Despite suffering four maximums in the first five sections and trailing his fellow competitors, Toby Martyn (TRRS) fought back to take a convincing win in the elite ACU Trial GB Class at Hookwood on Sunday. However, the Cornishman fought back hard and quickly so by the end of the first lap of twelve gruelling sections he was up to second.
Jack Peace (Sherco) eventually got the better of his brother Dan (Sherco) after a battle which saw the advantage change throughout the three lap event. Avoiding the maximum five point penalties in the unforgiving sections was important and this shows in the final results as all of the five contenders increased their 'fiascos' throughout the leader board.
Martyn suffered six of his eleven on the first lap, whilst Jack notched up eight on the opening lap of the race. It was brother Dan who actually led after lap one with thirty three marks on his wristband, which put him six ahead of Martyn. Eventual winner Martyn, suffered a spectacular crash on section eleven, which featured a high jump onto a tree stump with very little room to manoeuvre at the peak, before dropping off over angled logs. Dan Peace was the only first lap clean here to the applause of the large gallery of spectators, with Billy Green (Scorpa) receiving an equal amount of appreciation for his single dab.
After re grouping in the very short break between laps, Martyn adjusted his tactics going into the second lap and was prepared to use his boots to avoid maximums and this worked as he fought back to share the best lap score with Jack P, before storming the last lap, shedding a mere sixteen marks.
Green eventually finished fourth, helped by his all out attack on the undercut step at section nine where others failed first time round, whilst reigning Champion, Iwan Roberts (TRRS) came close to success in many sections, but suffered too many maximums and finished fifth, despite some flashes of brilliance which the ex Trial 2 World Champion is capable of.
The battle continues with rounds two and three in Devon at the end of June.
Our thanks to Richard Thomas for the image.