25 May 2009

Electraction TM riders Gordon Clarke and Phillip McLaughlin showed their WEC experience by finishing 1st and 2nd at the opening round of the Irish championships held at a very wet Glendalough last weekend.
Heavy rain for the preceding weeks and on the event weekend made for a very wet route but the ground held up well and there were only a few parts of the course that cut up badly. A 40 km lap with 3 checks, ridden 3 times and a test which was very fast at the start and more technical at the end greeted the riders.
Gordon now back to something like full fitness following a series of injuries was to pip Phillip at the post with a 0.75 second win following the 3 tests. Phillip on the 450 TM was to win the first 2 tests but lost 11 seconds to Gordon riding the 300 TM 2t on the final run through the forest to be beaten by less than 1 second. Former north of England champion Andrew Reeves was to finish 3 rd followed by local trials turned enduro rider Paul Mc Laughlin 4th  but there was some margin of time between them and the two flying TM boys .
All in all a successful weekend for the Electraction TM riders in a event that eventually saw 60 % of the entry DNF.

Commenting afterwards:

Gordon… “yea that was ok, it was a bit sketchy on the fast part of the tests but I had good runs each time. No problems on the course, but it was wet and cold. Good to be back on the pace “

Phillip ……” I took it easy on the first part of the tests as I was concerned  not to hurt myself , got caught up with some other riders but generally was ok . I found the route quite easy even though there were guys stuck everywhere but it was a good run out if cold. Fair play to Gordon “.

Phillip will contest the next round of the GBXC in Devon on the 7th June and then Gordon and Phillip will travel to Finland/ Slovakia for the 4/ 5th round of the WEC.