Wednesday April 6, 2011 at 9:54am
Anthony Rew Trial
Report/Pics Colin Bullock
Round 2 of the ACU Events sponsored British Solo Championships took place last weekend and was hosted by the West of England Club. The Anthony Rew Trial went back to Kelly Farm near to Bovey Tracey in South Devon although the April date was much earlier in the season than normal for this trial. This meant that the organisers had looked at various venues to hold the event before settling on Kelly which consists of plenty of big moss strewn rocks with plenty of loose climbs thrown in.
Following practice some alterations were made and just to add a little extra interest there was some heavy overnight rain in the area but this did not seem to affect matters too much.
The well subscribed Experts B got things underway at 10.00am Sunday with 5hours 30 minutes the standard time limit to ride three laps of 12 subs.
Most of the spectators watched the entry through Section 1, a series of steps and climb over a fallen tree on the B route. Guy Kendrew was through early on and needed a dab to see him through as did Richard Timperley, Josh Woods and Buster Regan. It was a section that remained uncleaned on lap 1 and would account for an early maximum on Keelan Hancock’s card although the Bodmin rider would go onto have a very successful day. Kendrew took a five at the 5th hazard right up on the top far corner of the venue and this allowed Timperley to take an early lead in the event, one he would not relinquish. Section 8 was a tough proposition for the B class and Keelan Hancock was best here throughout the day with two cleans and a two.
Sherco’s Richard Timperley was however looking very confident and his first lap score of four marks lost put him firmly out in front. Although he lost eight on lap 2 his rivals could not match it and a steady third would mean victory. Guy has built an excellent reputation on the Ossa and a final circuit for three dabs was superb but not quite enough and he would finish one adrift of Richard. Hancock put in three very consistent circuits for third with Josh Woods fourth just ahead of Kyle Hayes who was ruing 6 marks lost on time overall.
Experts A were next away and the weather was still looking good. Ricky Wiggins had won the opening encounter at Westwood and had impressed everyone with his riding. Very much an added interest this time out was the reintroduction into the series of Jack Sheppard riding the 125 Beta and Richard Sadler returning after a hand injury.
Richard opened up with a great clean on section 1 where the A’s had a tougher stepped exit. It caught Jack Sheppard for a solitary dab but there were good cleans from Wiggins and James Fry who as we now know was to be having a dream day. Section 3 with its slippery twists and turns caught all of the entry for marks on lap 1 and Sheppard fived it first time around although he would post the only clean of the day here on his second circuit. There were not too many big problems for the group until they arrived at the 10th sub. James who had only lost 2 dabs up to this point maxed out and only Andy Chilton and Josh Brain got through for solitary dabs. At the end of lap 2 Fry and Wiggins were level on eleven marks dropped with Chilton on fifteen and Sheppard one further back.
Sheppard suffered an early set back on his second circuit with a five on the long uphill sub 2 but he then went on a superb run to post the best lap of the day to put himself right back into contention just one mark adrift of Brighton‘s James Fry.
Fry was having his best ever Championship event and he would finish strongly to take his first ever premier in the A class. Sheppard got home in second, four marks behind with Ricky Wiggins third and Andy Chilton fourth.
The Championship entries were last out and the interest level for these guys is huge. James Dabill is on a superb run of victories that goes back to 2009 but Michael Brown looks well at home on the Gas Gas as does Alexz Wigg on the Sherco.
Alexz however did not have the best of starts with a two dropped at the opener where the Championship had a big boulder to contend with mid hazard. The back wheel did not grip as he wanted but Alexz recovered for a two, worse was to follow through with a five on section 2. By comparison Brownie started off with three straight cleans while James needed a single prod at the mid-point of section three.
The infamous rock slab section came next and its final exit climb is always fraught with difficulty. Ben Morphett pioneered a different line on the initial climb up but along with most the last bit proved too much. Michael was close, Wiggy was unlucky to suffer a puncture and it was 5’s all around until Dib’s fired the Beta up with the help of a steadying prod. Section 6 along the top of the course had a selection of boulders culminating in a horrible exit, nothing new there then. Ross Danby was superb to clean here, Alexz was back on track with a single dab and Dabill’s clean was pure class as he sought to pull out an early advantage on his rivals. Once again it was the eighth hazard that was one of the toughies and time was also a big factor. Only Jack Challoner saw anything less than a five on the punch card first time around. After a superb opening to the event James did not finish a strongly as he would have wanted allowing the Mighty Atom to come back at him and as the scores were posted they were just one mark apart with Ross Danby holding a very good third.
The rains returned with the Championship riders half way around their second circuit but it did not seem to affect the scores too much and many actually reducing their losses. Dabill squeezed out a score of eight following a superb clean on number four. Only Challoner with a dab got anywhere near matching that ride. Bownie got the better of things on eight as he kept his big rival within striking distance and both were clear of the rest of the field. Lap 2 saw time penalties incurred by most of the riders although Alexz Wigg kept to time as he sought to close in on Challoner and Danby who were still in front of him at this stage.
As they got to Section 4 there were a few more successes on the last visit. George Morton got through for a Dab, Jonathan Richardson and Sam Haslam three, James two, Brownie one before Alexz conquered it with a great clean.
Jack Challoners and Ross Danby’s bid for third place was fading as Wiggy posted no less than seven cleans in a row to grab that final place on the podium. Both JB and MB had got to grips with the second part of the course and both had identical scores of just 4 marks lost which was a testament to some superb riding. Once again however it was the current champion who got home to take the premier award but it was close and sets up the rest of the series nicely.
With the series getting support from Michelin the tyre awards this time went to James Fry in the A Section, Richard Timperley in the B Group and Tom Dexter from the Youth. Tom won the classfrom Luke Walker.