Derek Bawn (Image - Roadrunner Photography)

Derek Again Bawn wins at CTR EVENTS Winter Series Championship RD4

A very demanding Tyr Shon Shenkyn Nr Pontypool East South Wales. 

Team CTR put in a full week’s work in some very testing and changing weather on this very beautiful and scenic welsh hill side with spectacular views of the valleys and the Bristol channel, A 3.5 mile cross country course was chiselled out off this valley with steep descents and hill climbs some man made some historical with coal slag and machined roads following of cambered fields road jumps and drop off’s fast road blasts with switch backs and twist and turns all marked out with Mojo suspension tape.

At the crack of dawn CTR and the team were at the venue getting all things ready with the cold heavy mist of winter with this high hill side venue you get hard blowing winds witch can help with track drying, However the wind also vandalizes the already prepped track so with a full team they were busy repairing and planning changes and with the start time upon us they was a 30 minute delay as everything was put right, At 11:20 am CTR and the riders were going through the pre race talk with the event sponsored by RhinoGoo with the top 3 in each class getting RhinoGoo at the end to clean their bikes and the welcome news for the Novice-Beginners that a Marshal will be redirecting at a tricky steep hill climb.

At 11:30 the flag dropped and the  Experts got away as they swopped and tasselled for positions the flag dropped for the Vets then with a 30 second delay the Clubman got away with the Novice-Beginners last away and everyone set of to battle their way around this very testing course, It was 10 minutes 22 seconds before the leaders came into sight with young Tommy Alba leading and Derek Bawn a close 6 seconds behind and Shaun Buchan 14 seconds behind unfortunately this would be Shauns only lap when he pulled out with mechanical frillier with the rest of the chasing Experts of Neil Thomas Richard Perkins and Tim Trueman A near minute later Bawn and Alba were this close with the cap of around 5-10 seconds upto the 1 hour fuel stop when Bawn made his move to take the lead from Alba now with Tim Trueman putting in some constant fast times he was getting closer to Alba and on the last lap Alba made A few mistakes with a 14 minute lap and Trueman put in a 11 minute lap snatching 2^nd place crossing the line just under a minute in front of Alba with Bawn taking the win and pulling an extra lap great job boys.

In the Vets class it was David Thomas 1^st into lap scoring with a lap time of 11 and a half minutes with Terry Beecham a 38 seconds behind Adrian Evans and Dai Beer another minute later as the race progressed and the top 3 spots up for grabs it was down to Evans, Beecham, Ryan Leary and Chris Porter with very consistent times of around 13/14 and 12 minute laps of Evans and the same from Beecham it was when Beecham had a 17 minute last lap that allowed Adrian Evans the win with Beecham 2^nd and Ryan Leary on the recovery from a big cash on his new bike taking 3^rd well done gents great racing.

With the clubman race it was Roger Holland around the lap 1^st with a time of 13.10 minutes followed by Dai Jones 4 seconds later with Harvey Dark and Tom Kayes a full 2 minutes later as the day went from damp to wet to drying up then wet and so on this made extremely hard conditions for the riders and helpers but to riders kept going with some kind of grin on their faces and buy the end of the race it was left to Roger Holland who lead from start to finish taking the win and pulling an extra lap from Harvey Dark and with a great come back and on the same laps was Rhys George in 3^rd another great battle between Man and the mix of winter weather.

In the Novice-Beginner class it was going to be a real test of spirit as the weather conditions was going to be real tough “sorry guys” and with Neil Davies lapping 1^st with a time of about 15 minutes with Owen Copper 15 seconds behind and Martin Howitt, Chris Dixon, Nathan Jones and Ross Clements all close together another 3 seconds later, With extra tough going and with the course constantly managed by the CTR team the class really had a test of mind over determination to get to the finish with the top 3 position starting to show and young Wesley Hann trials riding skills starting to show and with half the race over it was left to Hann, Cooper and Jones to battle on for the top spots with Hann putting it down and pulling away with the extra lap and crossing the line without a clutch lever well done, Owen Cooper took 2^nd with Nathan Jones 3^rd, Boys I have to say to all the class for starting and finishing this tough race in bad conditions I’m very proud of you all very well done.

With a massive thanks to all involved the land owner Hayden Powell, All the helpers and Marshals, Dad and the CTR lap scoring girls Kerry and Carla.

Next Round of CTR Winter Series Championship is 29.01.2012 with the final on 18.02.2012 see you all next year Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Thanks Carl.