Andy Frost is off to build a new life in Australia in a few weeks but couldn't resist having one last SCEC race before leaving. Andy's been a regular at SCEC events for as long as many of us can remember and he'll be missed - we all wish him well in his new life.

Enduro riding in Oz will be quite different to the UK, and if you had to show an Ozzy a perfect UK woodland Hare Scramble venue you could do no better than show him SCEC's 'Inside Park' venue near Blandford in Dorset. The six & half miles of beautiful English woodland paths and trails somehow manages to be flowing yet technical at the same time, and is somehow equally popular with those from moto-x, enduro or trials backgrounds. It's a special place and the perfect venue to kick-off the 2008 SCEC season.

The day started with the presentation of awards for the 2007 series with the top finishers in each class leaving with the highly prized SCEC awards, as well as product prizes from Bel-Ray, Pro-Grip and Pro-Clean. And for the Sportsman class a special treat, with the top 10 finishers in the 2007 series each being presented with a full days Enduro training courtesy of the highly regarded In-Chains Enduro School, demonstrating once again that while SCEC maybe the club of choice for many of the top boys, they also go that extra mile to welcome and encourage new blood into the sport too.

So Andy's off to Oz but he'll be taking happy memories of the SCEC and the magnificent Inside Park venue with him. Displaying the style that claimed him the 2007 SCEC Championship he notched up another convincing victory there on his borrowed DMC KTM300 and only K4's Bradley King was able match his 12 laps. Sideways KTM rider Mark Cornick looked like he might be a threat during the early stages but damaging his clutch perch and having to stop to make repairs put him out of the running. He made a valiant attempt to make up the lost time but in this company you can't afford to lose seconds, let alone minutes, and he had to settle for 3rd place.

The experts got away cleanly with Freddie Broadway establishing an early lead. Freddie is going to a force to be reckoned with - he was fast and smooth around the flowing woodland paths and trails and built up to a comfortable 4 minute cushion over 2nd place man Dave Nuttall by the end of the day. One of the favourites at this venue had to be Steve Harding but right from the start he seemed strangely off the pace. His pit crew got word that Steve was struggling with the handling of his KTM and as he pulled into the pits it didn't take long for them to find out what had happened - a broken bead on the rear tyre had allowed one side of the tyre to come completely off the rim! Amazingly having eased the tyre back on Steve was able to continue (albeit very, very carefully) to an astonishing 10th place!

SCEC seem to get their groups pretty well spread and nothing demonstrates this better than the Clubman results. For the last umpteen events the Clubman E1 and E2 winners have finished concurrently in the overall results and more often than not within a few seconds of each other - that's in spite of starting (and finishing) one minute apart. This time Dan Beaven took the E1 class and a highly credible 13th overall while Tyson Mayton-Jones took the E2 class and an equally credible 14th overall. On elapsed time just 4 seconds separated these two after 3 hours racing! You can't get closer than that!

The Over 40 class at SCEC events has become so enormously popular in recent years that this year the decision was taken to split it into sportsman and expert groups. For several years now Peter Archer has made the Over 40s class his own and as the newly formed Expert Over 40s group tore off into the woods for the first time it looked like nothing much had changed, but come the mid-way point Paul Tossell gave notice that 2008 is going to be different by grabbing the lead and holding it till the finish. It was a close run thing though and just 7 seconds separated these two after 3 full hours racing. Just seconds behind them Michael Brooks seemed to be waiting in the wings, perhaps waiting for them to trip each other up and gift him the lead, but that didn't happen - some of these guys might be nearer 50 than 40 but all that experience means mistakes are rare and Michael will no doubt have new tactics planned for the next race!

Being all new the Sportsman Over 40 group was anybody's guess, but it soon became apparent who everyone will be gunning for this year. Karl Phillips quickly established a comfortable lead which he maintained until the finish while Steve Edgington and Simon Minch were never more than a few seconds apart finishing 2nd & 3rd respectively and the end of their two and a half hour stint.

Finally it was good to see some new faces for the new Novice class. SCEC have always encouraged newcomers to come and have a go, and it is hoped that with the formation of this new class the whole idea will seem somehow less scary. With a slightly shorter race and the certain knowledge that the other guys on the line are as terrified as you are it doesn't seem quite so bad! If the reaction on Sunday was anything to go by SCEC have hit the nail on the head and the lads all had a ball! Top 3 in this class where David Mears, Mike Snook & Chris Roos managing 7, 6 and 5 laps respectively in their allotted two and a half hours and all 3 grinning like Cheshire cats!

So that was the Inside Park 2008 - and the question on everybody's lips at the end? Well there was only one… When's the next one! There's no secret there… Hardye's Monument near Dorchester on April 27th - see you there!

Championship

1. C1 Andy FROST - DMC KTM 300

2. C25 Brad KING - K4 Gas Gas 250

3. C3 Mark CORNICK - Sideways KTM 525

Expert

1. X15 Freddie BROADWAY - Yamaha 250

2. X36 Dave NUTTALL - Husaberg 400

3. X18 Jeff CANNONS - KTM 250

Expert Over 40

1. V16 Paul TOSSELL - KTM 300

2. V1 Peter ARCHER - KTM 300

3. V44 Michael BROOKS - KTM 144

Clubman E1

1. 123 Dan BEAVEN - KTM 250

2. 122 Bill RICHARDS - Yamaha 250

3. 160 Ross HARVEY - KTM 200

Clubman E2/3

1. 201 Tyson MAYTON-JONES - Husaberg 450

2. 232 Gary WEBB - Honda 250

3. 206 Lee POPE - KTM 300

Sportsman

1. 324 Ian HUGHES - Suzuki 250

2. 388 Andrew PARKINSON - KTM 250

3. 326 Hugh THOMAS - KTM 250

Over 40 Sportsman

1. 409 Karl PHILLIPS - Suzuki 250

2. 417 Steve EDGINGTON - Yamaha 250

3. 403 Simon MINCH - KTM 525

Novice

1. 503 David MEARS - KTM 250

2. 504 Mike SNOOK- Husaberg 450

3. 507 Chris ROOS - Yamaha 250

Results - Print friendly CLICK HERE…

Results – Web page version (includes lap data) CLICK HERE…

(press ‘ctrl’ when clicking link to open in new window or tab)

Print Report (PDF File) CLICK HERE…