Borders bikers perform well in Scottish championship

Kelso rider Angus Bruce, centre, with dad Keith and sister Sophie (picture by Charlie Mackenzie).

Riders from all over the country gathered at each event to battle it out for a place on the podium at the end of the year.

The standard of riding was high, with a number of riders doing extremely well in difficult conditions.

Among these entrants were Scottish Borders club members Ben Thomson, Les Pole and Angus Bruce.

Ben (20), of Kelso, who races in the expert class, secured third place in the championship. He missed the first two rounds of the series after suffering a serious injury earlier this year.

Despite this setback, he was asked to be part of the Scottish team competing in France for the International Six Days Enduro in late August, where Scotland was awarded 15th in the club competition out of 167 other club teams.

This was a major achievement and would not have happened without the support from Ben’s sponsors, to whom he was very grateful.

Another of the Borders riders, Les Pole, of Jedburgh, managed fourth in the championship in the Clubman B class, also after missing two rounds.

Les (44) battled with Niall Patton all year and beat him by one place at the last round in Elgin, giving him enough points to achieve a championship position.

Following in the footsteps of his father Keith, who won the Scottish Expert Championship several times before going on to become British Expert 250cc champion), Angus (15) is the youngest ever rider to win a class at a Hare & Hound event in Scotland, after winning the youth championship last year.

Winning first place at the last round at Birkenhill, Elgin, was enough to bag him the Sportsman class Championship, even after missing the first round of the season becasue he was too young to compete in the adults’ class.

Despite this, Angus, from Kelso, battled with the older competitors to come out on top at the end of the season. He will now move up a class into Clubman B for the 2018 Championship next year – and was also grateful to his sponsors.

The Borders Club has extended good luck wishes to all its riders for the 2018 Championship.