Report: British Experts Trial
By Colin Bullock on 6th Jul 16
The West of England Club following early year discussions with Birmingham MCC hosted the resurrected British Experts event, which had not run since 2008.
It was originally to be at Ruby Rocks the day after the Anthony Rew British Championship round but the WoE made the practical decision to run at Kelly Farm, Lustleigh.
They used the basis of the previous days sections with some very sensible amendments bearing in mind that it was a single route course.
The organisers may have been disappointed with the size of the entry but there were still a good cross selection of Championship and Expert riders who stayed on.
In fact it turned out to be a great day, which tested all of the entry and it appeared to have been well received by the riders.
On lap one Tom Hooper zoomed away from the start and he had completed lap one in record time and his score of eight marks lost was more than respectable.
Riding at a more leisurely pace was Dan Peace who finished lap one on five, which was nearly good enough for the lead, but not quite.
At the back of the field was James Fry who, despite just recovering from flu, was just hardly putting a foot wrong.
Only three marks went against his name. By comparison Iwan Roberts, a pre event favourite, had an average start and a couple of fives meant he had work to do.
Iwan responded magnificently by dropping three marks on lap two but Fry posted the same lap score and he was looking good for a win.
Dan Peace dropped a maximum on section 12, which effectively put him needing things to go wrong for other riders if he took the win.
Tom Hooper was still flying really quickly but he reduced his losses to five on the middle lap which meant he was holding second spot with 12 sections still remaining.
Another rider who continues to impress is Jack Peace, who on his 125 was still mixing it with his more experienced rivals.
With 22 marks lost Peace was level with Joe Baker, who had won the Expert class the day before, so the younger of the Peace brothers was going well.
With one lap remaining the sections remained a good test with bits of earth being dragged up onto some of the boulders.
Best ride on the final circuit went to Iwan Roberts, who produced a stunning lap, parting with a just a single dab.
Dan Peace lost three and Hooper five, but was that enough for anyone to rival James Fry?
Right at the back James with Emma Fry came to the last two subs with ten minutes left of the maximum time allowance.
Emma went first and was tremendous on the climb of number 11, which give her eighth overall.
James followed without too many problems and then he made a good ride on 12 which had caused problems all day on the top part.
Another lap for three and with it the superb trophy, the Skefco Gold Cup. This turned out a great day and hopefully the Club will look at running the Experts again.
Results
British Expert Trial: James Fry (Sherco) 9, Iwan Roberts (Beta) 17, Dan Peace (Gas Gas) 18 Tom Hooper (Sherco) 18, Joe Baker (Sherco) 30 Toby Martyn (Beta) 41, Tom Minta (Gas Gas) 64, Emma Bristow (Sherco) 68, Hugo Jervis (Beta) 73, Chris Alford (Gas Gas) 100.
