Emma Bristow turned the tables on Becky Cook in a dramatic last lap dash on the final lap at rain lashed Bracken Rocks on Sunday. With minder, and boyfriend, James Fry hobbling about with a healing right knee his umbrella never really staved off the torrential rain, it was more of a third leg on the rocks strewn mud covered slopes of the Derbyshire trials venue.
Erstwhile title leader Cook, Top Trial Team Beta teamster, now shares the top spot in the adult standings at seventy four points after what was a poor first lap for the Isle of Wight multi champion. A very edgy three marks went down on the first two rocks in the first section right alongside parc ferme but the stepped narrow line towards the final rock step at the penultimate section got Becky for maximum while Bristow was running late and rushing. A crucial bolt had fractured in the rear suspension department which rather messed up any machine control for Emma Bristow after section four so it was back to parc ferme where Luke Walker took on the task of extracting the broken item.
Thirty minutes later Bristow and Ossa were motoring fast. That delay did rattle the Louth girl but James kept the show on the road and she reeled off a seven-nine and ten. That last lap was amazing as the sections were altering as the event progressed so it was a cursory inspection, not leaving the Ossa while James Fry called out the commands.
The Mansfield Maun team salvaged their trials course, the entire Holloway venue was purchased by the club in 1995, by tuning some sections as the mud started to take control. John Fox assisted Terry Crabtree with alterations. Nikita Smith and Chloe Richardson rode the hard course. Chloe cast a chain at the end of the narrow gap at the top of the fifth were Karen Snowden logged many failures.
The Class C route was dead on the button, climbing round the trees up a narrow gully and only Izzy Watmore found a bad line on lap one. Gabby Whitham departed with the class heading determined Alice Minta and equally determined Alicia Robinson. The latter has stepped up in skill by a mile this season and Miss Minta will have to get her head down in the next two rounds as Alicia is but eight points behind and all three have a points drop to consider.
With Class B champion Maisie Payne opting for retirement the Bristol cousins, Victoria is slightly older; the class has lost some of its fire but was blazing well in Bracken Rocks on Sunday as Hannah Richardson headed Lou Alford and Victoria in the results business. Beth Waite was on target for third place in Class B with second best half lap scores of thirty one but a stop on the eighth rock twister on the her final visit let Victoria Payne into the equation.
In the adults trio of Inters local girl Jessica Bown, from Chesterfield, ran off from Bury’s Charlotte Kimber and Sunbury’s Louise Cannom winning the class with a thirty one penalty buffer. Newcomer Stephanie Watling contested the adult Newcomer class on her own , and won after Katie Nash non-started and Michelle Naufahu opted to drive the results computer after injuring the leg at the Leamington round two weeks previous to Bracken Rocks. Despite the rain, which did not relent, all but one rider stayed for Sharon Bown to present the Mansfied Maun trophies
The series now rests until Richmond on August 5 and then the big showdown at Tong on September 16.