The Jubilee Trial 04
Report by Ben Falconer
An excellent Jubilee long distance trial was enjoyed by eight club members on Sunday, May 23rd.
Raring to go after a night "on the town" at the Ralegh's Cross start, Neil Hannam, Stan Howitt and Dave Harris and our club secretary Carol Nicholas were joined by Jimmy Marshall, Jack Pegler, Colin Davis, Tony and Ben Falconer.
As usual the start times meant not very much for the entry who were riding either Pamperas, Beta Alps, Serows or trick pre-65 tackle (rider profile: serious about winning or getting on), or enduro bikes (rider profile: serious about having a good ride round and/or younger).
After waiting 40 minutes to start we headed for a blast round the woods before 2 looseners, then on to the special test where we waited nearly an hour. This happens every year but it does split the entry up and after that we had a steady, queue-free ride all the way round.
Under clear blue skies and a hot sun we encountered 25 sections plus 3 special tests which weren't mega hard but challenging enough. More importantly road work was kept to a minimum, so hats off to the Taunton MCC for providing yet again lots of excellent going.
Who lost what you ask?
On the hard route, I lost three (still reckon it was two but I believe in trials karma - I'll get that mark back when I don't deserve it) and came third in the over 200 class. According to the results, Neil Hannam came sixth in the same class on eight, half of which were lost on the legendary graded hillclimb. Stan Howitt lost 22 to finish a creditable 13th in class.
On the easy route in the under 200cc class Jimmy Marshall came in fourth on 29 marks lost, Colin Davis came 11th in the over 200cc class on 10, Dave Harris lost 24, Tony Falconer battled a dodgy knee, cramp and a trapped nerve to finish yet another edition of this event on 47, and Jack Pegler lost 52.
Some names well known to the West Glos and Dean Forest Club were at the top of the pile - Richard Parkyn finished clean to win the event, ahead of Mike Mills (Pre 65 unit) and Colin Hedges (Pre 65 non-unit), who both kept their feet up all day.
Steve Venn dropped one mark and Keith Wells two. Combined with my result, we had a "1,2,3" to take the team award for the Cheltenham Home Guard on six marks in total. Being promoted to the CHG A team has done wonders for my confidence but now the pressure's on to make sure I stay inked in on the team manager's team sheet!
Many thanks to Taunton MCC for a great ride round and 25 well marked sections.
Results were available on the Taunton Club's ACU Web area but are slow loading, (PDF of scanned image 500kb) but still readable.