Jack takes up the challenge
By Barry Robinson on 8th Mar 07
SHIBDEN'S Jack Challoner won the second round of the ACU National Youth A and B Trials Championship at Ipstones, Staffordshire, on Sunday where the conditions for almost 100 youngsters were, to say the least, diabolical. The exposed Sharpecliffe Hall course at Ipstones bore the brunt of heavy rain, lashed further by gusting, ice cold, blasts of wind.
Challoner was the one who stuck to his task when the others floundered, and he left Jonathan Richardson to battle for the vital 17 points, and second place, with Yeovil's Ricky Wiggins who really shaded a strong contingent of northern riders. With just one failure - on section three on the third lap, by which time all the 12 sections were a muddy morass - Skeeby's Jon Richardson really bit the bullet and made amends for his lowly Dob Park result three weeks ago.
Challoner leads Youth A on maximum championship points - 40.
In Youth B it was the same result as Dob Park for lanky Norwich rider Jack Sheppard who put his Repsol Beta at the top of the results, again. For some strange reason Jack is taking on a new role, a sort of Graham Jarvis number two - a quiet lad, well mannered and polite, whose riding does the talking these days and on current form he is a gear above the rest of his Youth B rivals.
Yorkshire riders Richard Sadler and Josh Maude shone again. Josh would have claimed second place if he had not faltered on the final section on the final lap. So, the results, were just about a carbon copy of Dob Park, but in conditions that defied description.
ACU YOUTH A&B TRIALS CHAMPS
Rd 2 - Sharpcliffe Hall, Ipstones (Cheadle (Staffs) AC)
YOUTH A: Jack Challoner (Repsol Beta) 33 marks lost, Jonathan Richardson (JST Gas Gas) 38, Ricky Wiggins (RCM Gas Gas) 43, Ben Morphett (JST Gas Gas) 44, Adam Jones (MRS Haven Sherco) 47, Jonny Walker (MRS Sherco) 54, Josh Woods (MRS Sherco) 57, Jack Thompson (Kelcoat Gas Gas) 58, Josh Sprintall (Gas Gas) 62, Dale Robson (Birkett Scorpa) 64, Alan Ayres (John Lee Sherco) 65, Jonathan Chambers (Gas Gas) 66, Ben Bowkett (Raw Gas Gas) 69, Josh Stephens (MRS Sherco) 71, Jordan Scott (Gas Gas) 72.
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 8) rounds: 1 Challoner 40 points, 2 Jones 28, 3 Wiggins 26, 4 Richardson 25, 5 Woods 24, 6 Morphett 23, 7 Walker 15, 8 Andrew Chilton 13, 9 Thompson 12, 10 Stephens 11, 11 Chambers 10, 12 Sprintall 7, 13 Lloyd Price 7, 14 Robson 6, 15 Ayres 5,...
YOUTH B: Jack Sheppard (Repsol Beta) 10 marks lost, Richard Sadler (MRS Sherco) 36, Josh Maude (Gas Gas) 38, Josh Brain (Sherco) 48, Thomas Bleasdale (Wren Sherco) 52, Keelan Hancock (RCM Gas Gas) 53, Thomas Maddrell (Road &Track Sherco) 58, Joshua Hill (Gas Gas) 59, William Brockbank (Beta) 62, Allan-Lain Macmaster (HLS Sherco) 68, Chris Hunt (Gas Gas) 71, Jake Evans-Luter (Repsol Beta) 75, George Gosden (JST Gas Gas) 77, Alistair Bedford (BES Beta) 81, Chris Stay (MRS Sherco) 85.
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 8) rounds: 1 Sheppard 40 points, 2 Sadler 34, 3 Maude 30, 4 Brain 26, 5 Hancock 18, 6 Bleasdale 15, 7 Hunt 15, 8 MacMaster 13, 9 Hill 11, 10 Joanne Coles 11, 11 Maddrell 9, 12 Alex Hall 9, 13 Brockbank 7, 14 Stay 7, 15 Evans-Luter 6,...
NEXT ROUND: March 18 - Wolversleigh Farm, Sidbury, Sidmouth (Otter Vale MCC).
For full report, results and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, March 9, 2007.