Jake Euan Jake
26-1-2006
Diss MCC organised Brandon Park Enduro
’06 British Enduro Championship – round 1
Electraction TM UK riders Jake Stapleton and Euan McConnell started their ’06 British Enduro Championship campaigns in fine style placing in second and third positions respectively in the competitive Enduro 2 class at the Diss MCC Ltd organised Brandon Park Enduro. Finishing just 16 seconds apart at the end of the challenging one-day event the pair placed in third and fourth places in the overall Championship class results beaten only by reigning Enduro 3 world champion David Knight and former world champion Paul Edmondson.
After competing in the event for the first time in ’05 Australian Stapleton showed that he will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in this season’s BEC series and placed as runner-up to eventual event winner David Knight on the opening timed special test. Determined to top the E2 class Jake’s hopes of victory took a turn for the worse on the second special test when he broke his left foot peg after hitting it on a tree stump. Despite the obvious handicap of having to finish the test with just one foot peg Jake still managed to post the fifth fastest time before recording the second quickest time on the third timed test. With just a handful of seconds separating him from four-time world champion Paul Edmondson the fourth and final run through the rough and technical special test proved to be a frustrating one for the Aussie rider. Failing to beat Edmondson Jake dropped to the runner-up spot in the E2 class and into third in the overall Championship class results. Despite his obvious disappointment Jake showed that he has the speed to challenge for the E2 BEC title in ’06.
For Euan McConnell the event also proved to be a good one. Competing on a mid-sized four-stroke in BEC competition for the first time in many years, the Scott wanted to simply finish without mistakes. Despite his reserved approach to the race Euan showed that he had clearly gelled with the 450cc machine in the few short weeks he had been riding it. Fourth quickest on the opening and second timed special test, McConnell placed as the fifth quickest rider on the third timed test before again recording the fourth quickest time on the fourth and final timed test. Reaching the end of the event’s tight check without penalty on both the fourth and fifth laps of the race McConnell, like Stapleton, proved to be very much on the pace and finished with a solid result.
Jake Stapleton: “I managed to clear the tight check but I really had to work hard to do it each lap. It made it a really hard race. I felt pretty comfortable during most of the event but it has certainly been tough, really tough. I was using a bit too much energy during the tight check, which meant that I was getting a tired nearing the end of it. Apart from that I’m really happy with my speed and the way my event went.
“My first test went really well, I think I was second behind David. But on the second test I hit a tree stump hard and basically had no left foot peg for half the test, which obviously slowed me down quite a bit. I think if that hadn’t of happened then I would have finished a lot closer to Paul Edmondson. My third test was pretty good, like the first one, but then I blew through a berm on the last test, which was enough to lose me some time. Everything went fine on the last test but I just didn’t get it together as well as I would have liked.
“Not losing any time was a big thing and I feel like my speed on the special tests was pretty good. If things stay the same then it looks like being a really interesting championship.”
Euan McConnell: “With it being a new bike my game plan was just to make sure I didn’t stall it on any of the test, or fall off on any of them. I’ve only been riding the bike for two weeks so I’m still getting used to the four-stroke. I managed not to make any mistakes on the first test but I felt so comfortable on the bike that I pushed a little too hard on the second lap and fell. It was just a stupid crash in a slow corner. I calmed down after that and just tried to ride as smooth as I could. The third and fourth timed tests went well after that.
“I used my minute on the tight check on the last two laps but managed to get into a pretty good rhythm. There were a lot of riders to pass on the second to last lap, which made things interesting, and then on the last lap I was really tired. I’m really happy with my result and really enjoyed the event.”
Results – Championship class (overall)
1. David Knight 525 KTM 1337.83
2. Paul Edmondson 250 Honda 1391.98
3. Jake Stapleton 250 Electraction TM UK 1398.32
4. Euan Mc Connell 450 Electraction TM UK 1414.18
5. Simon Wakely 250 Honda 1418.33
6. Wayne Braybrook 250 Honda 1447.55
7. Chris Hockey 250 Husqvarna 1461.48
8. Richard Hay 125 KTM 1461.66
9. Edward Jones 125 KTM 1571.53
10. Tim Forman 250 Kawasaki 1575.23