One of the most intriguing pairs’ enduros for years took place at West Kimmeragh in near-perfect conditions on Boxing Day.

A total of 40 teams took part in the main three-hour event, hosted by Ramsey MCC, each pair sharing a bike. A further eight youth riders under the age of 16 took part in a one hour race over the same course for individuals.

Both events had a shotgun start, with a novel run to the start line for the commencement of the race.

Appropriately, the youths had a shorter run and it was Lonan’s Harry Beattie who led from start to finish on his 85cc KTM, completing a tally of nine laps in 65-and-a-half minutes. He beat Leo Gray by 1m 07s with Oliver Herdman third on eight, the same tally as relative newcomer Alfie Phillips (at another 43s), Riley Faragher and Abe Cain.

The adults had a somewhat longer run to the start line, in the region of 250 metres, and one or two tripped up in the mud. It proved great entertainment for the hundreds of spectators who turned up in spring-like conditions to watch the event.

Former Junior World Enduro Champion Jed Etchells made the early running, both on two legs and two wheels, and led the event as a whole by some 30 seconds after only a couple of laps.

But the rear tyre of his 310cc Fantic came off the rim and he (and partner Jack Keenan) lost a lot of time in the pits, attempting to get the ‘moose’ back in place.

This cost them valuable time, with worse was to come as the bike then incurred an electrical issue - ending any hopes of finishing.

Another early casuatly was former winner Danny McCanney who suffered a broken clutch lever on the somewhat dated 250cc Honda CRM he was sharing with Jack Faragher.

After stumbling in the initial run to the start line, David Knight had been a little way down the order, completing lap one in fourth place behind Etchells, Beau Brown and Mark Turner.

The latter pulled up, under instruction, to have his front number cleaned for the lap scorers, and Knight almost rammed him as he was overly-keen to get past and chase down the other two riders ahead of him.

The first set of rider changes saw Knight hand over the reins of the 250 Triumph four-stroke to partner Ingham, unaware at that time that they had been docked one lap for two more warnings from clerk of the course Dave Leach after further failed attempts to stop Knight to have his front number plate properly cleaned.

Centre road race champion Ryan Cringle (partnering Gavin Hunt) had also incurred a one-lap penalty for running through the pit area in the initial foot-tramp to the start line.

So, the chase was on for Knight/Ingham to reel in new leaders Brown and Liam Smith. Shortly after half-distance, Knight/Ingham were 3m 23s ahead of Brown/Smith on the road, but around two minutes behind on corrected time, each pair with 17 laps completed.

One lap down were Craig Norrey/Callum Christian and Jamie McCanney/Ali Heginbotham, then Hunt/Cringle (albeit docked a lap), Jordan Corkill/Ryan Christian, Ashley Kelly/Mikey Evans and Callum Purves/Mark Cringle.

Four laps later Brown/Smith’s lead was down to around 45 seconds, but that lead continued to drop quite consistently to 20 seconds after 23 laps and eight seconds heading into lap 26.

Shortly afterwards, Ingham unlapped him and Knight with approximately 25 minutes remaining. Brown and Smith, on a motocross-spec 250 KTM two stroke that proved thirstier than the four-stroke Triumph on more economical enduro gearing, and it was when trying to squeeze the last cupful of gas out of the KTM that it ran out of fuel. This resulted in Smith pushing the bike back to the pits for a top-up, ending the race as a spectacle for the overall honours.

Knight and Ingham were able to ease back over the final handful of laps to win by a clear margin of 4m 11s, with Smith/Brown salvaging the runner-up spot, also on 32 laps. Jamie McCanney and Al Heginbotham were third on 31 laps.

Another lap adrift were Norrey/Callum Christian and Corkill/Ryan Christian on 30.

Despite a one lap penalty, Hunt and Ryan Cringle finished sixth on 29, the same tally as 2023 winner Evans with the returning-from-injury Ash Kelly.

The battle of the father and son duos went to Mike and Mark Turner by one place from Russell and Orry Millward in eighth and ninth, one ahead of Tom Knight and TT ace Dean Harrison.

RESULTS

Senior Pairs (three hours): 1, David Knight & Max Ingham, 32 laps in 3hr 00min 34sec; 2, Liam Smith/Beau Brown, 32 3:04.04; 3, Jamie McCanney/Al Heginbotham 31; 4, Craig Norrey/Callum Christian 30; 5, Jordan Corkill/Ryan Christian 30; 6, Gav Hunt/Ryan Cringle 29; 7, Ashley Kelly/Mikey Evans 29; 8, Mark & Mike Turner 28; 9, Orry & Russell Millward 27; 10, Tom Knight/Dean Harrison 27; 11, Jack & David Asbridge 27; 12, Harry Shand/Kyle Batty 26; 13, Ryan Nield/Will Duggan 26; 14, Stan Cubbon/Chris Madigan 25; 15, Harry Kampz/Carl Wynne-Smythe 24; 16, Ben Hardy/Tom Dawson 24; 17, Danny Lane/Sam Wheeler 23; 18, Luke Smith/Danny Grady 23; 19, Damian Corrin/Adrian Smith 23; 20, Callum Crowe/Dale Brew 22; 21, Stanley & George Kinnish 22; 22, Richard Smith/Dave Salkeld 21; 23, Craig Wyers/Terry Gaines 21; 24, Illiam Christian/Alex Trafford 20; 25, Dean Ball/Richard Lowes 20; 26, Phil Gunnell/Peter Hughes 20; 27, Louis & Jonathan Piggin 20; 28, Joe Cannan/Kylan Murphy 19; 29, Steve Bannister/Shantelle Thorpe 19; 30, Matt Gell/Phil Teare 19; 31, Tyler & Craig Shannon 19; 32, Ross & Luke Tunney 17; 33, Blake Kelly/James Kirkham 15.

Disqualified (change of machines): Daniel McCanney/Jack Faragher 28 laps; Jed Etchells/Jack Keenan. DNF Callum Purves/Mark Cringle 23; Sean Crone/Travis Meechan 11; Callum Cowley/Peter Beaumont eight; Grant Thomson/Si Fulton seven; Harley & Lewis Ridgway two.

Youth race (one hour): 1, Harry Beattie, nine laps in 1hr 05min 29sec; 2, Leo Gray, nine 1:07.06; 3, Oliver Herdman eight; 4, Alfie Phillips eight; 5, Riley Faragher eight; 6, Abe Cain eight; 7, George Watterson six; 8, Carter Cubbon three.

Manx Timing Solutionss