Round 1 of the Simon Green Motor Engineers sponsored series certainly got off to a great start. A Healthy entry of 68 riders arrived at Parkwood Tong ready to take on what the course plotters had marked out.
Utilising some of the Extreme Enduro parts of the woodland certainly allowed some of the riders to feel like Billy Bolt for a moment.
On the Championship Course, Danny Gamble showing his usual skill full riding took top spot with an impressive 2 marks lost.
Close behind Danny with 7 marks dropped was equal scoring place riders John Lydamore and Paul Kettlewell, with John taking 2nd place with most cleans.
Following John and Paul was Ricky Mellon, dropping 13 marks of which were two 5’s which I’m sure knowing Ricky we’re silly 5’s.
Clubman A:
The over 50’s certainly dominate this route, with Paul Jackson taking first place on his Beta with only 2 marks dropped.
Once again a tie for second place, between TRS mounted Phill Hammond and Beta rider Stewart Houghton who finished on 3 marks dropped.
On to the Novice Class, Michael Benn took top spot with 9 marks dropped, 7 of which were lost on section 12, so giving him something to take away and practice.
Tom Green , who just like Ricky Mellon, can make his Montesa 315 dance and is always impressive to watch, took second place with only 2 marks difference to first place.
Mason Carter finished off the Novice podium with 14 dropped, section 12 also taking the most of his points.
Clubman B:
Clubman B is certainly a very diverse route, with Novice, O50, Twinshocks and B class riders.
Jonny Waterhouse decided to come down from the roof tops for the day, and it’s good that he did. With only 8 marks lost, he was first in class and first on course, a healthy 5 marks away from second place rider Mark Whelan, who took first in the O50 class.
Equalling Mark’ 13 dropped marks, was Elliot George. Third on route and second in Novice class.
Stephen Wilde was the only Twinshock on the day to finish, and with an impressive 16 marks lost.
B class rider and TRS80 mounted William Blackwell was a very respectable 9th place on route with 28 marks lost, once again section 12 taking the majority.
Clubman C:
As with Clubman B, we have a myriad of classes, which is great to see.
With only a single mark lost all day, Mike Kettlewell was up top on his TRS, but only 6 marks behind on his Ariel, showing the classic bikes are still competitive, was Ian Brogden with 7 lost.
Steve Jackson showing his many years experience, was third overall and second in class with 9 marks dropped.
It has to be mentioned, but Martin Fairburn not only dealt with his Secretary duties before the trial, but also threw his leg over a bike after a 15+ yr break, and on a TLR Twinshock, and finished 6th on route, AND finished 2nd out of 4 in class, AND, then got home shattered and got our scores out within a few hours of the trial finishing!
If that dosent deserve a round of applause I don’t know what does. Bloody good effort Mart.
Last but absolutely no means least!
Rocco Watson C class rider, has ventured out from the comfort of the conducted, and into the Adult world on his Evo 80 Junior, finishing a very respectable 11th out of 15 on route. If you see Rocco around, have a watch and a clap, he’s only small but he is a force to be reckoned with.
As always, huge Thankyou to all the observers, course plotters and officials, along with the land owners.
Next event: 23rd Feb at Addingham Moorside. Weather is due to be epic for the day. We just don’t know if it’s epically Cold, Hot, Snowy or freezing, we just know it will be epic
Chris Bancroft
Martin on his first trial back
HDMC Trials UK Ltd 1st Conducted round.
What a fantastic time out for the 1st round of the Trials UK sponsored HDMC conducted series.
It’s great to see our youth riders moving up the ranks.
We had Yellows moving to Reds and Yellows moving to the new 50:50 route and Whites to Yellows.
PARKWOOD once again provided the perfect setting to allow a bit of all kinds of obstacles.
On the Red route Benjamin Swainson had an excellent opening ride on the Red.
Benjamin was at the top of the Yellow route for some time, so to see him come out of his comfort zone and apply his amazing skill to a harder route was great to see, and it paid off as he took first place on 31 marks dropped.
Tom Mitchell is on a mission for 2025.
Toms team manager has spoken to him for this years strategy, which is to utilise his grit and determination along with his ever increasing bike skills and hammer the Red route as practice for the British Youth.
It’s a great strategy and as with Benjamin, is paying off nicely. Tom took 2nd place on 53 marks, which is a great score for the first trial on the Red.
Watch these two names!
In 3rd Place with 72 marks dropped is Arthur Adams. This lad is just Epic! He literally throws himself into it and dosent give up. Size is his down fall, and that’s bike size, so to be competitive against the bigger wheel bikes is impressive.
50:50 Route.
The 50/50 route was put in place to bridge the Yellow to Red gap.
As with any new change, is is always nerving. Is anyone going to enter, is it really needed!?!
Thankfully it was indeed a success! It allowed Josh Bancroft, Wilfred Fawcett and Maisie Danes to ride at a level that tested them without knocking confidence.
Josh Bancroft took the challenge by the horns and really rode well. It took a few sections to get back into the rythm after the Xmas break. But once into it, his riding was impressive to watch. A lesson for the day, was to not wipe your nose when holding your bike on the clutch/brake whilst dapped, as the bike will roll back! Fast track from 1 to 5 haha, luckily it was a mistake that could be afforded, as he took 1st place with an impressive 36 marks dropped.
Wilfred Fawcett, is also coming on leaps and bounds on the Beta 80, tackling what’s in front of him well. Taking 2nd place on the day with 56 marks dropped was also an impressive score.
Coming up fast behind the Beta Boys is Maisie Danes on her Beta 80. Maisie has spent a long time up top on her OSET, she has now moved to the art of internal combustion, so is quickly learning lots on new skills coupled with muscling a bigger bike around. She may momentarily have dropped down the score board for a bit, but mark my words! It won’t be for long at all, she will soon be back fighting for top spot. So Wilfred, Josh, enjoy it whilst it lasts. Maisie is coming for your top spots. Finishing 3rd on the day with 65 is too impressive for only her 4th time on petrol and first time at this level.
Yellow Route:
Two riders on the Yellow Route today, Alfie Dykes having another solid ride to take first place with only 17 marks dropped, but starting to put the pressure on the seasoned Yellow Route rider is Oliver Clark, who has moved up from White and who had an outstanding ride today.
Dropping only 4 marks more then Alfie with 21, to take second place.
He has certainly set the bar high for the rest of the year.
White Route:
Freddie Moore is a welcomed new starter to the game, who took the top spot with 10 marks today, so well done Freddie.
It’s always good to watch the Fawcett cousins competing, they do have a good day riding with each other.
Jack just pipped Ned to second place by 2 marks, with Jack taking 2nd place on 11 marks to little Ned’s 13.
All in all it appeared a great day with lots of smiles. And as always, happy for feedback good or constructive.
Thank you all for coming along and thankyou to Chris, Chris, Joe for marking out and Paul Swainson and Jo Dykes for observing .
Feel free to share Pics and Videos
Pre-event info:
Main trial, usual 4 routes, beginner friendly Easy route, an easy Middle route and then a slightly harder 50/50 middle route, then the hardest route (which is still Novice friendly about the same level as Clubman B on a Yorkshire Centre trial))
Easy route – follow Green flags only
Middle route (easier) – follow ALL Red and blue flags Except where there are White and Yellow
Alternative flags to follow
Middle route (harder) – Follow either the Middle route (easier) as above OR
follow the Hard route below where stated at the start of the section
Hard Route – Follow all red and blue flags and no others
A bit more info on trials, sections and severity here
Plus 3-4 route kids conducted event
11am start
Hopefully the Parkwood chuck wagon will be open
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