Rockstar Husqvarna factory rider Graham Jarvis first footed into South Wales to start the New Year off with a win at the Valleys Xtreme 2 Day Enduro in Walters Arena near Glyneath, David Knight - who had a hip replacement 7 weeks ago - was 2nd on his new Mark Jackson Eurotek Racing team KTM and Cornishman Keelan Hancock (Husqvarna) was 3rd.
The weekend began at on Saturday morning with a sighting lap of the Technical Prologue as visibility was restricted by a heavy fog that blew in on a warm front, There were 2 timed laps before lunch and then organisers had planned 2 speed tests on the forestry roads in the afternoon but the second run was cancelled after an accident. Overall Kip Herring set the fastest times and he took the pole position with David Knight in 2nd and Graham Jarvis was 3rd,
On Sunday morning the main 3 hour race began after a slight delay. The challenge for the riders was to complete 3 laps of the course. The battle for the lead was soon joined between Graham Jarvis and David Knight until David jump into a ditch filled with coal dust silt where he got firmly stuck and he lost 20 minutes. At the end of his first lap Graham Jarvis was the leader ahead of Keelan Hancock. David Knight was 7th.
On the 2nd lap the leaders not only had the challenge of the natural obstacles but also the ranks of struggling riders to pass. By the time Graham Jarvis had completing his 2nd lap on schedule he had lapped 150 riders. David Knight was also working his way through the field and he had moved up into 4th. With twenty minutes to spare before the course was closed Graham Jarvis completed his 3rd lap and won his first Hard Enduro of 2017, David Knight just missed the 3 hour time limit but he clinched a well deserved runner up award as Keelan Hancock said when he came home in 3rd.and got his breath back. Olly Megson from the Isle of Man was 4th and - despite running out of petrol - Matthew Jones finished 5th. Chris Madigan was 6th, Anthony Millar 7th, Tom Herring in 8th was the best Clubman, Kip Herring was 9th and Roger Holland was 10th. Only these 10 riders completed 3 laps Tim Forman was 11th, Andy Bisset 12th, Danny Thomas 13th, Ricky Wiggins 14th, Liam Phillips 15th and Paul Davies in 16th was the best Over 40.
After the event Graham Jarvis said "that was a tough race". An anthrocite David Knight was happy with 2nd and even happier to have got out of a muddy ditch. Keelan Hancock loved the No Help sections that tested him to the limit.
