The Roy's Stream Novice/Trail bike Trial - 10 Dec 2011
Final ResultsWords: Colin Jones, Chairman Vess and CofC says Photos: Vess and Colin. Vids: Helena Hunt, Colin.
OK folks, the Final Results are now available. Click the link on the right.
Nibbs has done it again. But we did manage to steal 4 single marks from him without resorting to poking him with the proverbial stick!
2nd place Rob Breakwell had a distinct disadvantage, too many 'mates' taking the mick, A works do the night before, An enforced bike change 20 seconds before the start (note to Sherco - need smaller sprocket bolts if we want to go down a tooth on the front on the 125 trailbikes.) And the worse problem was riding around with Dad (Roy) when you've just fived a section and dad gets through and it is all on video. Rob soon got over it and set off to beat Nibbs but it was not to be. Now if we can get Rob in for the Wyegate he can have another go.
We hope to have some more photos and video clips available here soon so come back again.
Anthony certainly showed us what the new Randonne looks like when dirty. He even had the dirtiest Punch card at the end.
Have a look at Anthony's scores and if you know him like we do you'll see the bike didn't hold him back at all, in fact we'll have to have a hard think about what class that should go in for the Wyegate. A quick chat to the chairman of the Trials and Enduro committee, John Collins, who just happened to be riding, and the committee is finding it hard to segregate the road based trail bikes from the trials based, but GasGas have listed it as a Trials bike, so it looks like it will join the Honda TL's in the specials class.
However, there are many riders who will have an easier ride around if they stop overbiking themselves. (yes, I know, me included.)
If you didn't get to blag a ride then you can pop into Haines & Co and see the cleaned version.
Did you spot our Rod, who is comparatively new to bikes and extremely new to Trials, who was riding the other Randonne. So take our word for it, that was a brilliant ride for him and the bike fits him well. Now if we enter him in the CHG Jan ride he should get his first clean on it.
That was a really good ride from local Matt Peake to win the Novice class. He'd not ridden a trials bike for 20 years and the bike was nearly the same age too. Mind you, with a score of 9, I think he's been keeping up with practice on the Pampera, so we are expecting a follow up success for the Wyegate. No pressure Matt!
Paul Farley was really on form in the Pre65 class, knowing that John Hartley was on the lightest BSA put the pressure on but riding the bored out C15 rather than the usual AJS 350 allowed him to wriggle out loads of cleans. The 2 heavy weights were left to slug it out with Dave Eeles' extra cc's on the 500 Triumph giving a better run up to the evil twin exits of section 10 but Ian Wixon's 350 version was clearly better on the rock step, or was that due to Ian's intimate knowledge thanks to helping carve the section out in the work party (not with a bike under him, I might add.)
Helena's Gotcha!
Get yourself a cuppa and sit down, we don't want you falling over and spilling it with laughter when you watch this video! And yes, it is anal to print out a results sheet and check what really happened. It was a fun trial!
Helena has some of the best crashes in this vid but I'm a bit disappointed with mine, usually all I have to do is point the camera and people fall off.
Colin's (Updated) Attempt!
Well attempt is the best word I can come up with without being rude. I've updated the settings now so it should be much better quality. And I've also added 3 minutes of footage that wasn't available before.
Somewhere in here you'll see: Owen's Loop, Chris' first refusal at the step, Rob Breakwell's 5 and his dad's 2, and not forgetting Stan practicing his 'off' on the step ready for Helena's camera later.
Event Sec Vess says
There was just over £47 in the pot on Saturday - so I ate the remaining 2 mince pies and made it up to £50 which will be going to 'The Alternative Animal Sanctuary' (Charity no.1111406) to help look after some cute little doggies and other critters.
Clerk Of Course Says
Muddy day at Rockfield. After our last trial at Rockfield I rashly said that if 15 people asked for another one I would Clerk it. Huw did ask and I forgot the other 14. I am easily pleased! We were always taking a gamble with weather in December but today it paid off. Just.
Much to our surprise, a week ago we had equalled the total entry of the previous event. I suggested to Chairman Vess that he bake another cake just in case. It was good job as by the start of the trial we had well over 30 signed up.
Sorting sections a fortnight ago wasn't hard. Several ran backward from previously and a bit of cutting found several more. Pictures on the club website showed the removal of a tree that over the past years had sunk and blocked the stream bed that had seen several visits in the past. Some brute force from landowner Roy saw that removed and we had a new section. I am not sure that all the riders were pleased about that. At least one wanted to know where the tree was and could we put it back please. This tree removal allowed access to section 4 which was a nice little step which caused little trouble to a talented few and a lot to the rest of the entry.
Section 1 was a zigzag around a few trees and several crossings of a brook. Easy, and on the whole, most people did ok here. Roy, who you expect to know better, clouted his head on a branch and upset what should have been a smooth attempt. No one else did so we can write that off as just daft.
Section 2 was an easy climb off a wooden bridge , a drop into the stream and a flat slab. Quite why it proved so hard at the end of the event I don't know. Lack of commitment I guess.(Yes Matt, we did notice you didn't try it! ed.)
Section 3 roughly reversed a previous section. It was easy when I marked it out and I didn't hear much about it so I suppose it was fine.
Section 4, as mentioned, was a gentle step. It reminded me of Nannies lane being about 4 feet tall, sloping in all directions and in a deep gully. Good practice for the Wyegate? Apparently there was a tree in the way that put off many riders. Dunno about that. One or two did manage to flip the bikes and there were several spirited attempts that did pay off. Paul Farley showed the pre 65's how to do it. Quite why Ian Wixon who was following didn't do the same I don't know. Colin spent a long time here, filming through his steering wheel and Glen did quite of lot of pulling. I heard tales of Rod exceeding expectations as well.
Section 5 was comparatively tame, but not plain sailing, being a touch slippery on the exit.
Section 6 was a re hash of previous section. Oh so simple to mark. I think Colin decided on this one. Down a slope, round a corner, round another and back up. Sounds easy. Eventually Anthony did get the little GasGas round for a clean but I think it took two fives first. There was quite a lot of backward motion here. I don't think its allowed in trials so why it happened I don't know.
Section 7 was up the field and I couldn't be bothered to walk that far but I heard no tales of action so lets assume it was easy.
Section 8 was again a reverse of a previous section. I nice gentle twisty drop into a flat stream. What could go wrong? Some one told me a tale of everything getting crossed up but I can't remember who. Roy?
Section 9 was in the bottom of this gully and was slippery to approach so I didn't.
Section 10 was challenging. A bit of use exposed a stump that was just where you wanted to be as you went into the section. Some riders who shall be nameless, started with their wheel inside the start cards. Maybe they allow this in GHG and pre 65 trials. The landowner is excused though. The final climb out did become a touch greasy although some easy exits proved that a touch of throttle solves everything. It was me that applied Roy's throttle as he was going to leave the bike in the stream and get heavy machinery to extract it. Nibs sure knows how to rev a bike but does the thing have to sound so clapped out though? Owen Chiswell managed to find grip where no on else did ! It's a good job he is tall as those bars were rather high. As was the back wheel.
As we were only expecting a dozen or so riders we didn't plan on so many wheels going over each section. One or two did get a bit tough but it was the same for everyone so tough!
At the end all of the cake was eaten, Glen's dog finishing off the crumbs, and the kettle had been boiled many times. Lots of excuses were heard and Anthony's little Gasser demo bike was tried by all.
Thanks of course to land owner Roy and all those who cleared the sections out before hand. Vess did a lot of signing on and Colin helped me mark the event out this morning.
Hopefully all the riders had a good time. Anthony did. He did four laps when everyone else did three. Maybe we should do it again some time. Matt
