The Old Dam Novice & Trail Bike Trial - 25 July 2009
Words: Colin Jones Photos Ian Vessey and Pual Dekkers
Results are up on the right - Note they are Provisional, I've even put some mistakes in so you lot will actually come back to me to correct them. Can you spot them? Can you? let me know admin@wgdfmcc.org.uk
Thanks for the updates(See Results) - How did we miss Mark Lovett out! sorry. And since when did Josh Ride Chris Harvey's Norton!. OK, so it turns out they are all my mistakes, nothing new there.
Photos from Vess at this superbly picturesque venue, Sadly everyone was too busy riding or marshalling to take more photos, Vess and Paul Dekkers included.
The late afternoon picnic afterwards contained a few riders who could remember riding here in the 60's and competing on his Greeves against the new hich tech weapons of Radial finned Bultaco Sherpas, and one who shaped his future sporting interests after being press ganged into observing as a teenager - Ah well, its kept Goff out of trouble for the next 45 years!
It seems that clerk of Course Matt Neale hit middle ground for rider satisfaction as complete newbies could ride around cleaning most sections most of the time on the easy route and the hard route took marks off way better riders on Pre 65 machinery and big trailbikes too. When asked if they wanted to do another lap some riders were happy to put their bikes back on the trailers while others could clearly have managed another 3 laps.
As this was very much a testing-the-ground event, we would appreciate your comments and ideas. We are well aware of the limitations of access at present but are working with the land owner to improve things. There are obvious limitations to the difficulty of sections available, but as Goff put it 'this would be suitable for the Vintage MCC club's events.'
About the Trial
The venue is slowly being improved but can be used for low impact events now, so an easy trial allows us to assess the possibilities. You will be faced with Mud, Rocks and Steep climbs. (And that is just to get into the carpark!.... No, only joking. Thanks to a work party where some of our members gave their time and energy there is getting a better access road.)
This first Trial will have classes for Enduro, Trail Bike, Pre 65, Novice/Beginner Trials and Novice/Beginner Youth. This event really will be aimed at First Timers Too
This will be the club's first trial on this land for about 30 years. (I can remember Steve Saunders riding here as a schoolboy on a Bluetaco!) It used to be the venue for the Boxing Day Trial and also the club held Motocross (Ok, Scrambles) events here too through the 60's and 70's.