Carlton Husband dominated the A group with three wins from three starts in the second round of the Ecosse XC Winter Series – such is his form that he was even happy to take a handicap in the final race and lined up facing the wrong way. It took him three laps to catch the front runners and take the lead but he still managed to blitz the pack. Jay Hague was only rider who managed to keep Husband honest with three clear second places and second overall. A close battle ensued for third place with Nathan Claugan just pipping Ryan McLean to the post. Nathan’s two thirds and a fifth was enough to get him on the podium in third, with McLean fourth which was a cracking result for the youngster in his first event after a year out due to injury. Fraser Flockhard rounded out the top five in the A group.

Next to the line were the Rookies and Vets. Again running together but in separate groups, the Vets were set off first with a 10 second advantage, but it wasn’t long before the youngsters had caught most of them. Scott Murray was the only Vet who managed to fend off the ‘nippers’ and all of his Vet rivals. Three wins from three starts secured his overall win on day. Alan Thain nearly let second place slip away with a poor final race, but his two seconds were enough to push Barry Gillan into third. Daniel Haswell finished fourth and Ian Wilson fifth.

Ryan Thomson led the field of Rookies through the swarm of Vets. After a little off in the first race he dominated the final two with two wins. Andrew Pohlen had a ding dong of a battle with Gregor Campbell who switched places with each other nearly every lap. Pohlen finished on top for second overall and Campbell secured a solid third. Andrew Williams was fourth and Kyle Haddow fifth.

An interesting shake up in the B class saw Paul Benham, the winner of the second two races, eventually finish third thanks to a poor opening moto. Ivan Williamson’s consistent day with a win, third and second was enough to give him top points and the B class win. John Bennett took second overall.

An incredible 41 riders lined up for the hotly-contested C class, with a different winner for each race. Gavin Lowes, out testing his own G Force suspension, ran out as the overall winner, finishing off his day with a win in the final race. Stephen Cown also had a win and finished second overall. Jordan Gill, not to be outdone, also took a race win to finish third overall.

The BW 85 category saw Sam Atkinson take three clear wins for first overall. Jack Winthrop finished second, in front of Jay Clark. Newcastle-ace Ollie Colmer again dominated the SW 85 group with three wins, whilst Jay Cheel and Jack Fletcher battled hard for the duration of the race to take second and third overall. Ryan Lowes – son of the C class winner – was fourth overall. Cristina Palmer continue to fly the flag for the girls and even though suffering from tonsillitis, still went out and did her best to finish eighth overall.

Ryan Waggott, another of the Newcastle contingent, had a busy weekend by contesting the Arenacross youth class at Manchester on the Saturday night, and then hot-footing it to Dunbar to win all three 65cc races. He had the close attention of Graham Haddow who finished second in every race who, in turn, had a nice tussle with Connor Smith in third.

Ecosse CX returns to Hadderwick Hill Farm, Dunbar on January 28^th and again on February 25^th 2018. Entries will be available via www.mcfederation .com. Images: Peter Greenwood Off-Road Photography

Results

Adult A

1. Carlton Husband. 2. Jay Hague. 3. Nathan Claugan. 4. Ryan McLean. 5. Fraser Flockhart. 6. Sean Williamson.

Adult B

1. Ivan Williamson. 2. John Bennett. 3. Paul Benham. 4. Ross Neville 5. Harry Fenwick. 6. Steven Lennie.

Adult C

1. Gavin Lowes. 2. Stephen Cown. 3. Jordan Gill. 4. Gordon Peterson. 5. Stuart Wilson. 6. Daniel McNally.

Vets

1. Scott Murray. 2. Alan Thain. 3. Barry Gillan. 4. Daniel Haswell. 5. Ian Wilson. 6. Les Winthrop.

Rookies

1. Ryan Thomson. 2. Andrew Pohlen. 3. Gregor Campbell. 4. Andrew Williams. 5. Kyle Haddow. 6. Mitchell Raine.

85cc BW

1. Sam Atkinson. 2. Jack Winthrop. 3. Jay Clark. 4. Tom Hume. 5. Callum Forsyth. 6. Jacob Cartwright.

85cc SW

1. Ollie Colmer. 2. Jay Cheel. 3. Jack Fletcher. 4. Declan Taylor. 5. Billy Maxwell. 6. Ryan Lowes

65cc

1. Ryan Waggot. 2. Graham Haddow. 3. Conner Smith. 4. Rhys Whyment. 5. Daniel Goodman. 6. Zac Cheel.

Twenty-two quads entered for the event sponsored by Rock Oil, Drysdale Motorcycles and Wulfsport but just 14 turned out. However, they enjoyed dry and good, clean racing, with two Scottish champs in the mix, and the bonus of all the racing done and dusted by 4pm.

Reigning champ Michael Brewis got the opening race holeshot, but David Vass passed him on the first corner and led for the next two laps. As one of the elder riders out on track, he reckoned he didn’t just didn’t have the batter power he used to and couldn’t maintain that lead. Vass and Brewis were followed by Sinclair and Mitchell and were all very close at the beginning. By the end of the third lap though, Brewis and Mitchell were out front and maintained those positions until Mitchell, who had been all over the back of Brewis, and piling on the pressure, forced Brewis into an error and the former champ gently stretched his lead. He took the win but, as he crossed the finish line there was a huge puff of smoke and an engine issue put paid to the rest of his day. An on form Brewis, who had earlier raced in the solo C class, finished second. There was action mid-field with NETT regular Scott Pounder making a welcome comeback and riding steadily to take sixth ahead of Nash Singer, another former regular. Right behind was Nora and Nett young gun Ayrton Knowles making his debut in the Scottish Series.

With Mitchell sidelined, Singer took an impressive holeshot in race two followed closely by Sinclair, Vass, Wilson and Brewis who were all bunched together. By the end of lap one, Vass had taken the lead and held it for the next two laps. His secret weapon was higher tyres, he reckon having been beached on a berm in the first race he needed a different strategy and it proved to be right. He got clear of the others and stayed well out front until Sinclair (a third of his age), took lead and win. Brewis stayed steady in second place behind Sinclair and was satisfied with clocking up some more points on the day. Behind the leaders Wilson and Knowles chased down, and passed, veteran Vass but he didn’t make it easy for them. Gary Atkinson reflected his number, finishing sixth and Pounder was seventh ahead of Singer. Current over 40s Scottish champ John Peters made a good showing too.

The final quad race of the day was the final of the day and it got underway at 3.15pm whilst many of the motocrossers were streaming out of the pits heading for home. Meanwhile, 11 quads were lined up ready for a finale under a glorious sun set. Brewis was first away with the holeshot and led the whole way. Seventeen-year-old Sinclair was hard on the heels of Brewis. Brewis and Sinclair were closely followed by Singer and Knowles. Further back in the field Atkinson was steadily picking off riders as he climbed back up from last and he finished fifth in therface and fifth on the day. Meanwhile John Peters and Callum Wright were having their own race alongside Richie Cornett who made a successful last lap dash past Peters for his best finish of the day. Back at the front of the field Brewis and Sinclair kept on pushing on the worsening terrain and, despite a near head-over-handlebars-moment for Brewis when he tried to jump a ditch and landed badly, he still won the race and the day.

Quad Results:

1. 2. Sinclair. 3. Knowles. 4. Pounder. 5.Atkinson