www.wgdfmcc.org.uk

West Glos & Dean Forest
Motor Cycle Club

Celebrating 72 Years of Motor Cycling 1953 - 2025

Wyegate Trial 16th Apr 2023

Final Results now linked on the right.

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Video

A bit delayed is an understatement, but here's what Jackie viewed up until we had to repatriate a gearless Fantic with what later was diagnosed as very broken selectors. (You'll see what we mean at the end.) Enjoy/Endure!

I'm thinking of re-introducing the Pear award - for when it all goes Pear Shaped unexpectedly (perhaps we should call it the Perry Pear Award after our Gloucestershire variety). There are a few contenders. Votes to admin@wgdfmcc.org.uk

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Gallery

These are just some of the award winners and most of our club members but we have loads of other shots. We can email you a shot if we managed to capture you, just ask. admin@wgdfmcc.org.uk

Wyegate Cup winner Simon Welch Testing his Tom Welch fettled RE Turbo Twin ready for his first attempt at the Scottish Pre 65 Two-Day. It must have passed, I think.
Rob Breakwell - the 2012 winner on an Alp, lost out by most cleans to Simon but won the Trail Bike class with his test time, despite being on a barge length wheelbase!
Ray Samways - Always a strong contender, lost out on overall second by special test
Martin Gilbert at the top of Sunnyside. The only rider besides Simon to get 25 cleans. It's hard to believe he hasn't won it yet.
A really good showing from Dave Cottle with 24 cleans and If it had gone down to furthest clean then Dave showed great concentration for 14 sections. Only beaten by one...
2008 and 2014 winner Henry Bendall only managed to pull off the best of the Bendalls this time. Nice line Henry, gave a much better line to get around that tree.
Amory Falconer. What a start to LDTs. He's played in many of these sections as a toddler while Grandad multi-tasks childminding and observing and now rides Grandad's bike in his first road event as he's just passed his test. Good job too, he's riding the Scottish Pre-65 2-day Trial on a rigid next week.
Andy Frost. Another first timer who was another 24 cleans rider. His special test times are always going to be up there.
Ryan Woodward - has to go down as Mr concentration with 18 cleans straight-off and even then never dropped a 5.
Matt Welch is the effective Pre65 winner as brother Simon only gets one award in the Wyegate Cup and made sure with nothing less than 2 dropped.
Ian Thompson picks up the sole 1st Class award on a well sorted Greeves.
Ben Bishop convinced himself he was going to regret riding dad's old bike but did more grinning than we expected. and found lots of applause for his antics.
Matthew Bibby won the organiser's 'Spirit of the Wyegate' award. I bet he did 'miles' more than any rider on the day.
Geoff Muston easily won the Haines & Co. Trophy which covered the growing number of Trials biased Trail bikes.
Andrea Cottle won the Female class and had a contender with Vanessa Ruck this year though she had to drop out half-way through.
2013 winner Joe Bendall was having a bad day right at the start but could not recover from the 5 and 3.
Ben Falconer is clearly back on form and 'Towing' son Amo around could be all he'd needed.
Steve Wallwin had a lonely day with no pressure from buddy John who was having to miss this year.
Nick Worgan suffered too many 5's but still managed to lead brother Martin.
Martin Worgan kept his 5 totals down to 2 only 7 adrift from Nick.
First timer Ross Truszkowski had a great ride round on this really nice stock enduro. What me jealous!
Alf Bendall has to be the world's most experienced minder. Although he failed to bribe buddy Pete Hughes on the first Graded Hill for a score better than 3.
Mark Christopher has been campaigning th X-ride in our one-Day trials to great effect with 10 cleans to show for it. Now to turn those 5's into 3's or better.
Robin Looms was helping out with course prep on the TTR but will be looking forward to his 1st ride on an ex-Wyegate winning Alp next time.
Sam King has tried 3 bike types now with wins on Pre-65 and good rides on Trail. Enduro is on the way though.
Ollie Alford is one of our heroes who both rode and Observed, unfortunately he had a mechanical after lunch and a long wait for recovery.
Viv Jones was another mechanical victim with a gearbox full of neutrals thanks to a stump jumping out at his gearshifter at Nannies, but his first ride was great fun up until then. And yes, that was an L plate on there. Almost looks like a blatant Haines advert doesn't it! What learner wouldn't want to gain their riding experience on this 125?
Ian Brooking rode one of only 2 X-Tracks around to a good mid-pack position and only suffered 3 5's.
Doug Mant got his 4-Ride round for a total 1 more than Ian but suffered 7 5's.
John Syms was a last minute change of bike and class but it proved a tough change with 18 5's
And much later at the packed West Glos Sporting Review of 2023, A couple of the Welch brothers were presented with some of the club's most treasured awards. Simon on the right for the outright win and Matt for winning the Pre-65 and coming 5th overall .

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Info

Final Results (As Version 2) are linked over on the right.

The Tie system - Sorting Ties to TSR23 means Most Cleans, dabs, 2's etc. comes before Furthest cleans and only then will it be decided by the specials test/s. The Wyegate Cup needed to be in Overall order and only for classes A and C. So Simon had 25 cleans and Rob and Ray had 24 so it was down to Special Test times only for Rob and Ray. Rob's already talking about next year, so another win is still on the cards.

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Ben's Press Report

First run in 1983, the Wyegate Long Distance Trial returned to the Wye Valley after a break of three years and 90 riders supported one of the best-ever editions of this classic event.

A 90 mile route with 27 observed sections plus a time test included some ancient byways and lanes, many of which have claimed marks and the respect of riders over the years – Pant-glas steps, Craig-y-Master, Nannies Lane, Nant-y-banw, and Sunnyside to name a handful.

Trail Bike winner and second overall Rob Breakwell lost an early 2 at section three in the first group of sections at Pingry Lane just outside Coleford, as did third overall and second trailbike Ray Samways, and again they both needed dabs at the gully in New House farm. Samways cracked first with a dab at Pant-glas 2, then Breakwell returned the favour with a dab on the penultimate section at Mork Hill.

Just across the valley however, Breakwell, unaware of his tie break win due to furthest travelled with lowest score proceded to ensure his class win with a scintillating special test time which as a tie-breaker would have won him the Wyegate Cup, again. Third trailbike rider Martin Gilbert only lost marks on two sections but a 2 and a 3 meant he was out of the running for the win.

The stories of the day belonged to the small Pre 65 class which was headed by Overall and Wyegate Cup Winner Simon Welch who pipped his brother Matthew to second in class. Ian Thompson had a great ride for 11 marks lost, followed by Ben Bishop on his late father Julian's 350 Royal Enfield Bullet. Ben used the bike in the way that Julian would have approved – flat out up the final graded hill was an impressive performance.

Matthew Bibby rode his BSA C15 all the way from his home, rode the event and rode home, and Keith Samms bravely got his James 197 around the course with the assistance of a team of backmarkers, who had a tough but entertaining day.

Given the proliferation of long ride kits for trials bikes, an "other bikes" class was headed up by Geoff Muston aboard one of 11 Montesa 4Rides, with Martyn Goodall second on a TRS X-Track.

Sixteen retirements proved that this event is tough on bike and rider but all finishers were rewarded with a great day out in the Wye Valley with a pint, and a complementary hot pie at the end.

The club would like to thank the many landowners, and almost 50 volunteer officials who made the event possible. The Wyegate has been beaten by Covid and Foot and Mouth in the past but it returned as good as ever and will be back next year.

Ben Falconer - WG Press Officer

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Clerk of the Course says (Prior to)

Plans are well underway for the 2023 Wyegate. We have managed to get a permit through the new ACU system and are just waiting on route approval from Monmouthshire County Council. The route is a traditional Wyegate, around ninety miles, using as many green lanes as possible including all the favourites:Pant-Glas, Sunnyside, Craig-y-Master, Nannies, all looking harder to ride than ever before. We have got the garage at Llantrisant to open up for us as our fuel stop at half way, many older riders will remember we always used this garage in the past.

Having supported the ACU Trail Bike Championship for several years, with its passing we will be reverting to a one-route-for-all course with the aim of keeping all sections simple. The natural sections mentioned above will prove challenging enough!

We have debated long and hard over what entry system to use. For about the last ten years we have used the ACU online entry system which has worked very well and reduced the workload of our Entry Secretary. However, with the new ACU Sport 80 system there have been many problems as you will all be aware so we have looked at alternatives including going back to the original paper and cheque entries. But our hard working behind the scenes tech team have decided to stick with the ACU online entry system, mainly because it makes certain all riders have an ACU licence. Let's hope it works! Hopefully entries will open on March 7th.

Ian Wixon, Clerk of Course.

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Marshals

Thanks to our chief Marshal, Guy Calderwood, for taking on the unenviable task and he and All of us, including the riders, thank the many Marshals who came from far and wide to provide a great service for us and get a ton of free entertainment for themselves!

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Snippets

Simon now joins an exclusive club of those able to win on a Pre 65. Jim Delahay started the trend in 1983 on his, only recently sold, 1963 Greeves 24 TES 250 then Adrian Moss in 1986 then Tony Davis in 1989 then Steve Grindle in 2004. It would be quite a feat to do it on a long wheel base Enduro bike. I could be wrong but I think Nibbs Adams on the XR400 is the only one - to date. You were so near Rob!

You may have spotted that we've allocated the 'Spirit of the Wyegate' award, an unofficial award, to Matthew Bibby, a newcomer to the event, because he epitomised the intention of the original Wyegate back in 1983 where we aimed the event at Bikes that could be used for everything. We heard from our sources at the Land's End Trial the week before that he'd ridden that and a trial the next day and rode from his home in the midland down to the Forest, ridden the Trial, did a bit of fettling then rode back home again. Now that was the type of rider and Trail Bike that we aimed the Wyegate at, just that Matthew's bike also happened to be a Pre 65 as well. Now that is a Motorcyclist!

Vanessa Ruck had a last minute bike change that certainly challenged her sense of adventure. From Trials bias to Rally bias on the Husqvarna with its superb navigation aids. Still recovering from injury she dropped out at the halfway stage, possibly with the benefit of local knowledge of what she was in for at Sunnyside, Nannies and Pant-glas to come. Have a look at some of the amazing adventures she's been on on her website Thegirlonabike.com you'll see she's very capable.

Andrea Cottle had another of her many Female class wins. Consistency pays and being able to finish a really long day at the handlebars is the only way to win your class of course. There are many more females coming through the Trials training that YDS provide so Andrea could have some more company in the future.

The Neath club, who run the Fred Rist LDT, had a very capable team riding but Glyn Moses had 2 disaster sections that pushed him off a 1st class award and they must have chosen the wrong line at the surprisingly hardest section in the trial, 19 Nant-y-banw. Both Glyn and Marcus 5'd where Rist Entry Sec Pete Joseph was one of only 11 cleans on this section. Pete should be smiling about that as well as for now having more than the required 50 entries to ensure the Rist goes ahead.

The Wyegate is often considered a Family affair but this year takes the biscuit. The Falconers, who have been and still are major players in the ACU Western area with Grandad Tony who's Centre President and one of our Observers and persuader of Grandson Amory who's just passed his test. Amo's dad is Western Centre's website editor. Amory rode Grandad's Pampera 250 to a superb ride marred by 2 dopeys, a 2 in the water of Tregare and a 5 on the evil Nant-y-banw (have you all learnt to pronounce it yet?) Both of which his dad Ben cleaned, as parents do, just to wind you up! 'If only' is going through a number of Amo's fellow 1st Class award winner's minds, including another newcomer Andy Frost with 2 messed up sections and a good enough test time to get 3rd 18.49 if there was a tie. (Did you notice that Rob did his absolute damnedest to make sure he'd win any tie decider too 18.14 secs.) Perhaps the 8 hours plus riding day makes it hard to keep focus.

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Section Statistics

Section Score Incidence Tot
No. 0 1 2 3 5 10 Marks Sec. Name Avg
Trail Bike
1 36 12 5 9 4 0 69 Pingry 1 1.05
2 12 9 8 17 20 0 176 Pingry 2 2.67
3 13 2 12 29 10 0 163 Pingry 3 2.47
4 30 10 3 12 10 0 102 Pingry 4 1.57
5 41 1 2 10 9 0 80 Forge Wood 1 1.27
6 42 5 0 5 11 0 75 Forge Wood 2 1.19
7 34 11 1 10 7 0 78 Lords Grove 1 1.24
8 23 4 5 19 12 0 131 Lords Grove 2 2.08
9 38 12 0 3 10 0 71 Lords Grove 3 1.13
10 >40 3 1 5 13 0 85 Village Farm 1.37
11 20 3 5 12 22 0 159 New House Farm 1 2.56
12 13 6 7 28 8 0 144 New House Farm 2 2.32
13 44 2 4 12 1 0 51 The Graig 0.81
14 62 0 0 1 0 0 3 Jacob's Ladder 0.05
15 14 7 3 15 21 0 163 Sunnyside 2.72
16 33 10 3 10 1 1 61 Tregare 0.89
17 18 4 3 17 15 2 156 Trostrey 2.39
18 57 1 0 0 0 0 1 Allt-y-bela 0.02
19 11 9 0 5 29 0 169 Nant-y-banw 3.13
20 34 8 2 3 7 0 56 Craig-y-master 1 1.04
21 46 1 2 1 4 0 28 Craig-y-master 2 0.52
22 23 12 2 7 9 0 82 Nannies 1.55
23 12 8 3 17 11 1 130 Pant-glas Steps 1 2.35
24 20 12 0 14 5 1 89 Pant-glas Steps 2 1.55
25 39 2 3 2 4 1 44 Madgetts 0.68
26 15 16 3 9 9 0 94 Mork 1.81
27 24 10 6 6 6 1 80 Forge Wood 3 1.35
Rte Tot: 794 180 83 278 258 7 2540 1.55
Other Bikes
1 8 1 0 5 3 0 31 Pingry 1 1.82
2 1 3 3 7 3 0 45 Pingry 2 2.65
3 3 0 3 7 4 0 47 Pingry 3 2.76
4 7 5 2 2 1 0 20 Pingry 4 1.18
5 11 2 1 0 3 0 19 Forge Wood 1 1.12
6 11 2 0 1 3 0 20 Forge Wood 2 1.18
7 9 1 1 3 3 0 27 Lords Grove 1 1.59
8 4 1 1 9 2 0 >40 Lords Grove 2 2.35
9 7 2 3 1 4 0 31 Lords Grove 3 1.82
10 10 2 0 1 4 0 25 Village Farm 1.47
11 7 1 0 3 6 0 >40 New House Farm 1 2.35
12 3 0 1 12 1 0 43 New House Farm 2 2.53
13 10 2 4 1 0 0 13 The Graig 0.76
14 17 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jacob's Ladder 0
15 1 1 1 4 10 0 65 Sunnyside 3.82
16 5 3 2 5 2 0 32 Tregare 1.88
17 4 1 2 5 5 0 45 Trostrey 2.65
18 14 2 0 1 0 0 5 Allt-y-bela 0.29
19 1 1 1 1 13 0 71 Nant-y-banw 4.18
20 8 0 0 3 6 0 39 Craig-y-master 1 2.29
21 13 0 0 3 1 0 14 Craig-y-master 2 0.82
22 4 0 1 5 7 0 52 Nannies 3.06
23 4 0 0 8 5 0 49 Pant-glas Steps 1 2.88
24 4 2 1 8 2 0 38 Pant-glas Steps 2 2.24
25 12 2 2 0 0 1 16 Madgetts 0.38
26 4 1 2 8 2 0 39 Mork 2.29
27 1 7 0 5 4 0 42 Forge Wood 3 2.47
Rte Tot: 183 42 31 108 94 1 908 1.96
Pre65
1 5 0 0 0 1 0 5 Pingry 1 0.83
2 2 1 1 1 1 0 11 Pingry 2 1.83
3 3 0 0 2 1 0 11 Pingry 3 1.83
4 4 0 0 0 2 0 10 Pingry 4 1.67
5 4 0 1 0 1 0 7 Forge Wood 1 1.17
6 5 0 0 0 1 0 5 Forge Wood 2 0.83
7 5 0 0 0 1 0 5 Lords Grove 1 0.83
8 3 0 1 1 1 0 10 Lords Grove 2 1.67
9 5 0 0 0 1 0 5 Lords Grove 3 0.83
10 4 1 0 0 1 0 6 Village Farm 1
11 5 0 0 0 1 0 5 New House Farm 1 0.83
12 1 3 0 1 1 0 11 New House Farm 2 1.83
13 4 1 0 1 0 0 4 The Graig 0.67
14 5 0 0 1 0 0 3 Jacob's Ladder 0.5
15 2 1 0 1 2 0 14 Sunnyside 2.33
16 3 0 0 3 0 0 9 Tregare 1.5
17 4 0 0 0 2 0 10 Trostrey 1.67
18 5 0 0 1 0 0 3 Allt-y-bela 0.5
19 3 0 0 1 2 0 13 Nant-y-banw 2.17
20 4 0 0 0 2 0 10 Craig-y-master 1 1.67
21 3 2 0 0 1 0 7 Craig-y-master 2 1.17
22 2 2 0 0 2 0 12 Nannies 2
23 1 0 2 0 3 0 19 Pant-glas Steps 1 3.17
24 3 1 0 1 1 0 9 Pant-glas Steps 2 1.5
25 4 0 0 1 1 0 8 Madgetts 1.33
26 4 0 0 0 2 0 10 Mork 1.67
27 3 1 1 0 1 0 8 Forge Wood 3 1.33
Rte Tot: 96 13 6 15 32 0 230 1.42

Now let's have a look at the trends.

Make. Qty
KTM 18
Gas Gas 15
Beta 14
Sherco 13
Montesa 11
Scorpa 4
Honda 4
Royal Enfield 3
Husqvarna 2
TRS 2
Yamaha 2
BSA 1
Fantic 1
Greeves 1
AJP 1
Kawasaki 1
James 1

And who's got the most Club representatives?

Club. Qty
West Glos & Dean Forest MCC 20
Trail Riders Fellowship 5
Neath Motor Club 5
Cheltenham Home Guard MCC 4
The Motor Cycling Club 4
North Somerset Motorsports Club 4
Stroud Valley AC 4
Mendip Vale MC & LCC 4
Swindon + District MCC 3
Eastbourne & District MCC 3
Leamington Victory MC & LCC 3
Normandy MCC 2
Milton Buzzard MCC 2
RAF MSA 2
Gloucester & Cotswold 2
Bridport & Weymouth MCC 2
Kingswood MCC 2
Thames MCC 2
West of England Motor Club 2
Waltham Chase Trials MCC 2
Sidcup & District MCC 2
Yeo Vale MCC 2
Blood Bike Wales 1
Devonport & District MCC 1
Earl Shilton Trials Club 1
Vintage Motor Cycle Club 1
Oxford Ixion MCC 1
Stratford on Avon MCC 1
Macclesfield Trials Club 1
Manchester 17 MCC 1
Rogershill Off Road Events 1
Ripon MC Ltd. 1
Reigate & Redhill North Downs MCC 1
ACU Limited 1
Taunton MCC 1