Austy wins Allan Jefferies
By TMX Archives on 17th Jul 09
ONCE again the National Allan Jefferies Trophy Trial was the scene of a cliffhanger result where Ian Austermuhle won the coveted trophy from East Keswick brothers Dan and Ben Hemingway. It was a 40 section test of consistent riding for the 130 entries tackling the treacherous limestone based sections in Littondale and Upper Wharfedale, in west Yorkshire, from the remote Halton Gill start. Austermuhle was Mr Consistent, he dropped his first mark on the final step on the third sub on Fountains Fell then stormed the grass and limestone climb at Arncliffe Cote where the section would have been ideal for a mountain goat. The worst moment was footing the opening sub in the narrow beck at the bottom of Plews Wood where all his rivals struggled. Worst affected was Dan Thorpe who had a nightmare in Plews, one that got worse as he scaled the steep dense, damp woodlands.
However, he was the only clean ride on Wilks' famous gripless Waterfall section.
Following heavy rain on Saturday night the becks were bubbling. While Ian was doing his thing in the title class, Clubman Expert Paul Bennett took another major result on his Sherco from teenager Sam Clarke.
Young Sam repeated his recent Dave Rowland ride with a polished performance that saw him clean 29 sections compared with Bennett's 27.
Where Bennett got the drop was his soft throttle hand on the limestone but that skill is coming to young Sam – rapidly.
The openers were Fountains Fell where Dan Thorpe and Nathan Wrigglesworth dropped a mark mounting the final jagged rock at the top of the beck.
The Clubmen went up the beck to a grassy exit which cut down as the water carried up out of the stream. Experts had a choice of lines but the left-hand kink took them onto the Clubman grass, into footing country.
The third sub featured that angled slab of rock that has extracted marks in past years and Austermuhle dropped his first mark along with Phil Alderson. Thorpe slacked his second mark down in the narrow beck at the third section while the second section on Darnbrook Fell got Dan Hemingway for a dab. At Litton Cote, the first section was hard and edgy.
The flight up the first four steps was hard enough but the finale was a six-foot sloping solid wedge of limestone.
John Sunter was front runner and smacked his leg against a rock at the start of the section when he fired the Sandiford Montesa. Clubmen missed that step and took off stage left onto a gripless slope. Katy Sunter, Sam Clarke, David Hardy and Ivan Phillipson were the best exponents.
NATIONAL ALLAN JEFFERIES TROPHY TRIAL
Kilnsey, nr Kettlewell, Yorks (Bradford & DMC Ltd)
EXPERT ROUTE
Expert: Ian Austermuhle (Beta UK) 8 marks lost, Ben Hemingway (Beta UK) 12, Dan Hemingway (Beta UK) 13, Dan Thorpe (JST Gas Gas) 21, Dan Farrer (JST Gas Gas) 28, Aran Drachenberg (Beta) 29, Philip Alderson (Gas Gas) 35, Ross Crosby (Sandiford Montesa) 38, Phil Disney (Appleyard Beta) 42, Nathan Wrigglesworth (Scorpa) 43.
Novice: Matthew Langford (Beta) 79, Anthony Cooper (Gas Gas) 95, Joe Bradley (Beta) 96.
CLUBMAN ROUTE
Expert: Paul Bennett (Sherco) 26, Simon Levett (Montesa) 62, Mark Coulson (Beta) 68.
Inter: Tony Wilson (Gas Gas) 36, Kevin Morphett (Montesa) 59, Alan Carr (Scorpa) 69.
Novice: Sam Clarke (Beta) 28, David Hardy (Montesa) 32, Ivan Phillipson (Beta) 38, Gary Pears (Scorpa) 40.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2009
On the Clubman route Paul Bennett (Sherco) easily won the Expert class, 36 marks ahead of Simon Levett.