The Rock Oil/Michelin/Wulfsport Ecosse XC championship ran the third and final round of its winter series at Tyninghame Links last weekend and was blessed with glorious weather and perfect racing conditions.
Over 170 riders turned out for the event which witnessed close racing across all nine classes.
The A-group was all about Alexander Brown and Ryan McClean who respectively took the wins and runner-up slots in all three races, with start to finish wins in the first and second motos.
In the final race, Brown was in an uncustomary ninth off the start but was quickly back to second on lap two and grabbed the lead from McClean at half race distance. Aaron McCarol was set for a third overall, but a lap one incident in the last race saw him drop from third to the back of the pack, leaving him to fight his way through to a creditable ninth at the chequered flag.
Michael Ogdenās pair of fifths and a fourth were enough to secure his third overall placing.
There was a different name at the top of each of the B-group races with Austin Mowbary, Alex Jaffray and Nathan Dixon taking a win apiece.
Steven McCormackās third, second and fourth gave him the overall on the day, while leading female rider Nieve Howes posted a fifth, 11th and seventh to take ninth overall, with an impressive third in the championship itself.
Zack Frost earned a full-house of points with three start-to-finish wins in the C-group. Dylan Grieve had three seconds and Stephen Humphries three thirds. Frost won the C-class championship almost 50 points ahead of Scott Foote, with Mike Tweddle rounding out the podium.
In the Youth groups, the SW85 riders showed great form amidst the bigger-wheel riders. The racing was close with plenty of passing going on between the leaders.
Jack Fletcher took his SW85 to three wins across both classes, beating the older Mark Sives and Mark Parker. Cristina Palmer also held her own against the bigger bikes, she posted impressive race positions of sixth and two fourths to finish second overall in the SW85 category, lifting her championship position to second in the process. Sives won the BW class overall and secured the championship.
Over in the 65-group Haydon Statt took the wins and the championship too, while young Brooke Mudie impressed spectators in her first motocross race in deep, rough sand ā she wasnāt phased by the conditions and kept going all day.
On the quad front, Brewis was back with a bang taking the opening moto holeshot, fastest lap and the win. Mark Wilson, in second, defended his position for the whole race, despite vigorous challenges, first from Gary Atkinson then later series leader Lorne Sinclair.
Behind them as the pack started their second lap, Robbie Wood was in fifth, just ahead of Ayrton Knowles then Hugh Beattie. But moments later Beattie took a heavy tumble. At the flag Sinclair had moved to third behind Brewis and Wilson.
In the second race, Wilson shot off the line but Sinlair was soon past and left the pack fighting behind him. Brewis picked his way through to second, followed by Knowles. The first lap of race three was incident packed as, within the first five corners, Brewis had taken the holeshot then rolled. Knowles who had narrowly escaped Brewisā antics to take the lead, came to a complete stop when he failed to notice his kill-switch had come out, James Nisbet spun out through the tapes and Shaun Tipping and Robbie Wood became entangled as the pack crowded in at the first bend.
Sinclair and Wilson kept out of trouble at the front of the group to finish first and second, whilst Knowles re-started his machine to finish third.
Results: Round 3 – 2019 Rock Oil/Michelin/Wulfsport Ecosse XC Championship
A-Group: 1. #41 Alexander Brown 135, 2. #293 Ryan McLean 126, 3. #56 Michael Ogden 112
B-Group: 1. #31 Steven McCormack 120, 2. #12 Austin Mowbary 119, 3. #99 Nathan Dixon 115
C-Group: 1. #911 Zack Frost 135, 2. #441 Dylan Grieve 126, 3. #48 Stephen Humphries
Vets: 1. #545 Peter OāNeill 127, 2. #471 Gordon Morrison 125, 3. #9 Tom Grant 117
Rookies: 1. #74 Logan Hendry 130, 2. #3 Shay Page 129, 3. #99 Josh Buchanan 116
BW85: 1. #4 Mark Sives 132, 2. #255 Mark Parker 127, 3. #416 Kerr Thompson 120
SW85: 1. #310 Jack Fletcher 135, 2. #131 Cristina Palmer 124, 3. #7 Conner Smith 120
65s: 1. #Haydon Statt 135, 2. #10 Jaxon Haswell 126, 3. #68 LJ Maloney 116
Quads: 1. #101 Lorne Sinclair 130, 2. #505 Michael Brewis 123, 3. #60 Mark Wilson 120
2019 Rock Oil/Michelin/Wulfsport Ecosse XC Championship Points
A-Group: 1. Michael Ogden 339, 2. Ryan Thomson 323, 3. Sean Williamson 321
B-Group: 1. Ivan Williamson 368, 2. Steven McCormack 357, 3. Neive Howes 330
C-Group: 1. Zack Frost 405, 2. Scott Foote 356, 3. Mike Tweddle 338
Vets: 1. Tom Grant 365, 2. Gordon Morrison 364, 3. Peter OāNeill 344
Rookies: 1. Shay Page 390, 2. Josh Buchanan 331, 3. Jack Winthorp
BW85: 1. Kieran Sives 360, 2. Mark Parker 348, 3. Thomas Bruce 322
SW85: 1. Jack Fletcher 391, 2. Cristina Palmer 371, 3. Ryan Lowes 318
65s: 1. Haydon Statt 387, 2. Jaxon Haswell 352, 3. Leo Self 326
Quads: 1. Lorne Sinclair 394, 2. Robbie Wood 341, 3. Hugh Beittie 317
