Reports
The latest event reports are listed below. Many thanks to Bretton King for taking the time to craft these and send them in to TMX News!
Wheeler runs riot in Ciren sunshine
This time-card event attracts people from as far as London and Cornwall, but leading them all away at 10am sharp after club president Ken Hoult’s loud whistle blast was Swindon ace Craig Beattie. The 22 mile circuit had a generous 70 minute allowance for the Expert’s sighting lap and the 2 short-sharp special tests were given a great deal of attention as riders knew that there was no margin for a fall if victory was to be theirs.
Abingdon hot-shot, Darren Wheeler, rode last year for the first time and vowed then to return faster and wiser in 2010 – and he most certainly stuck to his promise. Having only ridden once this year, Darren showed that his natural speed remained undiminished, but it certainly wasn’t plain sailing as Rich Warner was right on his tail and after the first special test a meagre 0.15 of a second separated the leading pair. Dan Lawry was also flying aboard his 300 KTM and was just 4.85 seconds adrift of the leader with Dan Bishop a further 1.43 behind Lawry, so going into the slightly shorter second test there was still everything to ride for. Wheeler was first into the second test and really let fly at this point, setting a scintillating pace and putting down a marker for the rest of the field, which ultimately none were able to better. Warner was second fastest again, but this time he was 4.59 seconds behind and the win was in the bag for Darren. Lawry came in third again but this time he was followed by Wadworthshire-man Alastair Bramwell by a narrow 1.37 second margin. Dan Bishop was fourth in this test and that gave him fourth overall on the combined times. However, at this point the good times ended for Dan as compression problems plagued him and led to his retirement. Things weren’t a lot better for brother Ben either as he had a monumental impact on lap one and split his front tyre wide open, which ultimately led him to lose 8 minutes and drop him from what had been a potential 8th position to last – that’s enduro though!
The Clubman / Clubman Over 40 class provides the lion’s share of entrants and is always a competitive affair - 2010 stuck to that form. A 4.00am start for the quartet of “Cornish Pirates” clubmen didn’t harm their chances of succeeding, and Martin Cheeseman and Shaun Bunney in particular were on great form in the special tests, although Bunney had to effect major repairs on lap 3 which cost him eleven minutes and demoted him from second place to 32nd by the close. Martin was fastest on the first test by more than 10 seconds and looked set for a comfortable win in the second test too but an untimely demount handed that honour to team-mate Bunney. The main beneficiary from Bunney’s demise was former Wessex-centre trials rider Ian Shuttleworth, whose impressive test times kept him in contention and resulted in 2nd place overall as he was only 0.94 seconds behind him. The RAF always support the organising club handsomely, so it was rewarding for them to see teamster Dave Blackburn claim a Gold award in third place. His pace in the ST2 was great but his first test time cost him a higher position. A similar fate befell Glyn Thomas who set fastest time in ST2 but could never make up enough for a slow paced ST1.
In the Over 40 class, Terry Beacham was tearing up the track and he ran out a clear winner ahead of Paul Cottrell by over 15 seconds. In fact his pace in ST2 was fastest of all the Clubmen too and half the Expert class as well, so the man from Stroud was exceptionally quick. Fellow Stroud-based rider Kevin Barnes was also on the pace in ST2, coming in second and this was enough to net him the third step of the podium.
Fifty five sportsmen entered the fray on Sunday and yet another Stroud man headed the field at the close, as Chris Stevens notched up victory by just over 13 seconds from Niki Richardson. Foxwell Fling class-victor, Felix Upton, was well in contention when holding second after ST1 but a lapse in concentration saw him on the wrong line in a turn and a web of roots dragged him to the floor, slowing his progress and dropping him to fourth at the close and elevating Sam Hoskins to third.
There is a saying that decrees “You only get out – what you put in” and to a large extent the hard graft all the officials put in during the days and weeks preceding, during and after the event made the day the success it was, and one has to also thank the weather for shining on the Club and creating such perfect riding conditions. However one of the other over-riding contributions was in fact instigated some 280 years ago when the vision of Allen Bathurst (the 1st Earl Bathurst) for Cirencester Park was started – without his ultimate realisation of such magnificent open parkland, there would be no Corinium Enduro… and hence we owe a debt of gratitude to him and his family throughout the generations for giving us all such a superb venue.
2010 SDMCC ANNUAL DINNER DANCE
On Friday February 5th the much awaited
annual dinner dance was held at the Blunsdon House Hotel in Swindon.
Over 170 smartly dressed guests, many following the black and
white theme arrived for pre-dinner drinks in the Carries Bar.
The chaps scrubbed up well into their black tie dinner suits and
the ladies looked stunning in beautiful dresses.
At around 8pm everyone was called into dinner where they were met
with beautifully decorated tables and the staff ready to serve dinner.
A four course dinner was enjoyed by all which included coffee and
some delicious chocolates!
With the drinks flowing the guests enjoyed dancing to the group The
Locomotion and later a raffle was drawn which raised over £300 for the
Wiltshire Air Ambulance.
The Blunsdon House Hotel kindly donated an overnight stay with dinner
which was auctioned off for over £100 again for charity.
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Weather fails to freeze Freegard
Whilst trials throughout the country were called
off because of the snow-bound conditions that gripped the
Clerk of the Course Michael Maslin led his merry band of section plotters out on Saturday clearing snow from the cambers, roots, climbs and streams that adorn the Old Station Yard venue, to guarantee proceedings would go ahead on the Sunday – and their efforts were much appreciated by the riders who took part.
2009 Expert Champion Rob Scott turned up to begin the defence of his title but he was not the furthest travelled as fellow A class competitor Ben Skinner had got a team of huskies out to bring him and his Gas Gas up from Ringwood, and a very worthwhile trip it would turn out to be too. These two were to be the main contenders for the overall and sadly for Rob, his challenge took a dent as early as the second section when he failed to crest the bank just before turning into the stream. In contrast, Ben hopped the rear wheel onto line and he sailed around for a clean. Indeed, this was the main mark-stealer for him and even then he only lost 4 of his 5 mark total-tally here, while for Rob, 10 marks were cast away here and his hopes of victory slithered to a halt with them. Ben’s only other solitary loss was in Sandra Wooster’s section 8, when his rear tyre slid on the rooty camber, but this failed to ruffle him and he continued to skate to victory.
The Clubman Expert route had some big hitters in the class with British Enduro Champ Keith Wooster taking on Classic Bike champion Martyn Wilmore. As it happens, Martyn kept his feet off the snow and ice all day, recording a clean sheet at the close – some ride in the conditions. Keith matched him for the initial 3 sections, but the twisting cambers of section 4 scuppered his chances as a slack 3 froze his challenge out. Ben Wilmore kept Keith “honest” and only a poor five on the last lap gave Keith the desired breathing space. Ben’s misfortune came on section six when the rapidly polishing camber became grip-less and a lack of speed on the approach to the tree-pillared exit dumped him back down the slope.
Arguably the rides of the day came in the B class,
where Gavin Moore out-manoeuvred all-comers aboard his Pampera trail
bike – 2 marks being all he shed. Perilously close was newly 2-stroke
remounted Andy Perry, the Evo assisting him in prodding on only four
occasions, a result he was very happy with considering he nearly didn’t
enter!! Fellow over-50 rider Graham Harris was reaping the benefit of
Martyn Wilmore’s tuition as he too strung a consistent ride together and
third place with it. Youth A was won yet again by 2009 champion Will
King, a string of attacking rides giving him a creditable 8th
overall on the Clubman expert route.
C class was equally competitive and only four marks separated victor Andy Gee from improving Liam Wooster. Liam led after lap 1 but a hat-full of marks on lap 2 left Andy leading and despite reducing his arrears on the final 2 laps to just 7 marks, Liam had too much to do and Andy really got to grips with the conditions, keeping himself in front to the close followed by Liam and Robert Hunt took third spot after some very smooth riding.
One cannot “seal the lid” without praising the
observers – they did a sterling job in the cold and their fortitude
meant that a great trial in highly unusual conditions could go ahead, so
thanks go to each and every one.
Noughties… Over and out!!
Well, the second year of the club championship has proved to be as successful as the inaugural one and the indications are that the 2010 should be just as popular, as the trials staged in ‘09 have been unanimously well received by the riders. It’s a bit of a cliché to say it, but, if you give the customer (in this case, the rider) what he/she want, they will return for the same product (the ride-able trial) time and time again. And this has been proved by the fact that people have covered some distance to attend our trials even on a Thursday evening.
The opening Brian Freegard Trial was a fair indicator as to who the two main contenders for the overall title of Club Champion were going to be. Rob Scott was in a determined mood to hold onto his title, but Ross Thurlow was very much up to the task of making a fight out of it. That particular January day saw Jason Welland turn up for one of his infrequent outings and he had his 15 year old Fantic Section screaming all day long as he nailed one obstacle after another and he unsurprisingly won that day. However, for the remainder of the season it was a two horse race – I’d like to say it was like watching Kauto Star taking on Denman over the jumps, but in truth the steeds that were doing battle looked more like… no, its not fair to say. The records show that whilst Ross led Rob after round one, from number two onwards it was Rob that led. The crucial round turned out to be number six, when Ross took a wrong turn off the M4, ended up at Bristol Airport and flew off to Spain for a couple of weeks in the sunshine (who can blame him – remember our “summer”? C**p!). His no-show left Rob to rack up another win and Ross was left with an impossible task. Rob deserved the title wholeheartedly - for his consistency primarily but also for being around to help mark out when down at the Devizes round. I am sure that we haven’t seen the last of the Rob – Ross battle… bring on 2010!!
The AB class was a less close affair as Keith Wooster was a runaway winner, his six-round-attendance proving equally as critical as Rob Scott’s. From round two onwards he kept amassing the points and by the time Bretton King had returned from his SSDT adventure and attended only his second round at Park Grounds in July, it was too late for him to make up the ground lost – his only satisfaction was that he managed to beat Keith on each of those three remaining rounds. Martyn Wilmore won the two rounds he rode in, begging the question – “Would he have won overall if he had been able to attend the full quota?”.
Michael Maslin had been the C class Champion in
2008 and moved up to B class for 2009, thinking that he had no chance of
competing for the overall. How wrong he was!! Consistency once again was
the visible attribute that kept him in contention all season long. He
put together tidy rides round after round but had to give in to Adrian
Steele ultimately.
C class was going to have a new Victor – but who?
Gary Dando and Mark Tull led for the first half of the season, with Liam
Wooster in the mix for a podium throughout. Dave Griffiths missed the
first couple of rounds and was off the pace in round three, but as the
series progressed, so did his results – he must have been cramming some
serious practising in – as his results leapt. A hat-trick of wins in the
final three rounds secured him the title. Liam Wooster was in runner-up
spot going into the last round, and could afford to be up to two places
below
Youth A was poorly attended overall and it is something that one would hope is not repeated in 2010 – promoting the sport and what is on offer to kids locally should perhaps be a priority. Nonetheless, Will King attended a healthy number of rounds and was a worthy victor of his class. Indeed, by the time we all got to the Maslin Trophy round, Will finished third overall on the Standard route taking the scalp of many seasoned campaigners (please note Mr. KW!!).
Bertie Raines was crowned B class champion after a red hot start to the season of four consecutive wins was more than enough to put him in an unassailable position. Congratulations to him as his performance saw him jump from 5th position in 2008 to that of Champion in 2009.
Finally, the Observer championship had all the look of it being a one man walk over by mid season – Ken Saunders having attended all the rounds. However, keeping him in touching distance was Ken Hoult and KS’s non-appearance at the final round resulted in the two Kens both clocking up 6 rounds each and the title being shared between the pair of them. It is fair to say that they both deserve it as without them and all the other willing observers, there would have been no series and thus no riders being crowned champions. Thank you observers – one and all.
As a footnote to this piece, congratulations are due to two of our members, as Keith Wooster and Martyn Wilmore both pursued British titles in 2009, and each of them were victorious. Keith got his head down aboard his 525 KTM as he set himself the goal of becoming British Enduro Champion in the Clubman E3 class. He set his stall out early in the season and excelled in the events where trials riding and super technical skills were needed, only dropping slightly off the pace when the more motocross-type events were staged at the end of the season. A fantastic effort and one to be applauded – we’ve never had a British Enduro champion before – we have now!
Martyn Wilmore is no stranger to the national series – and yet again this year he clocked up the miles as he attended the dozen or so Sammy Miller championship series. For the second time (I hope that’s right), he has won the championship, so many congratulations to him – I haven’t heard the full story of the series but feel sure that I will do before 2010 passes us by. Well done Martyn – a British Champ again!!