A clean Hut' Guy
By TMX Archives on 9th Nov 07
THE annual Guy Fawkes British Bike trial, run by Western Classic MCC and based at Chalford in Gloucestershire seems to have acquired a reputation as an easy' trial. In 2006 there were three clean sheets (two on the hard route, one on the easy). Last Sunday the 2007 contest chalked up two perfect scores, again on the harder of the two routes, and there were tiny totals aplenty.
Predictably Len Hutty, with another masterfuldisplay on his Matchy, was the leader on the road and first home withhis record intact. By the time the rest of the 80 strong entry,including seven sidecars, were back at base. Len was loaded andhomeward-bound.
Not far behind came our second clean sheet, ChrisGascoigne, an unobstrusive rider who, like Len Hutty, just gets on withthe job.
But to rate this trial as easy (or even too easy)is to miss the point. The Rickman Motorcycles British Bike trialschampionship, of which this was the fourth round, is intended toencourage the owners of older, heavier, pre-unit Four-strokes to usethem as they were intended, rather than let them languish at the backof the workshop.
As a result sections are laid out with those verybikes in mind. Many of the sections can be ridden clean by most of theentry, but the course plotters at Western Classic include enough trickybits to test the Experts.
As well as Len Hutty, the Pre-Unit class containedanother big hitter - Graham DuFeu from Jersey, part of a three-strongcontingent from that island who departed for the Weymouth ferry in goodspirits having featured in podium places in their respective classes.
Graham lost his solitary mark on section four inthe first group at St Mary's Wood - the Ariel needed a steadying prodto keep it from straying out of the section.
Thereafter he was faultless, but so was Len Huttyand you can't afford to give the man from Camberley a mark start, evenin a trial involving 31 sections.
From the first group at St Mary's Wood the entrymade their way via Beech Pond and Hailey Wood to a group of sixsections at Sapperton Spill. Jagged, moss-covered rocks left on thesurface when Sapperton tunnel was built.
The smaller ones have been well disguised by thepassage of time and the larger ones are plain to see. Both take theirtoll on the unwary, or those whose control deserts them for a moment.Adrian Moss, Doug Nolan and Keith Wells all tasted the sharp end ofSapperton's hidden treasures which for two of them at least, made lifea tad uncomfortable when the final totals were totted up.
ANNUAL GUY FAWKES TRIAL
Chalford, Gloucestershire (Western Classic MCC)
Provisional Results
Tele-Rigid: Adrian Moss (500 Triumph) 9 marks lost (furthest clean), Peter Collins (350 AJS) 9, Godfrey Hannam (500 Ariel) 10.
Pre-Unit Springer: Len Hutty (410 Matchless)clean, Graham Dufeu (Jersey - 500 Ariel) 1, Mike McKenzie (500 Ariel)3, Nick Woolley (500 Ariel) 4.
Pre-65 Two-stroke: Chris Gascoigne (250 James) clean, Peter Salt (250 Francis Barnett) 1, Jon Noel (Jersey - 175 BSA) 3.
Best Vintage Two-stroke: Tim Padmore (225 James) 6.
Pre-70 Unit Construction: Keith Gardner (250 Triumph) 3, Richard Townsend (250 Triumph) 4, Peter Gaunt (250 Royal Enfield) 6.
Pre-Unit Sidecars: Dave & Steve Burge (500Ariel) 16, John & Paul Young (500 Ariel) 31, Gerald Dyer/ JohnLeeson (500 Triumph) 59.
Unit Sidecars: Peter Pesterfield/ Keith laker (650 Triumph) 18, Ian Hannam/ Debbie Smith (441 BSA) 20.
Trail Bikes: Keith Wells (185 Honda) 10, Dave Eeles (230 Honda) 11, Stan Howitt (225 Yamaha) 42.
Gentleman Class (Pre-70 British Bike - EasyRoute): Barrie Rodgers (250 Royal Enfield) 1, Arthur Dufeu (Jersey -200 Triumph) 5, Andy Spreadbridge (250 Greeves) 13.
See T+MX News, Friday, November 9, 2007 for full report and pictures.