Isle of Man riders kicked off the ACU British Timecard Enduro Championship in fine form at Rhayader, Mid-Wales over the weekend.

Three Manxmen slotted into the top six in the main championship class on Saturday and Jamie McCanney led home Jed Etchells on Sunday for a one-two. This secured overall victory for defending champion McCanney on the new 450cc Factory Triumph.

Still referred to as the Jack Frost Enduro, conditions were more wet and windy than freezing but still somewhat challenging for the capacity field of competitors.

Two excellent special tests included one on the Cwmythig Hill motocross track.

KTM’s Jack Edmondson won day one by 11.9 seconds from McCanney with Etchells at another nine seconds in third on the Moto-fit Sherco 300.

One of the rides of the day came from 19-year-old Jack Keenan of St Jude’s who grabbed sixth place (best under-23) on the Fast Eddy Triumph 450 in what was his first ride in the championship class after winning the second-tier expert class last year.

Rain set in on Sunday morning and the route was shortened to three laps of the 30-mile course for the championship/experts and halved to two for the remainder of the field.

McCanney got off to a strong start on the opening test and eventually ended the day 7.66s clear of Etchells in what was his first competitive ride on the Sherco. His focus will be on the world championship over the coming weeks. The overall for the weekend was McCanney’s by eight seconds from Edmondson with Etchells at another 15s in third.

Keenan had bad luck on Sunday when his bike’s chain came off during a timed test, costing him approximately three-quarters of a minute, dropping him to 15th on the day and ninth for the weekend.

Ashley Kelly (Yamaha) finished 32nd and 28th in the expert class, Jack Collins (KTM) 38th and 35th in what was his first attempt at the class.

Will Keenan - Jack’s elder brother - had a strong ride on Saturday to finish runner-up in the on the four-stroke, Gas Gas less than two seconds behind winner Glen Phillips of Wales, following this up with sixth on Sunday.

Orry Millward had two rock steady rides in the clubman class on his KTM, finishing seventh on Saturday and sixth on Sunday.

Stan Cubbon made a nervous start to his British championship career with a couple of falls on day one, eventually finishing seventh. But the 17-year-old settled down to produce a brilliant ride on Sunday aboard Mike Shipley’s 200 Beta to finish top of the pile by a clear 18 seconds.

Mike Turner rode well in the veteran over-50 class on Saturday to finish fourth, but admitted it would or should have been fifth as fellow seasoned competitor Karl Greenall won the day, only to forgot to hand in his timecard at the end and be docked nine minutes!

On Sunday, Turner crashed his 450 KTM at an estimated 50mph in the second test after being third best on the opener. He retired with concussion.

Southern MCC has an enduro practice day at Carnagrie on Easter Monday (10am) and a timecard enduro on Sunday, April 19 - Centre round two - also based at club HQ.

- Ramsey MCC is running a timecard enduro on Sunday, May 10, based at Glen Wyllin campsite. Tests will be in Ballaugh and Tholt-y-Will plantation.