Former British Supercross champ Neville Bradshaw won the Northampton club’s wet and very muddy Wild and Woolly charity scramble for the third time at Blisworth in Northamptonshire on a very mild Boxing Day, writes Dick Law.
But that’s not to say local man Bradshaw had it all his own way as the very fast Jack Lee pushed him to the limit and even snatched the lead on one occasion as Bradshaw stumbled in one of the many ditch crossings.
The riders set off at 11am for their race which is one hour long plus a lap. It was Lee that set the early pace from Ryan Griffiths who was passed by Bradshaw – out on a four-stroke Honda CRF – at the last-ditch crossing.
As the riders came around on the second lap, Bradshaw was in the lead from Lee and Griffiths but a lap later Bradshaw made a silly mistake while riding the last ditch, instead of jumping it, and Lee retook the lead.
The rest of the field struggled in the muddy ditch crossings which give the track its spectator appeal. But four of five riders were jumping them most laps and making up lots of time.
Bradshaw, who set the fastest lap, crossed the finish line 20 seconds clear of Lee with Joe Tubutt third. Only the top three riders completed 21 laps with ten-time winner Ryan Griffiths fourth, a lap down on the leaders.
“This was the hardest of the three times I have ridden the event,” said a happy but exhausted winner Bradshaw, “I was pushing all the way. The waterholes had nothing you could jump on, so you had to ride them and almost submerge your bike every time, and the ones you can jump are so hard I was using all my energy.
“Jack was hauling and had great speed and constant lap times all the way through the race and was keeping me honest. At one time I was thinking about jacking it in as my arms pumped up. But I came in and changed my goggles and felt better after that so kept going for my third win, which is quite cool.”
Lee was happy with his second place and said: “I only ride half as many times as Nev, but I am happy with my second place. Fair play to Nev, he rode and a good race and it is great for me to have a bit of competition. We had some great battles out there, and that’s what racing and this event are all about.”
Thirty-one of the fifty starters finished, but anyone that gave it a go was a winner.
A massive crowd turned out to see the fun in the mad and dug deep into the pockets for change to put into the charity collection buckets.
Results
1 Neville Bradshaw 21 laps
2 Jack Lee
3 Joe Tobutt
4 Ryan Griffiths 20 laps
5 Ashley Rilings
6 John Barnes
7 Jonathan Lee
8 Ethan Etheridge
9 Charley Lee 19 laps
10 Lawrence Wiltshire 18 laps
11 Joe Gubbins
12 Peter Chinn 17 laps
13 Garry West
14 Tom Kruger
15 Marc Bates
16 Jordon Ryan
17 Giles Hamilton
18 Ashley Miller
19 Edward Elkin 16 laps
20 James Higgins
21 Oliver Bones
22 Daniel Broughton 15 laps
23 James Thompson
24 Roger Titman
25 Ashley Battan
26 Hayley Rilings 14 laps
27 Corey Blackwell 13 laps
28 Ben Jones
29 Adam Jones
30 Ryan Blackwell 10 laps
31 Christopher Bailet