KING DOUGIE RULES
By TMX Archives on 6th Aug 08
DOUGIE Lampkin rode his first British Championship Trial since 2000 last Sunday - and it was as if he had never been away! The seven- times World Trials Champ, who won the revived British Experts Trial in Cumbria just last weekend, was in action in his home Yorkshire centre on Sunday and, once again, proved head and shoulders above those who would be king.
Doug's winning score of 14 on the factory Beta was less than half that of runner-up James Dabill, himself riding only his second British Champs trial of the year, having concentrated on the Italian series for his Future team. Champion-ship chasers Michael Brown and Graham Jarvis both had days they would rather forget but still stand well clear at the top of the table, Browny having eked out a four-point lead.
The fifth round of the Colin Appleyard sponsored 2008 British Solo Trials Champs was run, as superbly as ever, by
the ever-helpful Yeadon-Guiseley guys and gals and the venue, for the second year, was the excellent Brimham Rocks near Pateley Bridge.
Clerk of the course James Noble and gang had sussed-out a dozen hazards in the rock-strewn wood with split sections that equally suited both the Cham-pionship and Expert challengers.
The direction of the course was reversed over last year and it was Dabill and Lampkin who were to lead the 12-man Champ-ionship field round all three laps.
Going down: Easy does it for Dougie Lampkin and Beta on a fierce Brimham Rocks hazard.
Dabill was very comfortable in his role of pioneer and showed no sign of nerves. A heavy downpour just before the start made conditions, especially on the opening lap, very slippery but Dibs coped with it well.
All the rocky hazards followed a similar pattern and all were challenging with the steep climb at 10, which, along with the following more fiddly section 11, with its awkward rocks, caused the most trouble.
After four opening cleans, Michael Brown was in trouble at the fifth section when his TTT Beta just stopped and no amount of feet-up kicking would re-start it. After the time-up whistle blew, John Shirt suggested whacking the float bowl with a blunt instrument.
This was done and it fired-up straight away! Turned out an expensive five for Michael as he lost out on third place by just two marks.
Browny was, however, supreme at that 10th hazard with three superb cleans. The only other clean came from Dabill at his second attempt, in between a five and a dab. Doug fought-out for a hard-earned three on the opening lap and then took two safe dabs. Only Shaun Morris (twice) Graham Jarvis and Ross Danby (one apiece) made it up with just a single prod.
The following section 11 was a really awkward number with nastily positioned rocks. Top Gas Gas runner Shaun Morris was the best here with two superb cleans and a two, on his last attempt. Doug made it through with safe prods on his first two laps but suffered a big, painful crash backwards onto rocks when the back wheel slid off one of the offending rocks.
COLIN APPLEYARD BRITISH SOLO
TRIALS CHAMPS
Rd 5 Yeadon Guiseley & DMC
(MacKenzie Trophy Trial)
CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS
1 Dougie Lampkin (Beta) 6 + 2 + 6 + - = 14
2 James Dabill (Montesa 4RT) 14 + 3 + 12 + - = 29
3 Shaun Morris (300 Gas Gas) 19 + 11 + 4 + - = 34
4 Michael Brown (270 Beta) 19 + 5 + 12 + - = 36
5 Graham Jarvis (Sherco 4T) 16 + 14 + 8 + 2 = 40
6 Alexz Wigg (Montesa 4RT) 18 + 17 + 25 + - = 60
7 Sam Haslam (300 Gas Gas) 39 + 19 + 19 + - = 77
8 Ross Danby (250 Gas Gas) 45 + 19 + 38 + 1 = 103
9 Ian Austermuhle (270 Beta) 36 + 35 + 34 + - = 105
10 Lee Sampson (290 Sherco) 37 + 38 + 39 + - = 114
11 George Morton (270 Beta) 48 + 36 + 41 + - = 125
12 Craig Robinson (Gas Gas) 50 + 43 + 42 + 1 = 136
SERIES STANDINGS after 5 (of 8) rounds: 1 Brown 85 points, 2 Jarvis 81, 3 Morris 77, 4 Wigg 56, 5 Haslam 52, 6 Danby 50, 7 Dabill 34, 8 Morton 34, 9 Sampson 28, 10 Robinson 28, 11 MacDonald 26, 12 Lampkin 20, 13 Austermuhle 13, 14 Phillipson 4.
EXPERT CLASS
1 Joe Baker (250 Scorpa) 6 + 6 + 7 + - = 19
2 Jack Challoner (125 Beta) 6 + 5 + 9 + - = 20
3 Dan Thorpe (300 Gas Gas) 9 + 12 + 8 + - = 29
4 Ben Hemingway (Beta 4T) 9 + 15 + 7 + - = 31
5 James Fry (290 Sherco) 11 + 9 + 12 + - = 32
6 Chris Pearson (290 Sherco) 15 + 11 + 9 + - = 35
7 Liam Walker (300 Gas Gas) 15 + 13 + 8 + - = 36
8 Sam Ludgate (Beta) 14 + 23 + 16 + - = 53
9 Ben Wibberley (Gas Gas) 30 + 14 + 22 + - = 66
10 Dan Farrer (300 Gas Gas) 27 + 25 + 22 + - = 74
11 Darren Brice (250 Scorpa) 32 + 14 + 28 + - = 74
12 Gary Jenkins (290 Sherco) 32 + 20 + 26 + - = 78
13 Miles Jones (Montesa 4RT) 32 + 28 + 22 + - = 82
14 Dan Hemingway (Beta) 23 + 30 + 35 + - = 88
15 Adam Jones (125 Sherco) 23 + 32 + 36 + - = 91
EXPERT STANDINGS after 5 (of 8) rounds: 1 Joe Baker 97 points, 2 Challoner 86, 3 Thorpe 71, 4 Fry 60, 5 Ben Hemingway 52, 6 Walker 50, 7 Pearson 43, 8 Wibberley 34, 9 Jenkins 29, 10 Matthew Jones 26, 11 Miles Jones 17, 12 Brice 15, 13 Vesterinen 11, 14 Adam Jones 10, 15 Ludgate 8, 16 Nick Baker 7, 17 Farrer 6, 18 Blackman 6, 19 Crinson 6, 20 Kettlewell 5, 21 Hancock 3, 22 Bayliss 3, 23 Dan Hemingway 2, 24 Lawer 2, 25 Woods 2, 26 Welch 2, 27 Law 1, 28 Sherwin 1.
EXPERT 125cc STANDINGS after 5 (of 8) rounds: 1 Challoner 100 points, 2 Adam Jones 51, 3 Graham 32.
YOUTH SUPPORT CLASS (Non-champs)
1 Jonathan Richardson (Sherco) 19 + 23 + 12 + - = 54
2 Jack Sheppard (Beta) 22 + 19 + 16 + - = 57
3 Ben Morphett (Gas Gas) 22 + 23 + 17 + - = 62
NEXT ROUND: Sep 7 Thames Trial (Thames MCC).
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2008