Bridport & Weymouth MCC hosted Round 2 of the Southern Centre Trials Championship for the Novice to Expert classes with 150 entrants. North Poorton Farm is a superb piece of land offering natural sections including streams, woodland, plenty of mud and steep climbs including a graded climb. A regular on the Southern Centre calendar, the venue challenges riders with the 4.5 mile circuit between sections especially in the wet, but sunshine and dry weather greeted the riders.
Starting at different points on the 20 section route the experts were greeted with a 20 foot vertical climb for their opener on section 1. 2023 Expert champion Tom Moss bit the bullet after the usual scrutiny of the section, a perfect start with a clean climb avoiding the slippery wild garlic and managing to keep his feet up after a steep drop and turn back up across the camber. This was impressive and he set the benchmark for the rest of the field. Jack Stiles was the only other clean with Tom Plant, Brian Francis and Ben Lovelace all taking a dab but Ben Smith and Glenn Bailey being two of the casualties tumbling down the bank. On the first lap Moss dropped an uncharacteristic four fives on a tough route, muttering to himself that it ‘wasn’t good enough’, Lovelace dropped three fives to lead by five at the halfway stage, Jake Young was just a mark behind Moss. Section 17 included the traditional climb up a flowing waterfall which is rarely cleaned, but to the appreciation of a healthy crowd of spectators Lovelace found grip up the whole length and kept his feet up through the section for a clean, course setter Roger Johns was particularly impressed saying, ’that’s the first clean for about five years’. On the second lap Moss started well but got a five in the muddy ruts of section 3, which Lovelace finished for one, however Moss did manage the lowest lap score of twenty nine to Lovelace’s thirty one, but Lovelace finished three ahead. This gives Moss and Lovelace a victory each after two rounds but Lovelace missed round one at Frensham Vale, it should be a close expert class in 2024 with the two lowest scores being dropped.
Kev Nolan took his second Clubman Expert victory in the championship, with nearest rival James Gammons having a sticky start in Section 2 in the stream, not making it out of the section for a five and then being nine marks behind Nolan after the first four sections, Nolan cleaning the first three and posting the best first lap score of twenty six. Gammons was down the order on forty three but recovered well on the second lap to finish second behind Nolan. XHG Tiger’s rider Bob Smith was third.
The Past Masters produced the usual close results with the top four covered by just three marks. Going into the last two sections any one of four riders could have won the class. Ian Wakeford held his nerve with a great ride on section 19 making the steep muddy climb, cross camber ‘tightrope walk’ and the drop into the stream for a one. Dave Sherlock and Barry Roads failed to make the climb and 2023 Champion Gary Tarrant got through for a three They all cleaned the graded hill section 20 which took few marks in the fine weather. Wakeford took the classes by one from Sherlock, Roads and Tarrant, all open mark apart. Ross Blackmore topped the clubman class on the same route.
Mark Owen hit top form in the Sportsman class finishing a mark ahead of Graham King and Thomas De Jonge, he lost nine of his ten marks on lap one and a single dab on the second lap. Brother Scott Owen made it a family double winning the Novice class losing twenty five. The lowest score of the day came from Waltham Chase MCC veteran Tim Carter, losing four which included a clean second lap. John Miles was the lone Pre67 runner dressed in boiler suit on his Triumph Twin, he used plenty of ‘right hand’ to make the climbs. As an insurance policy in case of disaster he brought ‘the Boss’ with him to drive the van in case of an emergency.
A strong youth contingency of sixteen riders entered, many will be competing in the ACU Belle Trailers National Youth Trials Series this year. They all put in strong performances on tough routes but standout performances came from Somerton DMC&LCC rider Zak Batey losing just 69 in Youth A whilst Hookwoods TC riders Rowan Stewart and Kai Fisher showed resilience racking up the marks but finishing this hard route. Nine marks separated Richie Keet and Bradley Smith in the Youth B and Hudson Raven Hill finished ten ahead of local rider Kieran Daubney in Youth C. Bridport and Weymouth Club deserve great credit for providing a really challenging event. Increasing the original cap of 120 riders to 150 because of the popularity of the event gave all riders the chance to enter but also presented some extra challenges. Starting at 11.00 a.m. and with the additional numbers several riders struggled to finish within the time limit and disappointingly the Isle of Wight contingent were unable to finish the trial having to leave early to make the return ferry. With the nature of the terrain there is no beginners route and if beginners enter on the easiest novice route they can struggle even in the dry, there were 32 DNF’s in the field,18 from the Novice classes so it may be necessary to offer a note of advice on the regs for 2025.
Results
Experts A: Ben Lovelace (GasGas) 63, Thomas Moss (GasGas) 66, Jacob Young ( TRS) 70, Oli Gray (Beta) 99, Andrew Blackman (Beta) 100, Ben Smith (Beta) 102, Tom McCabe (TRS)109, Brian Francis (Vertigo) 110, Jack Stiles (GasGas)112, Reece Legg (TRS) 117
Clubman Expert: A/B: Kev Nolan (Vertigo) 53, James Gammons 67, Robert Smith 73, Chris Blackmore 75, Ben Harmon 75, Jonathan Davidson 75 Andy Kilbey 81 ,Bailey Tibbs 82
Past Masters B: Ian Wakeford (GasGas) 28, David Sherlock (Vertigo) 29, Barry Roads 30, Gary Tarrant 31, Paul Doney 36, Keith Hitchings 41, Jeremy Twigg 45, Andy Ball 48, Marcus Faulkner 52, Craig Comer 53
Clubman B: Ross Blackmore (Beta) 37, Graham Wignall 45, Cade Smith 46, John Roberts 57, Sam Harding 58, Glenn Keet 65, Mark Talbot 72, Jason Cole 77, Andrew Ridley 85??, Adam Kilbey 96.
Sportsman B+C: Mark Owen (GasGas) 10, Graham King 11, Thomas De Jonge 11, Richard Elliott 17, Richard Fry 18, Jeremy Chapman 18, James Dean 20, Michael Hinton 26, Gary Harding 26, Andy Gates 27
Over 50 C: Tim Carter (Vertigo) 4, John Laker 11, Darren Howard (Beta) 11, Dave Penfold 15, Mick Treagus 16, Ian Blackmore 16, Mark Davis 16,
Novice C: Scott Owen (GasGas) 25, Tom White 55??, Karl Edwards 96, Ben Cross 97?, Jan Robert Ingle Finch 130
Pre67 C: John Miles 33?
Youth A: Zak Batey 69, Rowan Stewart 156,
Youth B: Richie Keet 39, Bradley Smith 46, Kieran Daubney 58,? Howard Mumford 65,?? Luke Batten 67, Joseph Baker 71, Tommy Keet 71, Oscar Sacre 123, Kai Fisher 146,
Youth C Hudson Ravenhill 48
Report Andy Withers Pictures: Awsportsphoto