ACU Dorset Hare and Hound Race - Pollard robs police

Every year the annual Dorset Police hare and hounds event attracts greater numbers with riders now drawn from Lands End, London and South Wales. 

This year there was a new forest venue at Bovington, where the Police had carved a course of six challenging miles the like of which is rarely seen these days.  A full entry list was a just reward for the excellent course the riders found.

Twenty championship riders were the first to be released at the forest, a soggy start filed ensured things got messy very quickly for all with spinning wheels covering the waiting Experts line in mud. 

All the riders got away safely all be it a bit muddy.  

The first bike back to the start area after 18 minutes was that of Rob Pollard on his KTM 300. Rob had ridden superbly the week before at ‘The Tough One’ and found the demanding Police course to his liking.  

His effortless riding style masked his brisk pace through tree stumps, brash and hidden ditches. 

Rob had managed to pull a 20 second lead on his first lap from hard charging Mark Cornick making his debut also on a KTM 300, forty seconds behind was young Bradley King on his Gas Gas 250 just ahead of Yamaha mounted Gary Wright.

It was not long before the first Expert returned with Yamaha mounted Army rider Neil Hawker leading the way, who despite a lack of riding time during the last year due to overseas deployments was riding well. 

Moments behind him was Steve Rogers just ahead of a gaggle of experts; Brad Armstrong, Christopher Ware, Luke Stringer and Paul Armstrong who were all within a stumble of each other.

The Over 40’s are a wise bunch and wisdom on a Dorset Police course is a definite advantage, remember to finish first, first you have to finish. 

First Over 40 back with a 15 second lead was Simon Dobson on yet another KTM 300, second was Stephen Taylor then in convoy was Kevin Lamacraft, Kevin Eddolls and Steve Hill.

A small clubman four-stroke attendance and a large two-stroke entry might be a sign of the times. 

The four-stroke class was a run away victory for young Tyson Mayton-Jones who can’t be far from moving up to expert with Dean Reed doing his best to try and stay in touch with him. 

The two strokes was the largest group of the day and Ian Francis had a great opening lap with a large lead over the rest of his class. 

Malcolm Elliott was second almost a minute behind him but he also held a minute on third placed rider Kenny Ware.  As the race progressed Ian Francis tired and slipped to fifth. 

All the places in front of him were filled with riders who hadn’t featured on the opening lap. David Parker rode consistently to take third, Terry Beecham recovered from a slow first lap to take second and Richard Tucker rode strongly to take the class win having been four and half minutes down on the opening lap.

Kevin Lamacraft ran out a convincing winner of the Over 40 class, Paul Doughty rode well but was always a shade slower than Kevin. 

Stephen Taylor and Steve Hill maintained their first lap advantage and took third and fourth respectively.

The Experts were lead home by a determined Mark Tucker who managed to squeeze past a battling Christopher Ware and Luke Stinger midway through the race. 

Going into their ninth and final lap Chris held a slender ten second advantage over Luke. On that final lap Luke snatched second place from Chris to beat him by a mere six seconds. 

Meanwhile Rob Pollard was cruising to victory, Bradley King rode a great race and finished strong but he just couldn’t claw back the lead Rob had built during the first quarter of the race.

Jamie Paget battled all through the race with Gary Wright for third place, they exchanged third place throughout the race but it was Jamie that held third place at the finish line.

A great event, it’s just a shame the Police only run one event a year.