Eventpost 60 - Hawkstone Park

Yesterday I went to the famous motocross and trials venue of Hawkstone Park for the Classic trial that was held as a part of the Classic weekend with the scramble to follow today.

The venue has been used for motocross through the years and GP's have been held there for as long as I can remember with the big hill and the sandy course being a challenge that every racer wants to ride at some point in their career. I managed to get my chance at motocross in about 1999 as part of the same weekend when I rode my 360 Bultaco at the event but had never ridden a trial there before, only visited as a spectator for the British round of the World trials champs.

If you have never been there before the going is made up of dark sand and sandstone rocks and the hillside is pretty steep and covered in trees so you know that you are going to get steep climbs (and descents). rocks and roots where the sand is dug away from the base of the trees. This weekend was no different, with a little bit of dampness to make the rocks slippery for good measure.

I started well with clean, one, clean on the first 3 sections and was actually first to get up section 2 without footing as it was a very steep loamy climb through the trees and across cambered roots followed by a nice out of control drop back down to the foot of the climb. Unfortunately I stalled at the top and the drop was done even quicker than expected with the clutch in and reliance on the brakes only, I had a single steadying dab but felt good about how I had started.

The rest of the first lap was really a story of how the day was going to go, some really good rides and some very mediocre rides which resulted in odd dabs, 2's and 3's - many of which were not really required.

I felt pretty tired to be honest and I think it might have been the fact that I'm on a low carb diet with no training at the moment in a concerted effort to lose some weight. Another couple of weeks and I can get back to the gym and a more balanced diet which should be better.

Anyway, I finished on 30 marks which I felt was OK, but probably about twice as many as I should have lost.

Results are as follows;

Results

Class A (Up to 350cc Experts)
1. Chris Collins 2
2. John Maxfield 12
3. Graham Brown 13
4. Alan Nicklin 15
5. Dave Wood 15
6. James Newstead 19
7. Steve Hay 21
8. Chris Chell 22
9. Alan Wright 30
10. Dave Dawson 30
11. Nathan Jones 30
12. Jim Pickering 32
13. Mick Parkes 42
14. Kevin Taylor 44
15. Chris Denney 45
16. Mick Burton 45
17. Steve Thompson 59

Class B (Over 350cc Experts)
1. Rob Bowyer 17
2. Andy Richardson 20
3. Bill Bourne 37
4. Simon Chell 45
5. Gary Mitchell 73
6. Pete Reed 74

Class C (Intermediates)
1. Andy Pitt 36
2. Dave Jones 38
3. Steve Walker 42
4. Mike Bowers 53
5. Mike Bell 53
6. Andy Hunt 61

Class D (Clubman)
1. Anthony Charles 21
2. Ben Dutton 30
3. Martin Patrick 34
4. Will Tyler 37
5. John Davies 38
6. Graham Lyons 40

Event for your diaries...

Hi guys - Andy Pitt called me the other night to tell me about this event that the Wye Valley Club will be running in 19th Sep 2010.

By all accounts this is a superb event and well worth travelling to if you have nothing else on that weekend - proper traditional sections that cater for classic and twinshock bikes.

Event Details

Regs are now avilible for the Wye Valley Auto Clubs, National Trevor Hunt Trophy Trial, a classic road based trial,which will be run on september 19th 2010.

The event will be open to Pre65s and Twinshock machines only, the trial will be run over a 25 mile loop taking in old wye valley traders groups that were used back in the 60s and 70s and a few new groups the organisers have found to use. 40 traditional trials sections will be on offer covering 15 groups of land, also an extra hour has been put on the time limit after a few comments last year.
The trial will be run under the no stop rule TSR22B

The terrain will be mostly streams and river sections much like the manx classic 2 day

The event will have 2 routes per section, an expert route to cater for abilities of the miller series and classic series, and a clubmans/ gentlemans route to cater for those who just want a good ride out on an old bike

There will be 3 classes on each route.
- Expert. Pre 65unit, Pre unit, Twinshock.
- Clubman Pre 65unit, Pre unit, Twinshock

The trial will once again start and finish at the Crown inn in the village of Longtown in Herefordshire, where BnB is availible on the weekend of the trial 01873 860217

Also RTA insurance will be availible on the day of the event , so if you fancy a cracking days classic sport, dont miss this one its worth the trip!

Regs are now availible on www.acuwesterncenter.org/uk or from entry secretary Dan Sanders, 01981 259890 or 01981 250458 or for more information or if you can help out, call Andy Pitt 07976529955

Eventpost 59 - Sammy Miller Series Round 4 - Cartmel

Yesterday we took a trip up to the Lake District for the Crabtree Cup Trial, which was the 4th round of the Sammy Miller Products Trials series. The event started at Cartmel Racecourse and was run by the Westmoreland MCC.

The route took place over 2 laps of a 25 mile course that started and finished with sections right near the carpark with various sections that took in woodland, rocky outcrops on the side of the fells and some rocky becks.

The sections were laid out really well considering the weather was forecast for rain and the weatherman certainly got it right as the heavens opened shortly after start and the first lap was ridden in a gale which certainly hade the exposed sections challenging (more from the elements than the actual sections!).

The rain did make some of the going a little muddy and the rocks slippery but not enough to trouble the top riders too much.

I had a steady though not impressive ride with a couple of laps of 6 marks for a total of 12. I had some trouble with section 2 which took me for 2 on the first lap and 3 on the second, but other than that the rest of the marks lost were probably unavoidable, especially two single dabs on each lap on the last section of the lap which was actually pretty easy.

In honestly I was just pleased to finish as the first lap was pretty miserable due to the weather, however a change of jacket and fresh gloces for the 2nd lap and the rain easing off meant that the 1st lap was soon forgotten and I ended up really enjoying the last lap.

It was good to see a strong turnout from the Midlands riders at the trial with a good ride from Dave Wood for 3rd in the Unit Class, plus regular riders on strange machinery - Colin Leese and Alan Miles out on 2 strokes after years riding Hondas and Steve Thompson on his Aprilia as the BSA wasn't ready in time.
(There you go Colin - you wanted a mention!!)

No pics this week as Dad decided to stay at home (good decision).

Next round is in Yorkshire on 25th July.

Results
2 Stroke
1. Norman Shepherd 1
2. Russell Jones 9
3. Peter Gaunt 11
4. Brad Jones 18
5. Graham Atkinson 18

Pre Unit
1. Tony Calvert 6
2. Paul Heys 6
3. Dave Wood 7
4. Mark Quinn 13
5. Barry Stephens 28

Brit Replicas and Pre Unit
1. Carl Batty 4
2. Neil Gaunt 6
3. Martin Wilmore 7
4. Dave Dawson 12