By Jimmy Moffatt

THE Falkland Island MotoX Association has been busy over the Christmas period, holding an excellent Enduro event at the Murrell Farm just before Christmas and after Christmas a trial and Moto X event held at the Rincon Grande Farm.

 Photo by Jimmy Moffatt - Scott Roberts in action

The former well attended event was hosted by Ady and Lisa Lowe, and had riders circumnavigating Mount Low with special tests at the beginning and ending of each lap. Each lap was about 16 miles with three check points. Time penalties were awarded if you were late at each check point, involving an outstanding piece of organising by club chairman Jay Moffatt.

The Enduro was won by Andrew Alazia riding a Suzuki. A special mention must go to Curly Elstow who won the quad class, only losing one minute in the three laps, an epic achievement of skill and endurance.
The event at Rincon got under way with the Clubman Class, riding three timed laps to collect points; the fastest winning.

The laps had a mixture of beach shingle, rubber dinghies, valleys, hills and the biggest grass bogs Arthur could find. The winner was Shane Clarke on a Goose Wing Honda, closely followed by Nathan Lowe, with Jimmy Moffatt in third. Kelly 'what gates?' Moffatt provided the entertainment.

Meanwhile, the Peewees had started racing at the other end of the valley. With a mixture of small quads and bikes, the youngsters were having a great time, with mums screaming and fathers shouting encouragement. The Camp kids with Adam Dickson leading, blew away the Stanley contingent; now there lies a challenge!

Arthur had planned the trial sections in the beautiful setting of Salt Creek Valley, but his sadistic mind had designed a very interesting set of obstacles for the Expert Class riders to negotiate:  bottomless ditches, 45 gallon drums and a seesaw, coupled with a few swamps, just to add a bit of gunge to the mix. However, they were obviously not hard enough as Jay Moffatt cleaned all the sections, Robert Ferguson only picked up one penalty and Nathan Gemmill collected only three points. The standard of riding is slowly creepingup.

The afternoon consisted of two 15 minute MotoX events. The Clubman Class was first off; Nathan Lowe taking an early lead with pensioner Jimmy Moffatt in hot pursuit.  Gary, riding like an accountant with his specs perched on the end of nose, made hard work of the track. His son James didn't help matters when he sprayed his dad with diddle dee every time he passed.

The Expert race, eagerly anticipated by the crowd, gave us a show of some very thrilling racing. Jay Moffatt winning the first race thought he may have had the day in the bag, but Robert Ferguson had different ideas; riding very consistently all day, he won the second race with Nathan Gemmill a very close second. Jay's bike, suffering from having Honda plasters stuck all over it, came in last.

The race was never going to be without incident as a high flying Arthur ploughed into the rump of Scott Roberts. An almighty crunch was heard by the spectators, but luckily both riders were able to walk away from the confrontation, though the bikes remained locked together like a couple of mating mud wrestlers.

All in all these were two excellent events, run in spectacular surroundings. A big thanks to all who helped at both venues: the land owners, marshals, medical staff, organisers, sponsors Arthur and Elaine and the many other people who make these special events work,  including the burger, chop and sausage flippers.