Neil Westcott Memorial Trial - 27 Nov 2005

Despite snow and ice up on the wilds of Exmoor, Geoff Westcott and his team once again put on a super long distance trial, like they used to be.

Just 14 graded sections and a special test spread over about 60 miles might not sound too exciting but then again, this event was oversubscribed. And with good reason – it's a brilliant ride round and the sections are sensible.

They are a different test to most other trials, because being graded, riders lose marks according to wherever in the section contact was made with the ground. So a rider can drop a dab near the start of the section and lose as much as 12, or fall off near the end and lose only 1.

West Glos members who had the best understanding of the dark arts of graded trials were the Bishops, Julian and Clare. They took the Royal Enfield round for 1 and picked up a 1st class award too. They were second overall to Chapman and Butler's rip snorting KTM outfit.

Stan Howitt and Zoe Elsmore lost 23 on on the XL 305, finishing 10th of no less than 16 chairs.

All the favourite sections were present and correct – Tony's Delight didn't delight many, Allercott Pits which was a bit easier than usual, Stetford Rocks, Broford, Hannycombe and Bratton Woods.

Plenty of West Glos solos were in evidence too. Cliff Hannam (18 marks) and Tony Falconer (20) were in the top half of the results, Jack Peglar pitched in with 30, pipping Jimmy Marshall by just 3 and Dave Harris by nine. In truth, all had very good rides, because one slip of a foot from the pegs can mean losing big marks.

Your correspondent rode round for a jammy 8, which was nearly as many punctures as I picked up on the EC 200. With straightforward sections, I reckoned the lack of lock on an enduro bike wouldn't be too much of a problem, so we left the Pampera at home. But a lesson was learned – leave the mousses in! Pulled valves and compression hits caused no end of grief. Thanks to Karl Groover for the "loan" of a new rear tube and a slime bottle, and Mr Stringer (#63) for the use of his pump.

Roped in to the Cheltenham Home Guard team, I was given the usual pep talk – "You're riding that?!" – but we grabbed the team award too, with Keith Wells on 3 and Dave Eeles on 9.

Thanks to Geoff and the Exmoor club for a great day out, yet again.