Fry, crisp and dry
By TMX Archives on 11th Jun 08
CUMBERLAND County Motor Club staged the 78th running of their famous Alan Trophy Trial at Newbiggin in Cumbria on Sunday, where many of the 76 entries were hoping to grab some Novogar Championship points in the sixth round (fifth in reality after the Chris Carter event was postponed) of the 2008 series. Non championship contenders Dan Thorpe and Northern centre ace Darren Brice were also amongst the contenders out to take the overall win in one of the country's oldest events.
It turned out to be very close at the finish with reigning champ and series leader James Fry taking maximum points in the Novogar championship but just losing out to Thorpe for the outright win and the Alan Trophy.
It took a tie decider to split them after they had both completed each of the two laps for five marks to finish on a total of ten but Thorpe had managed this with two more cleans than Fry to just shade the premier.
John Crinson took third overall after pushing the first two on the first lap with a score of six, while Chris Pearson finished fourth a further three marks down.
Based on the village of Croglin near Carlisle, the first group at Newbiggin Wood proved tricky to begin with but wasn't taking much off the later runners, although Welsh champ Gary Jenkins dropped a clanger when he stopped after the Ends cards at section three before realising that they were also the Begins of section four! A couple of marks for a foot down and a stop added to the two he had dropped in section two got his day off to a bad start, but he recovered and rode well after that to finish fifth.
Only Thorpe, Fry and Crinson arrived at Scarrowbank Steps still clean after the earlier brand-new hill climb had claimed marks off the rest of the entry, but only the two Chris's, Pearson and Dixon escaped without loss from the second sub here. The stream was marked out with tight turns and took singles from the top three along with Jenkins and Dan Farrer with most taking dabs on each corner.
NOVOGAR TRIALS CHAMPS
Rd 5 – Alan Trophy Trial (Cumberland County MC).
NOVOGAR POINTS SCORERS: James Fry (290 Sherco) 10 marks lost, John Crinson (250 Scorpa) 18, Chris Pearson (290 Sherco) 21, Gary Jenkins (290 Sherco) 26, Dan Farrer (300 Gas Gas) 27, Buster Regan (250 Beta) 30, Ben Wibberley (250 Gas Gas) 32, Simon Welch (270 Beta) 33, Chris Dixon (Scorpa) 34, Richard Gaskell (Scorpa) 35, Aran Drachenberg (Beta) 36, Andy Cripps (Gas Gas) 40, Dale Robson (Scorpa) 40, Andy Blackman (280 Gas Gas) 44, Stephen Dixon (Scorpa) 44.
SERIES STANDINGS after 5 (of 9) rounds: 1 Fry 95 points, 2 Pearson 74, 3 Jones 49, 4 Crinson 49, 5 Jenkins 48, 6 Wibberley 42, 7 Welch 41, 8 Danby 40, 9 Bayliss 22, 10 Jones 21, 11 Farrer 20, 12 Saunders 15, 13 Fox 14, 14 Blackman 14, 15 Regan 13,...
NOVOGAR 125cc CLASS: James Graham (125 Gas Gas) 51 marks lost.
Novogar 125cc Series Standings: 1 Graham 91 points, 2 Adam Jones 60, 3 Keiron Darlington 15, 4 Ashley Jones 13,...
NOVOGAR OVER 40 CLASS: Mick Boam (250 Scorpa) 64 marks lost.
Novogar Over 40 Series Standings: 1 Boam 74 points, 2 Richard Allen 72, 3 Michael James 61, 4 Dave Clinkard 54, 5 Chris Koch 30, 6 Mark Hicken 21, 7 Jeremy Cross 20, 8 Ashley Hall 18, 9 Tim Blackmore 11, 10 Stuart Robinson 10,...
EXPERT CLASS: Dan Thorpe (Gas Gas) 10 marks lost (mc) (Alan Trophy), Darren Brice (Scorpa 250T) 28.
NEXT ROUND: Aug 17 – Presidents Trophy Trial (Bootle SC).
James Fry took maximum points in the Novogar series but just lost the overall and the Alan Trophy to Dan Thorpe on a tie-break.
For full report and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, June 13, 2008