lap less than Fraser whilst Jamie Paget took fourth .

In the Clubman Two-stroke class,Mark Pikard and Freddie Broadway led the way completing 8 laps,both mounted on GasGas machinery. Although Broadway did have a faster best lap time,it was Pikard who took the win by being consistently quicker throughout the contest. Closest challengers to the GasGas lads were Sam Robinson,Rob Nicholls and David Wathen.

Like Pikard and Broadway,the winner of the Clubman Four-stroke class,Wayne Partington also completed 8 Chavenage laps.In this Four-stroke class,Partington on his 400cc KTM also produced the fastest lap time of 22 minutes and 14 seconds.On their 250 cc machines,Shaun Coperman and Simon Noble finished 2^nd and 3^rd places respectively.

James Goulstone,Gary Gayner,Steve Hodge and Aaron Batt all finished the Sportsman Two-stroke class tied on 6 laps completed.Whilst Goulstone was to go onto be the victor on his 250cc Kawasaki by producing the more consistent lap times,it was Batt who recorded the best individual lap time with 22 minutes and 35 seconds on his 4^th circuit.

The slippery,demanding conditions certainly appeared to take their toll in the Sportsman Four-stroke class.Just seven riders were credited with finishing the marathon,the winner being Nathan Kennedy ahead of Mark Woodman after both lads had completed 6 laps.Other finishers Were Andrew Rogers,Andrew Eddolls,Myles Taylor,Steve Zygmund and Stephen Hannis.

Topping a very well supported Veterans class at Chavenage was Jerry Adams,completing 7 laps,the same total as runner-up Guy Mansfield-Smith.Not only was Adams producing the more consistent lap times,but he also recorded the fastest time of 22 minutes and 4 seconds on his fourth circuit.Next best in this group was David Griffiths who finished the day leading a group of five other riders who had also completed 6 very tiring laps.

RESULTS

EXPERTS CLASS 1 Jason Fraser 2495.23   2 Darren Wheeler 2366.47   
3 Ian Mundell 2344.22   4 Jamie Paget 2078.11   5 Keith Jenkins 2073.99   6 Ian Sanders 2053.66   7 Martin Jakeman 2048.00   8 Jeremy Box 2019.81   9 Jordan Carter 1997.75   10 Hadleigh Wells 1955.86.

CLUBMAN FOUR-STROKE 1 Wayne Partington 2028.17   2 Shaun Coperman 1857.21   3 Simon Noble 1769.04   4 Steve Biddle 1763.93  
5 Stuart Keedwell 1728.84   6 David Gillam 1711.38   7 Rob Shrapnell 1679.86   8 Martin Kear 1612.09   9 Glynn Wickham 1604.31    10 Grant Roberts 1553.54.

SPORTSMAN TWO-STROKE 1 James Goulstone 1585.90   2 Gary Gayner 1520.73   3 Steve Hodge 1453.69   4 Aaron Batt 1435.   5 Robert Clark 1342.03   6 Mark Rush 1324.14   7 Mat Preece 1314.23   8 Mark Page 1297.30   9 Rhodri Sutton 1282.62   10 Dean Robinson 1191.76.

SPORTSMAN FOUR-STROKE 1 Nathan Kennedy 1619.95   2 Mark Woodman 1606.10   3 Andrew Rogers 1392.11   4 Andrew Eddolls 1114.12 
  5 Myles Taylor 1090.81   6 Steve Zygmund 1081.99   7 Stephen Hannis 891.30.

VETERANS 1 Jerry Adams 1972.99   2 Guy Mansfield-Smith 1778.88   3 David Griffiths 1589.99   4 Paul Hoskins 1553.68   5 Andrew Collins 1552.28   6 Noel Rooney 1511.81   7 David Johnson 1502.61   8 Paul Allen 1465.90   9 Steve Venn 1409.55   10 Ian Wallis 1365.06.

Full Results - HERE