Moto Británica Trial - 6 Oct 2013

Final Results

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Other Years (In various forms!): 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003.

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Ben's Press Report

The Video is here. Scroll down or click

A STUNNING ride under sunny skies saw Keith Wells take a convincing win in the Moto Británica trial.

His score of just 12 over 31 sections was some way ahead of Alan Wright's carded 19, and that it was achieved aboard his relatively hefty Honda TL250 made it all the more remarkable.

Wright, on a nimble 178cc BSA Bantam was the only other rider who scored under 20 but two fives cost him dear. (Sorry Alan, Your determination to keep your feet on the pegs was caught on video - right up to the bit where your rear sat in the stingers! As you can see above. ed.)

The first was at Carol's Water Feature, at Clerk of the Course Ian Wixon's rocky back garden which formed the centrepiece of the event with 10 sections. Virtually all of them were based on rocky gullies and got most of the riders sweating.

Wright put in a cracking performance on the first section at that group near Monmouth, along with fellow pre-70 2 stroke riders Mick Chapman and Andie Smith. All three crept through the Panther's End section with pinpoint accurate rides over troublesome rocks.

The only other rider to get away with just a dab on what was probably the hardest section in the trial was Rob Breakwell. The former Wyegate winner turned down his dad's offer of a Beta Alp for the day and brought out his KTM EXC 300, which he cajoled and bullied around the tight sections for just 22 marks lost in total.

Rob misunderstood when we said he'd get a 3 if he was footing out of the ends cards and gave us 3 foot clear of the ends cards instead!

The highlight of his day's performance for many wasn't actually in a section however. While lesser mortals relied on the Clerk of the Course and one of the hardy band of travelling observers in Mike Allen to drag them up a tricky bank between sections in Forge Wood, Breakwell spotted a less obvious line.

The 4ft stone wall in the middle of a near vertical 10ft bank would not have looked out of place on the expert route in a centre championship trial but proved no problem for Breakwell, who also set the record for airtime in another Forge Word section. (That's Rob on the right. ed.)

The event started life as a sidecar-only event for outfit crews when they were no longer catered for in the Wyegate classic long distance trial. Propagated by Stan Howitt and fellow charioteers for many years, it's since become a favourite for pre-65 and trailbike trials riders.

A pecularity of the event is some sections which must be ridden without inspection, and it was one of those, a Wyegate classic, Sunnyside, which caught Wright for another five.

This time around 30 entered and next year there may well be more, as although it wasn't the easiest ride round, it was the most enjoyable and sociable with a cake stop half way round included in the entry fee.

Best trailbike class rider on the day was Glyn Smith, who kept smiling despite suffering a broken rear mudguard when his Beta Alp coughed on a tricky turn. Gerry Minshall had a tidy day on 21, along with Mick Chapman, and Andie Swift on 23.

Thanks to all oberservers, landowners and cake bakers for an excellent event.

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Snippets

Did anyone else get any photos we could use? (admin@wgdfmcc.org.uk)

The Sidecargate first changed its name to Moto Británica in 2008 when Stan ran a round of the Rickman British Bike Championship. My spell checker imposed the British spelling as most of us can't find the accents required on the keyboard for the Spanish translation of British Bike Event!

NSC 7.11 - need I say more! The Ben Fund needs your donations, brought to mind when one of our own is still in hospital.

Did you count how many times the Observer's names cropped up on the results section listing? Yep, they worked their collective butts off. Did you notice our youngest and oldest competitors also Observed - there's devotion to our sport! I vote Roy for President - Oh, he already is.

More to come.

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Clerk of Course Ian's Notes

Thanks for all those who helped put on the 2013 Moto Britanica Trial: Vessey and Darren for PR work, Anth for testing the road book, Rod, Dave and Stan for all their work clearing and marking the sections, and all the club members who helped on the day with observing, some covering four sections. Special thanks to Colin for all his work and skill to make entering so easy and for correcting my mistakes (I think he means 'pernickety b...' ed.) and last but not least to Carol for baking the cakes that seamed to go down well.
Please give us your feedback on what you thought of the event. If it was too long or too short, come to the club meetings and help plot a route.
If you thought the sections were too hard or too easy, then book a week off work next September and come and help cut down trees and move rocks.
Provisional date for next year 5th October.
Ian.

and the previous Intro was:

Thanks to Stan Howitt who's organised this event for many years as a twelve rider maximum event. This year we've got MSA approval to run a full event so hopefully we'll get a good entry. The event is aimed at Pre'65 riders and started out as an alternative to those who found the "Wyegate" too long and not easy enough for sidecars (hence the original name of 'Sidecargate') Where are the Sidecars now?.. This event will be about 25 miles with roadwork, so you and your bike need to be road legal. The course will be similar to previous years with the old favourites of Forge Wood, Lords Grove and a few rocky bits in my back yard, plus a few new sections!
As well as the Pre'65s we've got classes for air cooled trail bikes, twin shocks and Pre'70 two strokes, so get those old bikes out and come and have some fun.

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Vid from this year's Moto Brit'

 

Moto Británica Trial 2013 from Colin Jones on Vimeo. (Go to Vimeo for HD version.)

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Section Statistics

Use: for instance there was only one 5 on section 2.

Section	0	1	2	3	5	Tot
1	1	0	0	25	2	85
2	19	3	2	3	1	21
3	13	5	1	6	2	35
4	7	7	6	2	6	55
5	13	3	3	2	6	45
6	21	2	1	0	1	9
7	17	5	1	0	1	12
8	17	1	3	2	2	23
9	15	0	1	5	3	32
10	20	3	0	0	1	8
11	22	1	2	1	0	8
12	23	1	1	1	0	6
13	22	0	1	3	0	11
14	7	8	2	0	8	52
15	0	4	0	11	9	82
16	9	3	4	5	3	41
17	2	3	1	17	1	61
18	0	1	2	13	8	84
19	7	3	1	12	1	46
20	6	4	2	8	4	52
21	1	4	1	9	9	78
22	2	3	3	5	11	79
23	18	2	2	1	1	14
24	13	5	1	3	2	26
25	20	1	0	0	3	16
26	3	3	2	11	5	65
27	23	0	0	0	1	5
28	5	4	4	8	4	56
29	24	0	0	0	0	0
30	17	4	0	1	2	17
31	21	0	1	0	2	12
Rte Tot:	388	83	48	154	99	1136