ROUND 9 - DRIFFIELD 2ND OCT

The Indian summer weather hit Driffield over the weekend as True Grit Off Road hosted the final round of the 'Northern Counties Hare & Hounds Championship'. The team in the sweltering heat designed another fantastic track, adding in plenty of woodland, open straights and quarry sections. After spending all of Friday afternoon and Saturday hammering in posts, stapling arrows and putting out tape to mark the course, the track was all set up and ready to go for the 3 race format over the weekend. Looking at the line-up of riders on the entry list it was bound to be a fantastic race to round off the season.

First away at 9am on the shortened track was the 'Stars of tomorrow' with the Senior B class topping the youth entry list, with 30 riders raring to go alongside the Ladies and Junior classes. Nathan Ball shot off the start line like a rocket with his rivals trailing behind him but it was True Grit's top youth rider, Dan Bewlay who finished his final season riding his KTM 85 on a high, taking the win from young gun Brandon Sharples who was on a mission but just couldn't catch Dan, finishing 1 minute 30 behind in 2nd. In 3rd place of the Senior B podium was Nathan Ball, with all the lads completing 12 laps.

The Juniors on their small machines saw a larger line up than usual waiting to set off on the start line.Dawson Marriot had an astonishing ride and is definitely one to watch in 2012 as he took the holeshot from the other Juniors and led from start to finish completing 10 laps. Reece Pickersgill did enough to clinch the championship top spot by finishing 2nd behind Dawson with 9 laps, and Harrison Matthews rounding of the podium taking home 3rd place.

The ladies class saw Anita Gordon off the start line first, taking the holeshot with the young girls Ellie Cooke and Nieve Holmes hot on her heels. The newest rider to the Ride Off Road UK team, Nieve Holmes on her Honda 150 had an amazing ride finishing 1st with Ellie Cooke 3 minutes behind in 2nd and Anita claiming the final trophy in 3rd position .

The main race was for the adult riders, ranging from beginners to experts giving all abilities an equal opportunity to compete for a trophy. With a short race turnaround from the youth race to the adults, the track was still in top condition from the young riders.

Experts and Over 40's line up saw 15 year old Luke Flack take the holeshot for the front row making it to transponders on the first lap with an incredible lead. After 2.5hours Harry Hillas took the win from Danny Morse in 2nd and Luke Flack settled for 3rd place after a battle with Morse.

Over 40's riders proved there is still life in the old dogs yet as Lee Smith took the win after completing 14 laps ahead of Chris Cooper in 2nd and Paul Hamilton in 3rd both completing 13 laps.

Ben Murphy upped his game from the last race moving into Clubman E1 and still took home gold from Michael Kay in 2nd and ex Senior A rider Lee Sealey in 3rd. Reece Morewood, fresh from the Natterjack last weekend took the win of the Clubman Open class with young motocross rider Coby Wright in 2nd and Joe Wheeler rounding the class off with 3rd all completing 13 laps.

Sportsman E1 Championship winner Kris Weston, showed a phenomenal ride completing 13 laps. Kris finished 6 minutes ahead of Callum Morewood in 2nd. James Heaney collected 3rd place taking home another trophy to balance out his mantel piece. Andy Johnson and Matty North had a close battle but Andy piped Matty to the post by 48 seconds. 3rd place went to David Haith all completing 13 laps.

Senior A class saw Isaac Archer chased young Michael Tatham who showed a exceedingly good battle for the majority of the race but Michael just couldn't hold on any longer, losing his win two laps from the end, leaving the lads only 12 seconds apart through the finishing gate. Jade Gordon completed the podium with 3rd place. The Hobby Beginners saw an outstanding ride from Steve Johnson who completed an extra 2 laps up on 2nd place Adrian Fickling and in 3rd place was Shane Syrett.

To finish the day off, the quads were set away at 2.15pm. In the expert class after an extremely late entry, Scott Woodhead started a lap into the race and still managed to bring home 1st place.

Big thank you to the Quad riders for their continued support of our events. True Grit Off Road would like to thank Remote Services and Steve the medic for keeping us safe during the weekend.

We have 2 sets of goggles and a car key handed in , if you have lost either of these please contact us with a description and we will get back to you on 07962396369