Beacons Rally

Bounds wins Beacons 2 Day Rally Report by Bob Mullins www.enduronews.com The Welsh Trail Riders Association held their Beacons 2 Day Rally in the Crychan forest this weekend. The Met Office issued "Be aware" severe weather warning for Saturday. There is no better place than the Crychan to be aware of severe weather. The course was 29 miles long. On Day 1 it was clockwise and the riders rode 3 laps. There were 2 tests. The first dropped from the Firetower via the Timberyard to Bob's Stick. The second was around the Castle & over Trout Hill. Craig Bounds (left) rode his second test without a seat on his BMW X-Challenge 650. It made very little difference to his times which were consistently 10% faster than Bob Creedy from Taunton on a CCM Dualsport 644 in second. Trevor Newton from Sunderland was 3rd. Jonathan Williams from Llandrindod Wells set the second fastest set of times to win the Sports bike class on a KTM 530. Geordie Brian Eland was 2nd and Gary O'Shaughnessy from Taunton was 3rd. The wet conditions proved to be too much for many of the riders and a third of the entry retired On Day 2 the course was reversed and the sun shone. Jonathan Williams (right Euan Davies) set the fastest times to win the Sports bike class. Alistair Brown from Brighton was the runner up on a KTM EXCF 250 and Calvert Jones from Kilgetty was 3rd. Brian Eland dislocated his shoulder but he was still able the reach out and hold on to sixth. Craig Bounds once again won the Trail class ahead of Antony Whittle from Penryn and Steve Hague from Glossop was 3rd. "Big thanks to all those involved in making this a cracking event. Superbly run, a brilliant course and a great atmosphere. Sunday was as good a day out on a bike as you could wish for. More of the same next year please." Stephen Hague # 168 "Having bought a 690 enduro, I thought I would try my first rally. The Beacons was an excellent event very well run extremely friendly and a brilliant course albeit a bit wet, well it was Wales! A big thanks to all concerned." Jon Boulton