Tuesday April 19, 2011 at 10:45am
Round 3 of the ACU Events sponsored British Trials Championships saw the long trek north to the Macdonald Trial just outside of Kinlochleven and deep in the heart of SSDT countryside.
A long journey for many maybe but the Lochaber run event now under the stewardship of Ally Morrice is always worth the trip. Sundays event was greeted by fine weather but that would not make the hazards any easier.
Guy Kendrew who is current out in front of the Expert B class alongside Richard Timperley did not take too long to get going and both he and his rival opened up with cleans. J
At the end of the lap it could not have been closer with Timperley on 7, Kendrew 8 and Woods 9. Lap two generally saw scores increase with the exception of Adam Milner and Kyle Hayes. Kendrew came back on lap 3 but it was not quite enough and Sheffield’s Richard Timperley got the verdict by a single mark. Zac Sherwin was looking for his first podium finish but lost out by one point to Josh Woods.
In the A Championship on the opening sub Gary Macdonald went early and got through for one as did Andy Chilton and Michael Phillipson before we were treated to a fine clean from Jack Sheppard. Section 2 was however a stinker and it was the opening steps that caused the problem with mud on the Again the intermediate subs were ok but Ricky Wiggins got caught for a five on number 7 whilst Jack Spencer got himself a superb clean after not the best of starts.
At the end of lap 1 Gary Mac was the only rider in single figures and the scoreboard would not have made pleasant reading for his rivals. He could not quite match his opening circuit second time around but it was still good enough to keep everyone else at bay. Jack Sheppard improved his score as did Jack Spencer who was getting better as the day went on. These three would finish in that order with Ricky Wiggins fourth .
The Championship were out last and there was a good crowd watching as the sun warmed the loch side. Section 1 proved not difficult and enabled the riders to get cracking but again it was different on the second hazard which elicited a series of fives including Jack Challoner on that opening step. Ross Danby got through for a well earned three before Michael Brown posted a two. The crowd awaited James Dabill’s attack but even he maxed out on the 8 foot climb with no run up whatsoever.
Over on the 3rd hazard Alexz Wigg’s day was not going well with a second ‘5’ in suscesion and the British number 3 was not getting off to the start he needed. Jack Challoner found he was in a similar position . Lap 2 saw the British Champion post eight cleans and only one failure and that was on the long and treacherous final sub. The Mighty Atom, the Gas Gas team leader almost matched Dibs on the amount of cleans. He had to many failures to make any real challenge, so it was looking good for another JD win. Alexz got in a much better second lap which got him up to third ahead of Challoner but without any real prospect of catching the top two. James Dabill keeps this amaxing run of victories going.