JAMIE Roper took a step towards claiming a fourth GH Motorcycles/Husqvarna/ACU Eastern Enduro Championship title with victory at the fourth round at at Little Hadham in Hertfordshire.

The Sudbury Motor Cycle Club rider now has a nine-point lead in the championships class standings, however, a second-place finish for Halstead's Jason Morland means Roper can't relax just yet.

The class battle came to the last session on the day with Sudbury riders Jamie Roper, Chris Hockey, Craig Roper and Rick Roper setting off on the same minute and Morland off a minute later.

It was Hockey’s event to win after earlier successes but disaster struck halfway round the lap when his bike suffered a mechanical failure so he was out which left the three Ropers to fight it out.

Jamie Roper finished ahead but was a minute late thus incurring 60 penalty points while the other two were two minutes late, meaning it now rested on Morland, who knew if he came in on time he would be the winner.

However, he was one minute late giving the win to Jamie Roper, with Morland second, Tom Braddock (Lowestoft) third, Brendon Mayers (Halstead) fourth and Tim Rose (Diss) fifth.

It was also down to the last session in the Expert class and there was disappointment for Jake Gregory (Stowmarket), who came off in the woods to see a winning position taken from him as he could only manage sixth place.

Instead, Sudbury's Alex Rampton went to win with Ed Pooley (Stowmarket) having his best result in the contest in second place, followed by the Sudbury trio of Jack Nicolaou, Ryan McDonnell and Nick Barrett.

In the Expert Veteran class, Mark Chapman (Diss) held off his nearest rival Gavin Hockey (Sudbury) to win by four seconds with Mark Green (Sudbury) third.

Dan Willis (Stowmarket) was unstoppable in the Clubman class by taking the win by 12 seconds over Daniel Piper (Sudbury), who had his best ride ever in this class.

Alex Walton (Sudbury) was third with Lee Monger (Sudbury) fourth.

The first five in the Clubman Veteran class were Duncan Griffin (Diss), Dean Curry (Sudbury), Jason Carsboult (Sudbury), Jeff Turner (Sudbury) and Peter Andrews (Woodbridge).

Sudbury riders took the first four places in the Clubman Super Veteran class being in order Andy Mason, Graham Mays, Nigel Ross and Les Rampton.