It's Golden Brown
By TMX Archives on 20th Sep 13
After finishing as runner-up more times than he cares to recall I think I finished second to Graham Jarvis once when he rode a Scorpa Easy! including the last four years to his big pal and rival James Dabill, the 26 year-old Gas Gas rider from Scarborough finally achieved his ambition.Following the presentation after his victory at the final round at Fell Green, Bootle, Michael said: It feels like its been a long time coming but it also feels great!
The final round was staged by the Lakes Motorcycle Trial Association, who are experienced in events like the traditional Lakes Two-Day Trial, but were making their British Trials Championship debut.
The donkeywork was done by Gary and Joel Gowan, with Nigel Birkett in charge of locating appropriate sections at the Bootle Scrambles Club's excellent Fell Green venue on the south Cumbrian coast.
And the trial was always going to be all about Michael and James as – although Dibs held a nominal three-point advantage – in a nutshell, the winner on the day (as long as it was Dabill or Brown) would be British Champion.
Twelve sections lapped three times was the format, with five Youths getting the day underway at 9.30am, followed by 28 Clubmen and a healthy 20 Championship contenders.
The weather forecast for Sunday – following a ridiculously balmy Saturday, when you could see the Isle of Man and Scotland from the heights of Fell Green – was horrible, with high winds and heavy rain due.
This obviously gave the section plotters cause for thought as they had to take the forecast into consideration, with several river sections having to be re-thought.
As it happened the day started fine but by the time the Championship runners had reached the second section, following an easy opener, the wind and rain arrived with a vengeance.
The third section included a big-gear hillclimb but the trouble came early in the section with a big slippery boulder that took Sam Connor for a three and Jonathan Richardson for a five,
as the Ossa spun right round on its axis.
The next two sections – four and five in the wood – proved crucial to the trial as heavy rain made the twisting climbs and descents on the slippery mud, slate and rooted hillside pretty treacherous.
On four, a handful of threes – including by Dabill, Richardson, Connor and Ross Danby – looked like being the best until Browny pulled off a genius ride.
A sole clean on his punchcard was by far the best on the hazard all day and Michael couldn't better a five on his two remaining visits.
Dibs was actually best over three laps with a trio of safe threes.
Section five was very similar and Andy Chilton made a fine effort with a single dab on the first lap before southern mud master Alexz Wigg took the applause of the soaked but hardy spectators, with the day's sole clean.
Two threes saw Wiggy as best on this hazard, although Dibs appeared to have it tamed with careful prods on his opening two laps, before a five last time through. The three on this hazard proved to be the only marks on Browny's card as he cleaned the final seven sections.
Defending champ Dibs was surprisingly struck by dab-itis which all added up to a six-mark gap as he dropped nine in total.
This included one in Gibson Spout, a river section not used for over 20 years, but marked out conservatively with high water-levels expected.
Previous to this riders were also faced with the old-favourite Avalanche Alley hazard on Bootle Fell, with the climb straight out of the ever-narrowing, steep rocky gully.
The second lap pretty much went the same way as the opener, although a five for Browny resulted in Dibs pulling a single mark back but he needed Michael to make a major mistake if he was to make a challenge.
But it was just not going to happen, as apart from two fives in the dreaded fourth and fifth, Michael kept his feet firmly on the pegs and the pair contrived to drop ten-apiece over the final circuit and the title was Michael's – by the slimmest of margins after both accumulated 74 championship points.
That was two wins and two seconds each but Michael's tie-break was thanks to winning the final round.
Third on the day went to the ever consistent Beta-mounted Ian Austermuhle who, apart from a maximum of fives on the fourth and fifth sections, did little else wrong all day.
And this from a ride towards the front of the field, well ahead of the majority of the Championship class.
There was little to separate Alexz Wigg and Ross Danby, both on the day and in the series, as they finished just a single mark apart on Sunday, with the advantage being Wiggy's.
But in the Championship Jotagas man Danby just claimed third overall by a single point from the Gas Gas rider.
In the Expert class local rider Darren Brice started the day as firm favourite to lift the Championship, with the Sherco ace only needing a top-six finish to seal his second Expert title.
But apart from a slack three on the second section first time through, Bricey put in a really solid ride to take a convincing win on the day and an equally convincing Championship title.
Darren said: "I've enjoyed doing the series, they've been really good trials and it's great to take the title.
"But it is hard work and I know I have said this before but this is definitely the last time I am committing to the series – I'm getting too old for this!”
Fellow Sherco rider Josh Woods and Ossa-mounted James Carr battled it out for the final podium places, with James super consistent putting together three laps for 14 marks apiece.
But Josh's opening laps for a dozen marks each plus 17 on the final time through – when an extra five sneaked in at the eighth – proved to be just a single mark better overall.
Tom Affleck finished fourth on the day but claimed runner-up in the series, with Jack Stones third in the Championship despite not contesting the final round on Sunday.
Emma Bristow finished a fine sixth, just behind Andy Blackman, with Emma improving each circuit, culminating in a final lap score of 13, beaten only by winner Brice on nine.
The five non-championship Youths all gave it their best with a super close finish as Jack Price and Iwan Roberts contrived to drop 39 apiece, Jack getting the verdict 22 cleans to 19.
