Jack Sheppard: Things are going Super
By TMX Archives on 13th Jul 16
My next stop after my last update was to Scarborough for the next round of the British championship followed by the firstt round of the Supertrial series the day after.
The day went okay for me, I was quite pleased with my riding, my problem being when I made a mistake it tended to be a five which always add up quickly and can be very costly.
My first two laps were very much as I have just described with some good riding but also some big mistakes. Where as on the final lap I managed to cut out a few more of the mistakes and have just a single figure lap with just having one and a five, which must have been my bogey section as I had three fives on this section all day which proved to be costly.
If only I had woke up a little earlier and had three laps like my final lap, but that is of course easy to say now. With all that said I was pleased to recover my position back up to fourth on the day which I had to be happy with after making too many mistakes.
The following day was a Supertrial put on at the same venue just with different sections and stop allowed rules. This was a bit of a shock to the system with having last ridden stop allowed rules not far off two years ago!
I pulled out number 1 in the start order meaning I had to go round first, which is always a challenge in itself. As it turned out my qualifying laps were pretty good, I felt happy on the bike and pretty comfortable and ended up qualifying second.
After a little break it was time for the semi finals which I was looking forward to, but the little break clearly didn't help me too much as I had a couple too many fives, costing me dearly and making me just miss out on the final which I was disappointed with.
It was a great day and I really enjoyed it along with all the other riders, and it was great to have a good weekend up there with a good turn out of spectators too.
After that eventful weekend there was a couple of week's gap before the next big event which was the next British Trials Championship down in Devon.
I did discover that Friday afternoon was not the best time to travel down there making the journey a lot longer than it should have been but we got there eventually. Kelly Farm where the trial is has always been a good venue with plenty of potential for great sections to both ride and spectate.
The trial appeared to be quite dry under the trees but where there wasn't as much shelter a few wet a greasy patches made it quite interesting.
I started off quite well and felt happy on the bike until I got mid way through the first lap where I slipped on two sections in a row picking up two consecutive fives. I knew after these mistakes I would have to sort myself out as I was sitting seventh after the first lap with all the scores pretty close.
My second lap picked up greatly having the best second lap of the trial with only five marks over the lap which pulled me back in to the running.
My last lap my aim was to have another single figure lap and I just managed to sneak it having nine marks just scraping in.
On my last two laps I managed to make all the difference as at the end of the day I pulled up to second, but with third, fourth and fifth all very close, one more mistake would have cost me a few places.
I drove back home that night which felt like a mission helped by the M25 being shut which always makes that area become a nightmare.
I managed to get back and get some sleep before heading the next day to the East of England Trial at the Trials Park. I really enjoyed the days riding, a little bit of a wind down from the previous day, I managed to take the win and thoroughly enjoyed the day. Great weather and riding round with great people.
Thanks again everyone who continues to help me.
Feet up till next time!
