Winning debut for young Roper
There were unexpected winners in some of the classes in round four of the G H Motorcycles/Husqvarna/ACU Eastern Enduro Championship at Little Hadham, organised by Sudbury Motor Cycle Club.
A few days before the event it was found that the rules allow 15 year olds to ride in short course Time Card Enduros where the Special Test is less than 20 per cent of the course, and this allowed Sudbury’s Jake Roper to compete in the Clubman Class.
He made the most of it, winning both Special Tests in 566.695 seconds against Rob Aldridge (Diss) who recorded 574.369 seconds.
Roper was recently in Wales with fellow Team Dave Roper members at Ady Smith Enduro Experience and this training has paid off.
Dan Hunt (Diss) was third, followed by George Wolfe, Will Jurgens and Charlie Baker (all Sudbury).
In the Championship Class Jason Morland (Halstead) recovered from injury to record a time of 585.840 seconds. But there was a surprise maiden win for Will Hughes (Braintree), who had a time of 567.906 seconds.
Myles Saunders (Sudbury) was third, Ben Cole (Norwich) fourth and Craig Roper (Sudbury) fifth.
James Barker (Sudbury) had back-to-back wins in the Expert Class with a time of 543.233 seconds over Rob Blackman (Castle Colchester) on 547.993 seconds.
Jack Berry (Sudbury) was once again pushed into third, with Tommy Clark (Norfolk & Suffolk Juniors) fourth and George Eustace (Sudbury) fifth. Barker’s win was remarkable as he rode on a flat front tyre for the last four session laps.
Contest sponsor Gavin Hockey (Sudbury) had back-to-back wins in the Expert Veteran Class, recording a time of 555.555 seconds over Phil Roper (Sudbury) on 557.265 seconds.
Kevin Webb (Sudbury) came out of retirement this year and had a great win in the Clubman Class over Steve Youngs (Lowestoft), with Jason Carsboult (Sudbury) third and Jeff Turner (Sudbury) fourth.
Andy Mason (Sudbury) recorded his first win this year in the Clubman Super Veteran Class, followed by Graham Mays, Nigel Ross and Gary Drage (all Sudbury).
