It was decided after much heavy overnight rain that four laps of ten sections was enough for the most hardened of riders at the notoriously wet Folly Farm Beckley.
This event was the second round of the club championship and attracted a quality entry with varying skill levels and fortunately the forecast heavy rain held off until proceedings had concluded.
Experienced Mudlark Chris Wickham could be heard from far afield as the 300 Beta roared up the long slick wooded climbs as he went on to take the Expert class with a loss of 9 marks with Ryan Tomkins TRS 250 close on his heels for most of the day putting in a card of 11.
Ryan had four brilliant cleans on the very tricky rooted camber of section nine which began down the field where the wet stuff was constantly dragged up the bank to make things even slicker on the sandy exit.
The Yellow middle route was very popular today with sixty percent of the entry making the best of the bad weather and with this in mind the course plotters laid out some very open sections. Fourth gear selection although not for the feint hearted as perfect timing for a lower gear was required for the steep drops was an option at nearly all subs.
One of the pre-race favorites in the Clubman class Adrian Steele 250 Beta had to take an early bath after a nasty looking knee injury at section eight where a couple of riders had to assist with bike and rider to safer ground.
Eventual joint class winners were Ixion veterans Graham Grove and Dave Barrett both Beta mounted they excelled in these conditions and had a great day losing 1 mark apiece with some superb cleans recorded at section ten a combination of muddy turns and fallen trees with a cambered lattice of roots to cross to reach the end cards high up the bank.
Justin Cookson put some excellent rides in at section three a 200 yard muddy climb and although the gradient was steady it was tricky with several rooted outcrops to negotiate.
The white eased course was aced by Fantic mounted Mark Davidson posting a perfect card of zero.
Runner-up was son Freddie on 4 who was putting little 125 Gasser up the big hill climb of section seven with no bother. Wayne Hutton Triumph Tiger-Cub was feet-up for thirty nine sections and on gold until a spectacular roll-off on the very last section of the day.
Report Ken O'Brien