TMX Says: Scott Trial is a firm favourite
By TMX Archives on 19th Oct 16
WITH the team powering through no fewer than four print deadlines last week and producing something like 374 pages I was lucky enough to get whisked away by the wife for the weekend to celebrate our first wedding anniversary.
So while all you followers of UK off-road motorcycle sport were wrapping up for the autumn weather I was sunning myself on a stretch of sand in Cyprus wearing nothing but shorts – insert your own joke about Greenpeace and beached whales etc right here.
Landing in the UK at 1am on Tuesday morning was a bit of shock to the system as the temperature was in single digits and it was raining sideward.
But in some ways that was a good thing as it brought me back to earth with a bump – quite literally in fact thanks to the good people EasyJet – and served as a timely reminder to sort my act out for Saturday.
That's because it's time to make my annual trek to the Scott Trial and, hopefully, I'll remember to take a coat with me this year.
The time and observation classic is one of my all-time favourite events and, as well as watching the riders attacking the sections around the 70-odd mile lap, I love nothing more than going through the results line by line afterwards as they always throw out some really entertaining oddities.
Last year's trial proved to be an absolute corker with Ian Austermuhle taking the win without being best on observation or by setting the fastest time either.
He was just really good at both which is exactly what's needed to take a Scott win – along with a huge slice of luck, too, of course!
Going through the entry list for the 2016 edition and it looks like we're gonna be in for another tense wait to find out who's won when it's all over as all five of the last five victors – in chronological order that's James Dabill, Jonathan Richardson, Michael Brown, Dougie Lampkin and the aforementioned Austermuhle – are ready to give it another shot in 2016.
Chuck in wildcards like trials star-turned hard enduro ace Billy Bolt and also the folk who have almost won it over the years - surely John Sunter and Michael Brown both deserve a win at some point or other – and it's almost impossible to pick a winner.
I'm not even going to try and predict who'll win but can guarantee that whoever it is that does will definitely deserve it.
You just can't fluke a Scott win and it takes real determination, skills and tenacity to even make the finish. Good luck to each and every starter on Saturday morning.
If you do venture out to the Scott this weekend then please remember to buy a programme, stick to the official spectator areas and perhaps, most importantly, respect the countryside.
This trial – and most off-road motorcycling events in the UK for that matter – only survive on the goodwill of the landowners so let's not annoy them...
An event that absolutely isn't affected by the weather (although I do remember getting to the Bristol incarnation was tricky one year thanks to snow-blocked motorways) is the International Dirt Bike Show which goes off next week –
from October 26 to October 30 – at Stoneleigh Park.
If you get chance come over and say hi, even if it's just to have a good moan and poke me in the eye. See you there...
