Brown calls Dibs on Mitchell win!
By TMX Archives on 4th Jun 09
THE ACU Events Ltd British Solo Trials Championship reached the halfway stage with the Mitchell Trial which, for the second year, was run by the East South Wales Centre at Morlais Quarry, near Merthyr Tydfil.The big change for this event was the weather, the ground was dry and bathed in bright sunshine for both practise and trial day. This created a problem for the organisers as the Championship entry had found the quarry's 12 sections too easy and asked for the hazards to be toughened up.The end result was that James Dabill's unbeaten run of three wins came to an end as the Gas Gas rider slipped to third on the day, thanks in the main to a massive crash as early as the second section. Michael Brown took the chance to nail his first British Championship win since switching to Sherco and Beta's Alexz Wigg also pipped Dibs, scooping his highest place British Championship finish and suddenly the Championship points had closed-up!Report and Pictures: COLIN BULLOCK The Experts B were first away at 9.30am on Sunday and it was John Crinson and Ricky Wiggins who started well with single dab rides on section two which would prove to be the toughest hazard of the event.
While these rides were good, Josh Law posted a clean on this section on his opening lap and this was not matched by anyone else in the class all day. Series leader Sam Ludgate was not to be outdone, however, and he quietly went about the task of extending his lead in the group although he was pushed seriously by Josh Woods who was actually leading after two laps.
In fact, the top four riders in the class were only split by three marks after the 36 sections as first-round winner Ricky Wiggins had also joined the challengers for top spot on the day.
With only 11 starters in Experts A and no title-chasing Ian Austermuhle, Sam Connor was the pre-event favourite and this was exactly how it unfolded.
Sam also fell foul of the dreaded section two on his first visit but the man from down South does not give in easily and despite losing the best line at the top of the section he used his strength to post a fighting three.
The next three riders following Sam home were Ben Morphett on 18 and he was showing everyone just what a good prospect he is. This was by far and away his best ride in the championship to date and on a 125 as well.
James Fry was third with a welcome return to form and then came Jonathan Richardson who had suffered a five on the rocks at the fourth section on the second lap. This was a hazard that he cleaned on both of his other two visits.
Finally, out came the championship entry and they all cleaned the opener which, without any recent rain on the ground, was nowhere near the tough hazard it was 12 months ago.
Section two was a different kettle of fish as you have already gathered from the other classes. It had not caused many problems in practise but the final ascent was pretty horrendous and the rock slab on the best line difficult to get on to.
Early on, Jack Challoner fived, although he felt he had been baulked and it just did not happen for Ross Danby or George Morton. Craig Robinson did the job however, for a two, and then informed Shirty that it had been easy!
Easy it was not and James Dabill had a horrendous crash here, which almost totalled the Gas Gas and he was given huge applause by the crowd when he picked himself up, amazingly relatively unscathed. Michael Brown then gave the crowd something else to cheer with a superb clean, a feat matched only by a very determined looking Alexz Wigg.
Wiggy carried on the good work on the next section where a very steep grassy bank caught out many. A one dab loss was the best posted on lap one.
Section four, at the other end of the quarry, gave little trouble and then riders dropped down into the wood where the most difficult section here was the seventh which took marks all day. Only three cleans were recorded here, Dabill on lap one, Wigg on lap two and then Brown on the last lap when it was probably at its worst.
When riders came back out into the quarry area at section nine they were faced with a nasty early double step. George Morton had a great ride here to post an opening lap clean and was justifiably well pleased with his efforts. Michael and Alexz followed suit as did James Dabill, happily going exceedingly well again if short on time following the bike re-fettling exercise. James then got in and out of section 12 with literally seconds to spare from his opening lap allowance.
At the end of that first circuit Alexz was in the lead, James second and Michael third. Alexz then posted a lap of just four marks to increase his advantage whilst the Mighty Atom almost matched him. Dibs however took two fives, another on at the second sub and then on nine where he got his approach to the step wrong.
Brownie was holding on to second but his priority was to get back into the Championship race and he did just that with an astonishing lap for just two marks which just nudged Alexz out at the finish, a five at the seventh costing the Beta rider his first British Championship win.
Dabill came back strongly for third with Jack Challoner a distant fourth after improving his score every lap.
The fifth round of the eight round series is coming-up fast with the West of England round on Sunday, June 14, when Brown will be hoping to make further inroads into James's Championship lead.
ACU EVENTS BRITISH SOLO
TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 4 – Mitchell Trial (ES Wales Centre)
CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS
1 Michael Brown (MRS Sherco) 10 + 5 + 2 = 17
2 Alexz Wigg (Beta UK) 8 + 4 + 8 = 20
3 James Dabill (300 JST Gas Gas) 9 + 12 + 4 = 25
4 Jack Challoner (Beta UK) 27 + 18 + 7 = 52
5 Shaun Morris (TTT Beta) 22 + 21 + 14 = 57
6 Ross Danby (JST Gas Gas) 21 + 21 + 17 = 59
7 George Morton (Beta UK) 23 + 23 + 17 = 63
8 Sam Haslam (JST Gas Gas) 20 + 28 + 19 = 67
9 Craig Robinson (JST Gas Gas) 26 + 22 + 27 = 75
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 (of 8) rounds: 1 Dabill 75 points, 2 Brown 67, 3 Wigg 52, 4 Morris 52, 5 Challoner 40, 6 Haslam 38, 7 Danby 36, 8 Lampkin 34, 9 Morton 32, 10 Robinson 26.
EXPERT A CLASS
1 Sam Connor (290 Beta UK) 4 + 3 + 1 = 8
2 Ben Morphett (125 Beta UK) 6 + 3 + 9 = 18
3 James Fry (MRS Sherco) 5 + 9 + 8 = 22
4 Jon Richardson (MRS Sherco) (26x1) 6 + 11 + 6 = 23
5 Gary MacDonald (MRS Sherco) (25x1) 8 + 10 + 5 = 23
6 Dan Thorpe (300 JST Gas Gas) 6 + 6 + 13 = 25
7 Lee Sampson (TRC Gas Gas) 12 + 12 + 7 = 31
8 Jonny Walker (125 Ace Gas Gas) 6 + 11 + 17 = 34
9 Chris Pearson (290 MRS Sherco) 16 + 15 + 9 = 40
10 Ben Wibberley (280 Gas Gas) 16 + 16 + 18 = 50
11 Gary Jenkins (MRS Sherco) 20 + 38 + 40 = 98
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 (of 8) rounds: 1 Connor 77 points, 2 Austermuhle 52, 3 MacDonald 52, 4 Richardson 41, 5 Sampson 41, 6 Morphett 39, 7 Thorpe 33, 8 Fry 30, 9 Jonny Walker 29, 9 Jonny Walker 29, 10 Liam Walker 24, 11 Hemingway 22, 12 Pearson 21, 13 Wibberley 19, 14 Jones 15, 15 Jenkins 6, 16 Spencer 4, 17 Farrer 2, 18 Chilton 1.
EXPERT 125cc SERIES STANDINGS after 4 (of 8) rounds: 1 Richardson 72 points, 2 Morphett 72, 3 Jonny Walker 64.
EXPERT B CLASS
1 Sam Ludgate (Birkett Scorpa) 4 + 10 + 5 = 19
2 Josh Woods (Beta UK) 6 + 4 + 10 = 20
3 John Crinson (Birkett Scorpa) 8 + 7 + 6 = 21
4 Ricky Wiggins (Albion Gas Gas) 12 + 5 + 5 = 22
5 John Sunter (300 Montesa 4RT) 10 + 8 + 10 = 28
6 Danny Gamble (Acklams Beta) 8 + 12 + 10 = 30
7 Miles Jones (250 Montesa 4RT) 9 + 25 + 8 = 42
8 Daniel Greatorex (250 Gas Gas) 12 + 23 + 8 = 43
9 James Carr (250 Scorpa) 18 + 13 + 14 = 45
10 Zac Sherwin (250 Beta) 18 + 14 + 16 = 48
11 A Blackman (Monster Gas Gas) 22 + 14 + 17 = 53
12 Josh Law (280 Gas Gas) 13 + 20 + 24 = 57
13 Phil Disney (Beta) 28 + 18 + 13 = 59
14 Philip Kettlewell (Gas Gas) 25 + 27 + 21 = 73
15 Craig Talbot (290 BVM Beta) 28 + 29 + 28 = 85
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 (of 8) rounds: 1 Ludgate 72 points, 2 Crinson 58, 3 Wiggins 56, 4 Woods 37, 5 Carr 36, 6 Gamble 29, 7 Blackman 23, 8 Brice 20, 10 Greatorex 19, 11 Sherwin 18, 12 Sunter 17, 13 Kendrew 15, 14 Fox 14, 15 Hemingway 13.
YOUTH SUPPORT CLASS (Non-champs)
1 Jack Sheppard (Beta UK) 6 + 6 + 4 = 16
NEXT ROUND: June 14 – Anthony Rew Trial at Bagtor, Dartmoor (West of England MC).
Michael Brown stepped up to take charge of proceedings, and a debut win on the Sherco, after series leader Dabill took an early tumble on section two.