West Glos Riders Chasing March Hares 2005

2004 event... 2006

Snippets from our riders:
Hero of the day: Goff Hannam on 18 and 4th in Pre Unit
Heroes of the day: Ian Hannam and Deb Smith on 54 and 3rd Sidecar
Whinger of the day: Ben Falconer because he rode the hard course and got his result lumped in with the girly route. 19 lost and 3rd over 250 but still beaten by Steve Venn
Luckiest find of the day: Stan Howitt lost both spectacle lenses in the mud, which his passenger Zoe Elsmore and Bill Ward managed to find again. It's believed Zoe was given the option/threat of driving the outfit if she didn't find them
Worst Handguards:Colin Davis (see pic)
Five of the day. Tony Falconer. Last section, zips up a muddy bank and the front mudguard seizes solid and over the bars in short order.
Stout fellas: Tony Falconer, Jimmy Marshall, Cliff Hannam, Jack Pegler, and Dave Harris, who although did not trouble the awards secretary, did not disgrace themselves and did get round in one piece on respectable scores - one poor soul lost 452, according to the results. He was not from our club.

The Report
ONE of the country's finest long distance trials defeated even the most experienced campaigners on Sunday.
Cotswold mud and some experienced course plotting by the Golden Valley Classic MCC contrived to take marks off all 130 riders in the March Hare Road Trial.
The day's lowest score was posted by N Woolley on two marks lost. He also took the pre-65 pre unit class, ahead of Cam's Steve Allen, who lost seven.
Stroud rider Nigel Townsend lost a highly creditable nine marks to win the girder/telefork rigid class, while Dougie Nolan from Tetbury lost 18 to claim a tight win in the unit pre-70 class.
Sidecar winners Dave and Steve Burge pipped Tony and Marcia Beeching by four marks to finish on 41, with Forest and Cheltenham pairing of Ian Hannam and Debbie Smith not far off on 54.
The trial started at Hunter's Hall, Kingscote and although covered around 50
miles, was never far from the start, with the majority of the going between sections on superb off-road tracks. Westridge Woods, Coaley, Tinkley Lane at Nympsfield, Frocester Woods and Chavenage provided some some truly excellent venues for the 32 sections, with Tinkley Lane's last section providing the one of the stiffest challenges on slick mud.
By far the biggest section of the entry came from riders of modern trail bikes, led home by C Bond from Dursley on six marks lost. He beat Graham Lavis by a mark who in turn pipped G Lane by just one more.
Also on eight marks lost was Keith Wells, winner of the specials class, beating Jon Bliss by two marks.
Thanks to the landowners whose generosity made for an exceptional event, and observers who braved the cold.

Results (ties decided on special test time)
Girder/Telefork Rigids
1 N Townsend (AJS) 9, 2 C Brown (Matchless) 12, 3 C Millington (Norton) 14.

Pre Unit Pre-65
1 N Woolley (Ariel) 2, 2 S Allen (Royal Enfield) 7, 3 R Halliday (Royal
Enfield) 13.

Unit Pre-70
1 D Nolan (Triumph) 18, 2 I Wathen (BSA) 22, 3 A Wear (BSA) 22.

2 Stroke Pre-58
1 G Steward (James) 37, 2 P Meek (Greeves) 61.

2 Stroke Pre-70
1 S James (Cotton) 37, 2 R Smith (Greeves) 40, 3 W Ward (BSA Bantam) 54.

British sidecar Pre-70
1 D&S Burge (Ariel) 41, 2 T&M Beeching (Triumph) 45, 3 I Hannam & D Smith
(BSA) 54.#

Sidecar Post-70
1 S Howitt & Z Elsmore (Honda) 92.

Specials
1 K Wells (Honda) 8, 2 J Bliss (Cotswold) 10, 3 A Bendall (Bultaco) 32.

Trail Bikes up to 250cc
1 C Bond (Honda) 6, 2 G Lavis (Gas Gas) 7, 3 G Lane (Gas Gas) 8.

Trail Bikes over 251cc
1 T Wall (Yamaha) 16, 2 M Worsford (Triumph) 17, 3 B Falconer (Gas Gas) 20.