Round one of the Plews Tyres ACU British Extreme Enduro Championship took place over the weekend at the Raw Enduro Ballbreaker Extreme at Hapton in Lancashire. This year a brand new super enduro arena was added to an already amazing course and with over 300 riders attending, expectations were high for some great racing. To add to the excitement, our recently announced Plews Supported rider, Mario Roman was scheduled to race his first UK event in the Championship class.
@Chris Hudson (CH-Images)
Heading into race weekend we had a total of seven Plews riders in the championship class with two Spanish riders Mario Roman and Francesc Moret and five locals Dan Mundell, Radford Chugg, Matt Stuttard, Charlie Frost and Jason Balmer. Competition in this class was going to be tough with many championship worthy riders entered. We also had Jed Balmer set to race in the expert class.
Heading into the season we had the chance to catch up with Radford to chat about his expectations for the season. For 2026 he will have a big season. While he will be racing the full Hard Enduro World Championship he is also focused on all the British extreme rounds. He believes that compared to the world rounds, there are really good British riders in the championship so there will be tough competition but he is ultimately aiming for a couple podiums. Charlie Frost also shared that he will be racing the British Extreme this year as well as selective hard enduro rounds. His expectations are to get a top 5 overall position at the end of the season but is aware that anything can happen at the races and he will have some wild card riders to contend with.
@Chris Hudson (CH-Images)
Riders were in for riverbed, ravines, logs, tyres and of course the infamous hill climbs. Cold and muddy conditions added an extra level of difficulty for riders, but entertainment for spectators.
Mario absolutely asserted his dominance in the race taking new lines and showing the locals how it’s done. While Mario may not have started out with the fastest lap times and had some proper competition from Dan Peace, he would keep a consistently fast pace towards the end lapping riders and making a pass for the lead. Mario Roman takes the win at round 1! He shared that he was happy to take his first win of the year and that this round was evidence of a demanding championship ahead. “The riding was amazing and the Plews Tyres “The beast” was unreal in the uphills”.
@Chris Hudson (CH-Images)
@Chris Hudson (CH-Images)
Francesc Moret finished his race in 5th in the championship class, a solid performance from the Spaniard with consistent lap times and even picking up the pace on the last lap. Reflecting on the race he said that he thinks he may need some more time on the bike but top 5 was a good result for his first British Extreme. In the next round he’ll be looking to get a podium finish.
Radford Chugg riding on his new Rieju bike finished in 8th. Unfortunately there wasn’t much speed involved from him during this race, rather just prodding along. He mentioned that his aim was to keep the wheels turning. The race was a bit tougher than he had expected with some sections he underestimated. A positive from the weekend was his feeling on the new bike.
@Chris Hudson (CH-Images)
Matt Stuttard finished his race in 9th position. He mentioned that as usual Hapton had tough conditions but commented how his Plews Spec B tyre was hooking up like a dream.
Dan Mundell confirmed that it was a really hard day with a lot of hard work. He hadn’t gotten much riding in since the last season and so when it came around the the last hour of the race it was quite a challenge. He had a good start and then found himself settling into the middle of the pack. He had a memorable moment of flipping his bike during an uphill which was spectacular to watch but probably not so much for Dan himself. He finishes his race in 10th.
@Chris Hudson (CH-Images)
Jason Balmer finished his race in 11th. He had a solid group of riders to contend with in the championship class and got some solid race hours down.
Charlie Frost has a hidden ability to make certain sections look easier than they are. After the first hour of racing it seemed that he really started to get into a flow but at this point the track had really started to take a beating. Recently Charlie has been dealing with a bit of arm pump during his races but with this track there were some good opportunities to give the arms a rest so he was able to overcome this challenge quite well. While this may not have been the best start to his season with a 12th position finish, he will be looking to improve on that in the coming rounds.
Jed Balmer was racing in the Expert class and finished his weekend in 5th position. Although he had some issues on his third lap, he knows that’s racing and was able to pick the pace back up on the final two laps.
Round 2 of the Plews Tyres ACU British Extreme Enduro Championship takes place at Tong on February 15th, where riders will look to build on their season-opening performances.