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20-Oct-09                                Race Results

20-Oct-09 Race Report - 2009 Bridgeland King of the Endurocross was a night to remember

By Andrew Warnest

Photos By Ben Dempster

The Keyneton Motorcycle Club ran the inaugural Bridgeland King of the Endurocross on Saturday night at the Gillman Speedway complex and it turned into a night to remember, with a brilliant track design, top viewing areas for all who attended and fantastic racing from the 70 rider strong field.

The king of the Endurocross was the idea of young KMCC members Michael Baraglia and Tristan Throup, who wanted to combine the facets of enduro and motocross, and with a strong support team of fellow young members including Sean & Nick Throup, Rowan Waye and many others, and with some guidance from a few of the older hands in the Club, they managed to put on arguably the event of the year.

A course that consisted of motocross berms and jumps, combined with enduro style logs, rocks and a watercrossing, as well as a tyre wall, flat tyres spread on the course and other bits and pieces greeted the riders for the practice runs that started at 12.00 midday. After the practice there were many riders back out on the course, on foot, scratching their collective heads about the smoothest and quickest way around the course.

The Junior Lites were the first class to hit the track in anger and it was a first up win for the KMCC when Dan McKenzie showed everyone a clean set of heals, coming home in front of Bryce Mundy & Travis Savage. Heat 2 saw Sam Tebeck open his account for the evening racing away to the win in front of Tyler Thompson & Dan McKenzie. Heats 3 & 4 saw Tyler Thompson take control of the class with 2 impressive wins as the motocross young gun became used to the enduro hazards on the course. Bryce Mundy & Sam Tebeck shared the minor placings over these two heats with a second and third each, with the McKenzie challenge faltering with a couple of minor spills.
Now under lights after the tea break Heat 5 saw Thompson fly off into the lead and looked set to win the class with his third straight win, but it all came unstuck entering the main straight when he took a big tumble and as the field went streaming past it took him almost a lap to get his breath back and get back into the race. Tylor Lange then inherited the lead, which he held until the end, leading home the ever consistent Bryce Mundy with Travis Savage picking up his second 3rd placing of the night.
It turned out that consistency won out on the night because after the points were tallied Bryce Mundy was crowned the junior Lites King of the Endurocross Champion, from the unlucky Tylor Thompson, 104 points to 101, with Sam Tebeck rounding out the podium in 3rd place on 96 points.

Second out onto the course for their first heat were the Veterans (over 35 years) and the class turned into the Peter Rudd show as he went 5 wins from 5 starts, with a couple of wins by well over a half a lap. Nathan Simpson followed Rudd home in every heat with Matty Powell 3rd in Heats 1, 2 & 3, Andy Hank sneaking in for 3rd in Heat 4 and Peter Cunningham doing like wise in Heat 5.
In the overall the KMCC’s Peter Rudd scored the maximum 125 points from Nathan Simpson on 110, with Andy Hank being the most consistent of the rest and taking out 3rd on 90 points.

Clubman Lites attacked the track next and with a full field of 16 riders the start and race to the first corner would be all important. Heats 1 & 2 were a carbine copy of each other with the KMCC’s Skipp Rothe leading home Pazi Cotter and Ian Haylock, but a bad start in Heat 3 put Rothe well back in the pack and the KMCC’s Alan Dahlitz was able to open his account and run away for the win from Matthew Blenkiron, with the consistent Pazi Cotter 3rd. Heat 4 saw Cotter break through for his first heat win, leading home Rothe & Dahlitz. The 5th and final heat was now a battle between Cotter & Rothe for the overall win and all seemed lost when, now under lights, Rothe had a shocker of a start and was dead last at the first corner after a crash. Remounting Skipp decided that all that was left was to ‘go for it’, and go for it he did as he picked of riders corner by corner and lap by lap. Cotter faltered as well and dropped back as Rothe moved forward. At the end of the heat Ian Haylock led home Alan Dahlitz, with Rothe getting home in 3rd.
In the overall Skipp Rothe’s inspired ride and Cotter’s misfortune saw Rothe win the Class on 108 points. Haylocks final heat win pushed him into second on 101, with the consistent Alan Dahlitz sneaking into 3rd on 97 points.

The Clubman Open Class had the X factor of the evening, in former professional moto trials rider Adrian Harry entered on his Beta 250 trials bike. Many were wondering how the smaller trials bike, with different power and less suspension would fair against the enduro and motocross machines.
It was all answered after Heat 1 when Adrian went out and, after a steady start, ran away from the field to record the first up win. The trials bike was definitely the machine to get over the obstacles quickly, as Adrian’s competition found as they fell trying to keep him behind them. 2nd in heat 1 was Brock Duffield, with the crash and remount Tim Heath 3rd.
Heats 2 & 3 saw Tim Heath and Craig Hepburn share a 1st and 3rd each, sandwiching Adrian Harry as he collected two 2nd’s to add to his Heat 1 win. Heat 4 saw Heath lead home Hepburn, with Todd Trestrail stepping into third. Fatigue seemed to be Harry’s biggest worry as he slipped off the podium for the first time, having to stand up the whole way on the trials bike. Heat 5, now in the cool of the night saw Harry put in another sterling ride to cement 2nd place, this time behind Tim Heath, with the fallen and remounted Hepburn home in 3rd.
In the overall Tim Heath was crowned the Clubman Open Champion from Adrian Harry, 115 to 107, with Craig Hepburn rounding out the podium on 105 points. The top 2 Clubman Open riders, along with the top 2 Clubman Lites and Veterans also qualified for the main event, the Bridgeland King of the Endurocross, and for Adrian Harry to qualify on a trials bike opened more than a few eyes at the meeting.

Eyes shing red under the Gillman Speedawy lights! Rhyce Ahola trys to keep Ivan Long at bay in the final heat before the King of the Endurocross shootout.

Last out onto the track for heat one were the big guns of SA off road racing, the Pros and the Pro Lites. Both classes were combined, making for some of the best racing of the night as every rider out on the course gave 110%, with all riders making crucial mistakes at times. This turned out to be a battle of motocross verses enduro and it would take 5 heats and the King of the Endurocross final to decide the winner.
Heat 1 saw the newly crowned SA Off Road Champion, Ivan Long take control on lap 2 from Sean Throup to streak away to the win. Home in 3rd was the first Pro Lite in Rhyce Ahola. Heat 1 struck hard for motocross ace, Steve Pontin, who after a bad start tried to round every one up around the first corner, only to hit the first rock pile, get out of shape, hit a couple of bigger rocks and give himself a flat rear tyre. He was also lucky to not damage the rim and have to retire, seems the motocross boys were going to have to give the course a bit more respect!
Heat 2 saw the KMCC’s enduro star, Sean Throup score his first win of the night, leading home motocross ace, Robert Savage, with the consistent Rhyce Ahola 3rd. Talking with Rhyce after the race he stated that although he was scoring good finishes he still hadn’t come to grips with the course as yet! Heat 2 halted the Long challenge as a fall in the tyres broke his gear lever off the bike, causing all sorts of problems as he struggled on.
Heat 3 saw Long back on song with a new gear lever bolted on as he led home Sean Throup and the improving Steve Pontin, who was slowly coming to grips with the unfamiliar obstacles put in front of him. Was this the start of the motocross riders charge to the title?
Heat 4 saw Pontin show his true colours for the first time with a wire to wire win and really put his challenge back on track. With Long breaking a motor and DNFing and Sean Throup also starting to struggle it was left to Rhyce Ahola to lead home Rowan Pumpa, with the outgoing SA number 1 recording his best result of the night so far.
Heat 5 saw Pontin, now comfortable with the course, streak away to record his second win in a row, this time followed home by BMW mounted Anthony Diener and Ivan Long, now on his sister’s bike, in 3rd.
Although racing together on the night the points were separated for the Pro Lites and winning on the night was Rhyce Ahola (92 very consistent points) from Ivan Long on 86 points, with Alex Saint, on a borrowed Kawasaki from the Ahola stable in 3rd on 66 points.
The Pro Open was taken out by Sean Throup on 102 points from Ant Diener on 91 points and Steve Pontin, after his bad start, 3rd on 80 points.

So now the stage was set for the King of the Endurocross, with the top 10 Pros and the top 2 Clubman Open, Clubman Lites and Veterans all qualifying.
So after the heats the line up looked like this; Steve Pontin, Ivan Long, Rhyce Ahola, Rowan Pumpa, Sean Throup, Nick Throup, Robert Savage, Alex Saint, Luke Stevenson and Ant Diener, from the Pros were joined by Clubman Lites riders Skipp Rothe & Ian Haylock, Clubman Open riders, Tim Heath and Adrian Harry and Veterans, Peter Rudd and Nathan Simpson.
What awaited the riders was 3 back to back motos of 5 laps each, with the last five finishers eliminated after the first 2 motos, until only 6 riders would ride the last moto to fight out the King of the Endurocross.
Moto 1 saw a furious start as all 16 riders pounded into turn 1, with the major casualty being Ant Diener who fell and ended up rear of field. Tim Heath’s night also ended early when his bike gave up the fight early on. Diener put in a masterful ride to get himself back inside the top 11 and avoid elimination, only to drop it again on the second rock pile and this time there wasn’t the time, or laps to recover. Joining Diener (14th) & Heath (16th) in the stands after moto 1 were Adrian Harry (15th) after a masterful ride on the little trials bike, Ian Haylock (13th) and Alex Saint (12th).
Up front Pontin led home Long, Ahola, Pumpa and Rudd, giving them pick of the start line for Moto 2.
After a 2 minute break the gate dropped for Moto 2 and long mad a cracker of a start and led from go to whoa, followed home by Ahola & Pontin. Also making sure of their place in the final shootout were Peter Rudd (the last surviving non Pro), Sean Throup and Robert Savage, who had quietly snuck under everyone’s radar and was riding very well.
Eliminated were Pumpa (7th), Nick Throup (8th in his first Pro ride an excellent result for the younger Throup), Luke Stevenson (9th), Skippe Rothe (10th) and Nathan Simpson (11th).
So, after 25 events and 2 motos it had all come down to this – 5 laps separated 6 riders from being crowned the inaugural ‘Bridgeland’ King of the Endurocross for 2009. Would it be one of the 2 surviving motocrossers, or would it be an enduro ace??
As the gate dropped for the final time it was the motocross ace, Steve Pontin who got the jump on the field and led into turn 1, followed by all five riders, bunched tightly together and pushing and shoving for position. As the field sorted itself out Ivan Long took up the chase, still on his sister’s bike and being hampered somewhat by softer suspension, Sean Throup was third, followed by Ahola, Rudd and Savage. Pontin was on a flyer and Long was riding like a demon to bridge the gap, as was Throup in 3rd, something had to give, and it did. The Throup challenge came to an end as he made small mistakes and lost his momentum, and started to go backwards through the field.

2009 Bridgeland King of the Endurocross Champion, Steve Pontin, in full flight over the water pipes on Saturday night.

Pontin lead all the way in a masterful display to record a first up win in this first SA endurocross, and try as he might Long could not catch the flying motocrosser out in front and had to settle for second on the night. Picking up the last spot on the podium was the ever consistent, and now ‘into it’ Rhyce Ahola, who lead home the evergreen Veteran in Peter Rudd in 4th. Robert Savage passed Throup late in the race to grab 5th with Sean Throup finishing in 6th place.

At the presentation all riders raved about the new format event and were already looking forward to 2010 and coming back for another crack at becoming the King of the Endurocross. With a Grand prix finish to the event the 3 placegetters, Steve Pontin, Ivan Long and Rhyce Ahola were all presented with a bottle of champagne and proceeded to soak each other and all who stood too close.

The 2009 Bridgeland King of the Endurocross podium, soaked in champagne (L to R) Rhyce Ahola (3rd), Steve Pontin (2009 King of the Endurocross) and Ivan Long (2nd)

Was the event a success, perhaps we leave the last word for young Nick Throup – “KING of the ENDUROCROSS was an awsome night, couldn't of asked for any better. Had the best time ever, can't wait untill next years one”.

Thanks to everyone who made this event possible, thanks to all the Keyneton MCC members and all the Gawler MCC members for helping out on the day. Also a big thanks to our sponsors Bridgeland Motorcycles, B&B off road engineering, Adelaide BMW motorcycles, Carbine Industries, Shark Helmets, Belray, AXO, Dunlop, Spark Management, Barossa Car Wash, Argoweld, Naked Run Wines, Boral, Coates Hire, Tubalco, Lower North Hire, Chooks Custom Graphics, Haydon’s Bobcat Hire, Grain Haul, Pumpa’s Mortar and Building Services.