Great barrier Reeth...
By Barry Robinson on 29th Jul 11
Richard Sadler, the 18-year-old apprentice joiner from West Witton, joined the elite set on Sunday when he won the first National Reeth Three-Day Trial, his first major National win, and he spearheaded an MRS Sherco onslaught along with Jonathan Richardson, Richard Timperley and James Fry heading home Dan Thorpe and Tom Hick in a top four Sherco wipe-out.
And just to really put the smiles on Sherco importers Rhoda and Malcolm Rathmell's faces, Becky Cook iced the cake as best female finisher.
The weather in scenic Swaledale was just brilliant with only one heavy shower late on Friday afternoon that failed to wash the slime off the ice like rocks in the plantation at Clapgate which, as most Scott Trial followers know only too well, signals the final hazard in the famed trial in October. That innocuous stepped limestone crag, under the sheer cliffs of Applegarth pastures, signalled the end of the day, and trial, for Emma Bristow who went off the back of her Ossa big time.
The next ride for Emma was to the Friarage Hospital where severe bruising to her lower back and spine will keep her off a bike for a couple of weeks. Emma doesn't do spectating but she was as chirpy as ever watching the action on Sunday afternoon.
Nick Shield donned the Clubman class leader's yellow riding number on Saturday morning, as did Expert Richard Sadler. Bury Beta rider Shaun Isherwood was the custodian of the Clubman yellow plate on Sunday morning and it did him no favours at all with a12 on his punch card while Shield bettered allcomers in the Clubman class on a two to win from Cumbrian Stuart Gaskell with Isherwood in third spot.
It was cool on Friday morning as the 212-strong field opened the day at The Woodyard where the riverside sections took slack marks. Richard Timperley, Aran Drachenberg, Adam Milner and Becky Cook dropped marks that they should not have. Only Sadler cleaned the fourth sub where Richardson dropped a three, and that footing was to put the damper on his efforts. What was the winning margin on Sunday afternoon? Three marks!
It was dry and breezy so the Clubmen left a trail of mud-covered rocks which had Dan Thorpe praying for rain to clean the sections by the time the top runners got to them. That torrential downpour arrived at Clapgate just as Thorpey cleared the group, too late by far. Richardson got on with his trial and rode clean, apart from that three, until Cold Bank where he failed the first sub and Sadler dabbed. Only the guile of Phil Alderson and the exuberance of Tom Hick recorded a dab. Sadler signed-in with a dab in Rubbin House and Jingle Pot.
Shield was on a roll in the Clubman class with a dab in Hollins and a two in Jinglepot where Stuart Gaskell cleaned to nab second place on the day.
After a night of revelry in the marquee, Saturday dawned bright and sunny with a degree of moisture underfoot, it was damp in Cogden and Grinton Ghylls where the clear, sparkling stream invited. Bleasberry Ghyll, just east of Scott favourite Surrender, contained seven tough upstream beck sections full of steps, angled rocks and a few deep holes in the swirling waters. Timperley dropped a mark in this group where Phil Alderson and Aran Drachenberg suffered maximums.
Whaw Bridge's famous stepped top sub got Sadler and Richardson for two marks where Thorpe, Timperley and Drachenberg shone. The spectators at Whaw outnumbered by a mile those that graced the ravine for the last Scott Trial! Sadler rode like a demon after that two mark drop but came unstuck out on the moors at a no-go (for spectators) 23rd sub where he stopped after dodging a flag and burying the Sherco's nose down in a hole in the terrain.
"I was so busy trying to avoid taking the flag out that I rode into a hole with no escape route,” commented Richard.
Sunday was hotter than ever. Sadler was wound-up like a spring, saying very little, but as usual, polite to all his well-wishers. The route on Friday had taken in the north areas such as Fremington, Hurst, Cold Knuckles, Clapgate and Underbanks. Saturday featured Bleaberry, Whaw Bridge and Bridge End then 17 no-go sections curving round to Hurst. That gave the riders 40-sections.
The final day took in Cogden and Grinton Ghylls, Under Bridge, the dive down in to Brown's Waterfall, Shaw Gutter then the long climb up to Lower and Upper Summer Lodge, way up on the Askrigg road and commanding the most spectacular views of Swaledale. Sadler dropped a single mark in the 25th section after Shaw, while Richardson dropped a mark two sections on and another in the second sub at Summer Lodge- over and out for his efforts.
In the end, Sadler took the Premier by three marks from Richardson while Timperley got the better of James Fry who fired in the only daily clean ride on Sunday compared to Sadler's dab, Richardson's two, Tom Hick's three and Chris Pearson's quartet of dabs.
Summary: it all went off like a dream with not a mutter or a moan from anyone, a superb three days of trials in the Yorkshire dales.
NATIONAL REETH THREE-DAY TRIAL
Parks Field, Grinton, Reeth, nr Richmond (Richmond & DMCC)
HARD ROUTE – OVERALL: Richard Sadler (MRS Sherco) 3 + 7 + 1 = 11, Jonathan Richardson (MRS Sherco) 10 + 2 + 2 = 14, Richard Timperley (MRS Sherco) 10 + 2 + 5 = 17, James Fry (MRS Sherco) 11 + 11 + 0 = 22, Dan Thorpe (JST Gas Gas) 14 + 3 + 7 = 24, Thomas Hick (Beta) 27 + 3 + 3 = 33, Philip Alderson (Gas Gas) 14 + 6 + 15 = 35, Chris Pearson (MRS Sherco) 27 + 5 + 4 = 36, Shaun Fox (BVM Gas Gas) 25 + 5 + 7 = 37, Aran Drachenberg (Appleyard Beta) 25 + 8 + 14 = 47, Simon Kershaw (AM Beta) 32 + 7 + 9 = 48, Will Reynolds (Beta) 31 + 5 + 12 = 48, Mark Sunter (Beta) 28 + 11 + 18 = 57, Adam Milner (Beta) 30 + 11 + 17 = 58, Richard Gaskell (Ossa) 30 + 19 + 9 = 58, James Carr (AM Ossa) 34 + 12 + 13 = 59, Russ Rooksby (Gas Gas) 29 + 21 + 9 = 59, Ross Hancock (RCM Beta) 31 + 16 + 12 = 59, Nigel Crellin (Juan Knight Gas Gas) 23 + 10 + 28 = 61, Danny Gamble (Beta) 26 + 7 + 32 = 65, Keelan Hancock (RCM Beta) 42 + 11 + 17 = 70, Becky Cooke (BVM Sherco) 38 + 17 + 15 = 70, Gav Lowther (Appleyard Gas Gas) 29 + 16 + 26 = 71, John Sunter (Appleyard Montesa) 29 + 36 + 8 = 73, Michael Clarke (Beta) 33 + 23 + 23 = 79,...
CLUBMAN ROUTE – OVERALL: Nick Shield (Beta) 3 + 11 + 2 = 16, Stuart Gaskell (Scorpa) 5 + 10 + 6 = 21, Sean Isherwood (Beta) 5 + 6 + 12 = 23, Michael Benn (Gas Gas) 11 + 3 + 11 = 25, Paul Battensby (Sherco) 10 + 10 + 8 = 28, Andy Kearton (Montesa) 9 + 13 + 6 = 28, Dave Moffit (Montesa) 16 + 8 + 7 = 31, Robert Stones (Montesa) 11 + 16 + 5 = 32, Paul Hayward (Sherco) 10 + 16 + 8 = 34, Paul Dennis (Gas Gas) 14 + 9 + 12 = 35, Stuart Hall (Beta) 16 + 13 + 9 = 38, Mark Doughty (Sherco) 15 + 16 + 11 = 42, Allan Richardson (Gas Gas) 19 + 23 + 2 = 44, Dave Knaggs (Gas Gas) 13 + 20 + 11 = 44, Antony Brockbank (D3 Sherco) 20 + 16 + 8 = 44, Mike Watson (Montesa) 11 + 17 + 17 = 45, Joe Nicholas (Montesa) 17 + 12 + 16 = 45, Philip Perry (Gas Gas) 25 + 16 + 6 = 47, Ian Stephen (Sherco) 19 + 19 + 10 = 48, Jordan Birchall (Beta) 23 + 17 + 13 = 53, Kevin Chapman (Gas Gas) 17 + 25 + 12 = 54, Mike Crawshaw (Sherco) 27 + 26 + 10 = 63, Darren Mitchell (Montesa) 17 + 39 + 7 = 63, Colin Bailey (Beta) 21 + 22 + 21 = 64, Garry Moorhouse (Beta) 29 + 17 + 18 = 64,...
