SVMC Ron Carter Trophies Trial, 7 October 2012

Report: Bretton King

Results

Stroud Valley's Court Farm venue at Nympsfield has the scope to host events of the utmost severity, having been the scene for a very wet & tough Southern Experts trial four years ago. Last Sunday witnessed another very muddy one - yet not quite as arduous - as the club put on the Ron Carter Trophy Trial for a respectable band of 67 riders, ably marked out by the evergreen, turn-down welly clad Bob Miles. Four routes catered for all-comers across the 10 subs and gave plenty of opportunity for people to get lairy with the throttle on big climbs and cambers.

The Experts began battle on the twisting turns of section 8 and Simon Welch made his intentions clear from the outset as he eased around it for an opening lap clean, to be swiftly followed by Cymru visitor Joel Edwards. Leo Rochfort took a dab, as did Barry Husband out for only his third time this year. As the action moved through number nine, another Welch clean was enough for a margin to be created between Simon and his rivals and he did not relinquish this for the rest of the day. Lee Hassall didn't have the best of starts, taking a three in the opener and it didn't get any better at the end of the day as he managed to take the tyre off the rim to give himself a long push home. However, in the middle, he provided the main challenge to Edwards and come the end of the 40th sub, he was only 4 marks adrift in third place. Welch was untouchable and even a self-confessed slack maximum in Nigel Tomkins' sharp climb section on the final lap still didn't give any hope to his rivals as he finished 23 marks ahead of Edwards.

The Clubman/Expert route was a far closer contest, with a solitary mark separating victor from runner-up. Chris Wickham and Stefan Walters set the pace on the opening lap as they traded the lead, the twisted stream exit of section six proving the bogey for Stefan as two prods handed the first lap lead to the Evesham visitor by 2 marks, alongside Dave Smith. However, the lead continued to be exchanged and come the final lap, Chris had eeked out a slender 3 mark advantage as he approached the climb of section three, where disaster struck and a five was collected. A gallant effort in the last few subs was not enough time to regain the advantage and Stefan held on for the win.

As has become the norm, the Clubman route provided the biggest class with a host of wise �uns leading the way. Oxford motorcycle dealer Rob Faulkner was supreme in the mud and left his opponents slithering in his wake as he dropped just 21 marks, Tom Pike coming second � just! Tom squeezed home ahead of John Roberts by 2 marks and this was largely down to his ability to conquer the slick climb and cambered exit of section 2, where John failed to see the "ends" on each visit. Dave Morris was in contention too, but was similarly foiled by section 2 where he maxed out every time, although it didn't stop him taking the Over 50 prize from Chris Wrigley by 6 marks.

The Sportsman route produced a real nailbiter as Bill Andrews and Raglan's Dai Clothier finished on 15 marks apiece with Bill winning by virtue of a "most 1's" tie-breaker. Trudi Silvey was braving the conditions aboard her TY175 Yamaha and had a day-long tussle with Janet Hiller astride her 125 Beta, Trudi taking the soils and winning the exclusive battle by 5 marks. Credit must go to Sam Green who rode really well too, finishing on 41 and taking the Youth win from James Bagley and Beta 80-mounted Will Culliford.

Thanks must go to the observers and especially the landowner who allowed the Club to mark out a long lap across two farms, park in the yard near to his invaluable dairy cattle and ride in one of the trials of the year. Thanks also to the riders who rode & stuck to flagged routes and rode sensibly through the yard as asked. Finally, well done to John Luff for getting the results out so quickly and handling the 62 entry-on-the-day bods. Oh... nearly forgot dear OLD Bob Miles who marked the route out for us all - well done Bob. A great trial that gave everyone something to attack.

AWARDS:

Ron Carter Trophy: Simon Welch 40

Second: Joel Edwards 63

Third: Lee Hassall 67

First Class Awards: Fred Adams 78

Leo Rochfort 78

Clubman/Expert Stefan Walters 61

Best Over 40 Dave Smith 72

Best Youth Tom Culliford 118

Clubman winner Rob Faulkner 21

Runner up Tom Pike 53

Best Over 40 John Roberts 55

Best Over 50 Dave Morris 57

Sportsman winner Bill Andrews 15 (most 1s)

Best Twinshock Trudi Silvey 40

Best Youth Sam Green 41