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Report Ken Santi O'Brien
Pictures Gary Dowzall link
Oxford IXION website
A cold dry but sunny day greeted 73 riders but this did not hide the fact there had been much heavy rain in recent weeks. Folly Farm Beckley is a notoriously wet venue with many underground springs to keep the dust down all year round. Ten sections were plotted to be ridden four times and the riders were started at two different subs to prevent queuing for this the first round of the Ixion 2014 championship.
First away to section one were the Expert class together with the eased route brigade, an easy starter with a gentle climb and drop over a low tree. Standard white route riders were sent to section four a different kettle of fish altogether dropping to a left hand camber before riding a narrow ledge and then a steep uphill gradient before dropping again over rocks. Eventual Best Clubman Ali Haigh 250 Beta made it all look to easy with clean rides on all four visits here.
In the Expert class the battle was on and 17 riders with varying levels of age and skill were ' up for it ' but in the end Andy Blackman 300 Ossa was top man with a loss of 25 putting very accomplished rides in at section eight the biggest climb of the day. This section took two off Andy on his final visit as the start-line deteriorated late on and mud dragged up to the tricky turn around an ageing Oak tree.
Second in class was Ixion newcomer Shaun Fox 300 Gas Gas two marks adrift (27) with consistent one dab rides on section ten consisting a short sharp drop into a very marshy turn over low boughs ending in a tricky turn over an awkward stump.
A small crowd had gathered at section five to witness the best fun section of the day an 20 yard wide and eighty yard long muddy blast with at least a dozen lines to choose from.
Sean McCullagh 250 Beta nearly made the day for observer Celia but lost concentration for a split second whilst saying thanks and a dab was recorded,most were fighting threes at this sub.
On the standard White route a handful of Pre 65 machines were on show today with Alan (wrighty) Wright BSA Bantam just losing out to mud fest expert Alan Taylor who put the factory standard Tiger Cub around for a loss of forty.
Runner up Clubman class contender Adrian Steele 250 Beta was in his element at section three a newly carved out affair with a drop off what ended up a lace of roots before turning sharp though a gully of more tangled swampy stuff and then a forced ride straight at a tree for a pivot turn before blasting up a slick right handed wet sandy bank.
Mark Kenyon-Bell took best novice whilst Liam Anderson led the Youth A home.
On the Blue eased course Rob Lewis powered his Sherco into first place ahead of Stuart Hayes whose 250 Scorpa was finding much grip on the long sandy climb of section seven and parting with a miserly two marks in total was no mean feat.
Best Twinshock was Brian Ayres 200 Fantic once a formidable Scrambler showed this sort of background was handy on the big hills and muddy slots.
I hope there was plenty of cleaning agent in all your Christmas stockings from Santa.
A Happy New Year to one and all.
Expert
Andy Blackman Ossa 25
Shaun Fox Gasser 27
Rob Warner Repsol 34
Richard Evans Gasser 38
Standard White route
Clubman
Ali Haigh Beta 10
Adrian Steele Beta 28
Phil Ducker Gasser 33
Gordon Pusey 315R 39
Pre 65
Alan Taylor Tigercub 40
Alan Wright Bantam 67
Youth A
Liam Anderson Beta 82
Novice
Mark Kenyon-Bell Beta 72
Blue eased route
Rob Lewis Sherco 46
Stuart Hayes Scorpa 47
Brian Ayres 200 Fantic 54
Mark Wallington Gasser 59
Martin Jones Mont 70
Paul Wallington Scorpa 75
Pat Jackson Mont 76