March 6th, 2019.

Rock Oil/Michelin/Wulfsport Ecosse XC 2019 Winter Championship
Images: Peter Greenwood. Words: Ann Wood.

The Ecosse XC Winter Series was played out over three rounds at a new sand venue at Tyninghame Links, near Dunbar, during the months of January and February.


They're off, Ecosse XC Winter Series gets underway

Thanks to a tremendous effort from the club, and input from the riders, the one-mile-plus track proved to be interesting and flowing, with plenty of passing lines and big berms. Each round provided close racing from the quad competitors, and the championship was largely injury-free.

6th January, Round 1
The eclectic start line set two Scottish Champions Michael Brewis (2017 winner) and Paul Davie (2009 winner) against well-known faces from the scene such as Ian Neill, Iain Clark, David Vass, and Warren Allen, with newbies like Hugh Beattie in the mix too.

Brewis took the holeshot in all three motos and won the day by three points from Lorne Sinclair, but not without a fight. Eighteen-year-old Sinclair challenged the older Brewis all day, setting the fastest lap each race. Brewis’ determination showed through as he defended his lead on the first and last races while Sinclair took a well-deserved middle-race win

While Brewis had a huge lead by the second lap of race one, two battles were being played out behind him. Mark Wilson, Vass, Gary Atkinson, and Ayrton Knowles were being trailed by Sinclair, Davie, Neill, Richie Cornett, Allen and Beattie. While the two groups huddled together, jockeying for position, Sinclair picked them off one by one, finally tucking in behind second man Wilson for the last two laps before making his move just before the chequered flag. Back in midfield, Allen dropped off towards the end, leaving Knowles and Vass completed the top five. A fuel issue put an end to Atkinson’s day and George Oliver’s machine gave up the race only four corners from the finish line, only to fire up again, fault unexplained, once the race was over.


Michael Brewis

Brewis and Davie, fought for the holeshot on race two but by the end of the first lap, Davie had faded to midfield while Vass, Sinclair, and Knowles chased down Brewis. It was Sinclair who succeeded in catching and passing him, on the third lap leaving Knowles to ride a lonely race in third. Wilson and Vass had a good scrap with Wilson finally passing Vass on the penultimate lap. Robbie Wood steadily made his way through the pack, passing a battling Davie and Beattie, but his next target, Oliver, was beyond his reach.

With dusk falling rapidly, Brewis was once again first into the corner. Knowles got a bad start but, by the end of the first lap, he was up to fifth, going on to pass Vass and the Wilson to take another third. By lap three Allen and Davie were clearly feeling physically challenged while James Nisbet found a late spurt of energy and steadily made his way up to midfield. Oliver and Wood had another good race, Wood managing to pass him this time to finish fifth, just behind Vass whose experience over the youngster showed when he firmly closed the door on Wood’s attempted pass. Beattie, with no previous experience at all, pushed on to finish in an impressive seventh in race three, his best result of the day.

Overall on the day: 1. Michael Brewis 132, 2. Lorne Sinclair 129, 3. Ayrton Knowles 118, 4. David Vass 110, 5. Mark Wilson 107, 6, Robbie Wood 103.

20th January, Round 2
Having enjoyed a close battle at the opening round, a repeat performance was anticipated between series leader Michael Brewis and runner-up Lorne Sinclair, however, with Brewis side-lined thanks to a training injury, Sinclair quickly became the hot favourite to win.


#60 Mark Wilson, #101 Lorne Sinclair, #126 Ayrton Knowles

Robbie Wood shot off the start line to take the holeshot ahead of Rookie Hugh Beattie. Scottish Champ Paul Davie was next up, with Sinclair trailing down in fourth. By the end of the first lap, however, Sinclair had climbed to second and a half lap later, he picked off Wood to take the lead, the win and the fastest lap. Behind him, Wood, Beattie and Davie held second to fourth respectively while further back, a stalling machine marked the start of technical issues which were to last all day for Peter MacGregor while Richie Cornett and James Nisbet ran a steady race to pick up valuable points.

The holeshot on race two was taken by Davie, with Beattie again just behind, followed by Sinclair and Wood. Beattie ran wide towards the end of the first lap, making it easy for Sinclair to nip past both him and Davie, and Wood followed suit, moving comfortably into second. The two teenage riders held their one-two positions for the rest of the race and Beattie and Davie did likewise, finishing third and fourth.

The final race of the day again saw veteran Davie take the holeshot, but three bends later Sinclair was back in command, with a lead that kept stretching right to the finish line. Behind him, a three-way battle was led by Davie, then Beattie and Wood. By the end of the second lap, Davie had dropped back to fourth and Wood had passed Beattie but this time, the dogged Beattie wasn’t about to give up, forcing schoolboy Wood to defend his second place right to the chequered flag. Davie maintained fourth, ahead of Cornett in fifth. Another exciting battle for the next two places went on for the whole race, with Nisbet and John Peters swopping places almost every lap. Peters crossed the line first, finishing the day on equal points, but one place above, Nisbet.


Lorne Sinclair

Overall on the day: 1.Lorne Sinclair 135, 2. Robbie Wood 126, 3. Hugh Beattie 120, 4. Paul Davie 114, 5. Richie Cornett 108, 6. John Peters 103.

24th February, Round 3
After missing round two due to injury, Scottish Champ Michael Brewis knew he could win races but the championship was out of his grasp as the final round of the Ecosse XC Winter Series got underway.

He set out his stall with a holeshot, fastest lap and the win in the opening moto. He made it look easy, stretching his lead further every lap, oblivious to the action going on behind him. Mark Wilson lay in second and defended his position for the whole race, despite vigorous challenges, first from Gary Atkinson then later series leader Lorne Sinclair. Behind them as the pack started their second lap, Robbie Wood was in fifth, just ahead of Ayrton Knowles then Hugh Beattie. But moments later Beattie took a heavy tumble, followed closely by a spectacular dismount by James Nisbet as Knowles overtook Wood. By the time they came around again, Sinclair had moved to third, sandwiched between Wilson and Knowles. The trio raced closely and at a hard pace right to the chequered flag.


Robbie Wood

Wilson was out first in the second race, but Sinclair was past him in a flash, setting the fastest lap with ease. While he streaked away, the battle for second was between Wilson and Knowles. Wilson again defended well until a close manoeuvre, four laps, in saw Wilson forced out over a berm. Both stalled but Knowles’ quicker electric start dropped Wilson to fifth, where he ended the race. While all this was going on, Brewis quietly made his way up from fourth on the first corner to pass Knowles on the last lap and take second across the finish line. The pair were followed by Wood who got up to fourth and maintained his position to the end.

The first lap of race three had the crowd on its feet as, within the first five corners, Brewis had taken the holeshot then rolled, Knowles who had narrowly escaped Brewis’ antics to take the lead, came to a complete stop when he failed to notice his kill-switch had come out, Nisbet spun out through the tapes and Shaun Tipping and Wood became entangled as the pack crowded in at the first bend. Sinclair and Wilson kept out of trouble at the front of the group and while Sinclair set the fastest lap again, Wilson had Knowles to contend with. Although Knowles was right on his tail by the last lap, Wilson took the runner up spot behind Sinclair, keeping Knowles in third. Wood meantime had worked his way up to fourth after his disastrous start, while Brewis, still aiming for points in the championship, recovered to fifth with a last lap charge.


Hugh Beattie

Overall on the day: 1. Sinclair 130, 2. Brewis 123, 3. Wilson 120, 4. Knowles 118, 5. Wood 112, 6. Beattie 100.

Championship
1. Lorne Sinclair, 394
2. Robbie Wood, 341
3. Hugh Beattie, 317
4. Richie Cornett, 299
5. James Nisbet, 287
6. Michael Brewis, 255
7. Ayrton Knowles, 236
8. Mark Wilson, 227
9. Paul Davie, 210
10. John Peters, 203
11. David Vass, 110
12. Peter McGregor, 100
13. George Oliver, 98
14. Gary Atkinson, 96
15. Shaun Tipping, 96
16. Ian Neil, 93
17. Warren Allan, 91


Winter Series Quad winners L-R: Hugh Beattie (3rd), Lorne Sinclair (1st), Robbie Wood (2nd)