Jed Etchells has enjoyed a very satisfactory year in enduros, culminating in a brace of ninth places in the junior class of the final round World Enduro GP series.

The 18-year-old from Braaid campaigned a 300cc four-stroke MPS Sherco for former MGP and TT rider Mike Seward.

Concentrating primarily on the FIM European and ACU British championships, he finished a fine fourth overall in the Junior E2/3 class of the European series.

’I’ve improved massively since the early round of the European championship. Having started with an eighth place in the first round to now starting to get podium finishes and being the youngest rider in my class,’ said Jed.

’The final round in Poland in mid-September was definitely a tough one, being a three-day event, two of them involving eight hours of riding each day.

’Friday got off to a bad start when I unfortunately crashed in the first test, hitting a hidden hole on a very fast straight that threw me off the bike.

’I recovered and managed to finish the day, working my way up the leaderboard in the process.

’After a good rest I was back up to speed on the Saturday, lying third for most of the day. I felt strong, but small mistakes cost me a possible podium position.

’Sunday was the motocross race but on the first corner I collided with other riders. I fought back and finished fifth, catching the riders in front.

’Apart from the crash it was a good weekend, finishing fifth on the enduro tests as well as in the motocross race.’

Other rounds of the series were in Italy, Romania and Sweden.

He also had a good weekend at Hawkstone Park for the World Enduro Super Series event on September 26-27.

Saturday saw a series of sprints on enduro and motocross tests.

Jed continued: ’The enduro test went better than I thought and the motocross was really fun getting two sixth places. Overall, on the sprints, I finished eighth, which also counted as qualifying for the big race on Sunday.

’I didn’t get off to a good start in the two-and-a-half hour event as I got held up every lap and couldn’t find a good pace. But after my pit stop I managed some clean laps, enabling me to go faster and faster.

’At the end of the race I finished 13th, which I wasn’t over the moon with but I definitely learnt a lot.’

So to the Enduro World Championship finale at Rudersdorf in Germany on October 13-14, Jed rode to ninth in the junior class on Saturday, and repeated the position 24 hours later with test times as high as sixth.

Jed is riding the final round of the Dutch Enduro Championship at the end of next week, November 2-3.

His plans for 2019 are not too clear at the moment as Mick Seward has decided to retire after 15 years involvement with enduros.

He is still keen to support the promising young Manx rider in some form or another, but at the moment Jed is in the process of sorting a 2019 ride out, hopefully still with Sherco.

l Jed wishes to thank all of his sponsors for the great support he has received throughout 2018.