Xmoor Enduro Club hosted the first round of the newly formed Best in the West Championship at the picturesque Combe Sydenham Country Park.

The venue with its superb wooded valleys and 800ft ascent to the highest point made for a fantastic testing enduro course. The changeable weather conditions the previous day had made it very slippery which required good bike control to master, although the course did get a lot more rideable as the event unfolded.

Simon Thomas 9th in Champ Class.

First lap championship class leader Gary Player was out to race hard for a win, but rear brake failure sidelined him early on. A lot of very capable riders in this class were all riding impressively, but at the end of the day it was Martin Lear in top spot followed by the Dustows Chris & Steve, making their trip up from Cornwall well worthwhile.

The Expert class was won by another wild Cornishman - Pete Bulley on a screaming 125 KTM, who accidentally went swimming in a pond on lap 1, but recovered to finish 6 minutes ahead of local men Ben Ware & Allan Baker.

Charlie Richards 6th in Champ Class.

Clubman 2 Stroke was won by Mark Pickard followed by welsh visitor Carwyn John & Carl Webster.

Clubman 4 Stroke was headed up with the greatly improving Mark Tucker who was 4 minutes up on Steve Tobin, who was himself a lap up on Chris Stuckey. Local man Martyn Slader completed 6 laps to top Sportsman 2 Stroke and Terry Shere also completed 6 laps to win Sportsman 4 Stroke.

Overall the event was a true Enduro, the track turned out to be a good test of rider ability. The top competitors had the choice of some very sporting 'faster options' to shorten the track by a few yards, if riders were confident enough to tackle them - which provided enthusiastic spectators with something a bit special to look at.

Craig Bounds 9th in Champ Class.

Report - Kevin Delbridge