Miller time
By TMX Archives on 22nd Nov 13
Both rounds of the Sammy Miller British Bike Trials Champs were held last weekend Matt'a mud manThe penultimate round of the National Sammy Miller Trials Championships the Perce Simon Trial was first run in 1936 and has been a leading event in the British trials calendar ever since.Run by the Ringwood MCC, the event was held at the wonderful location of Lord Normanton on the Somerley Estate, Ringwood.There were 10 sections at the start venue before the field moved on to the three quarry sections which included a severe graded hill.After the quarry it was back to Hamer Warren for the final seven sections, making a total of 20 in all which were lapped twice.There was an impressive entry of over 90 riders, including top stars from around the country led by TT great Mick Grant.The hardworking Ringwood Committee, led by Kevin Downer supported by Andy Gates, Andy Kilby and Mary Hodgkinson, plus all their support team put on a superb event and the weather was even better, not a cloud in the sky!The first man away was at 9am sharp and soon tackling the sections in the Somerley Estate which proved a good test.The opening trio of sections were sensible starters before section five saw clean bikes become very muddy and, especially the sidecars, but Paul Fishlock and Debbie Merrell showed everybody what to do.The chairs were followed by George Greenland on his Dot to lead the solos through, while Paul Balmain on his 1937 rigid Ariel, nicknamed The Weasel, found out that it was not the bike for this section!Section six in the Somerley Estate, by the Army Fort, proved to be a deciding section of the event, a steep descent through trees and an even more difficult climb. The first lap was cleaned by just six riders and on the second lap it sorted out the winners.Sections seven to ten were challenging as was the last section in Somerley.On to the quarry group and the graded hill proved challenging for all. Big gears and plenty of throttle were the requirements and the sidecars struggled hard.Section 16 was amazing last year. The trial was lost and won on this section which was a glorious Perce Simon section on mud, flat-out hard in third or fourth gear.This year it was bone dry and almost had dust coming out of the ground. What a change a year makes!Section 17 on Harmer Warren again saw plenty of mud and this section sorted out the winners for the White route with Simon Smith losing one point and George Greenland just two.Richard Frampton starred here and then on to sections 18, 19 and 20 which were cleanable. Again excellent sections of old and took plenty of marks but not from the front runners.The second lap was all down to section six by the Army Fort with top observer Jason Chamberlain who witnessed many clean sheets on the first lap. This was the decider with Mick Grant cleaning it and Matt Street lost his single mark. John Macklin also lost just a single here.During the second lap the quarry and Hamer Warren were relatively easy but on the way back to the finish Nick Symes from the Isle of Wight seized up his TLR250 but managed to coax it back to the finish.From here he went back to the Isle of Wight to pick up his TLR200 for the Downland Trial the next day!New Milton did well with two class winners.Simon Smith claimed the Twin-shock class and Matt Sleep on his Honda TLR250 proved to be the outright winner and put himself in a dominant position in the Sammy Miller Championship.Miller time for golden GrahamWith two rounds on the weekend to complete the 2013 Sammy Miller British Bike Trials Championship, the very popular series drew to a close on Sunday.It was the Downland Cup run by the North Berkshire MCC that closed out the series and with no less than 110 competitors across eight classes it was a fitting conclusion.The great man Sammy Miller was there at the start to wave the sidecars away from the Horse and Harrow Public House for the 9am start Sammys enthusiasm never wanes.The chairs headed out to Nappers Lane, which had one sub that for them was either a clean or a five. After Moors they arrived a Seymours and it was clear that marks were about to be be lost here.The opener had a tricky rock pile to negotiate followed by a climb out, and Paul Fishlock and Debbie Merrell were superb for a dab.Section two had plenty of options for disaster but again the pairing escaped for a one, while Lee Granby with Rupert Kimber in the chair crashed out and everyone else did likewise.Granby actually had the better of the second half of the event, but he could not quite catch Fishlock, who hung on to post a three mark winning margin.Graham Barton took the Rigid group ahead of Mike Holloway, but there were a few retirements in the class including Graham Howes whose BSA appeared to run out of sparks at section eight.The Pre-70 class, on the Easy route, went to John Jacka, who had a superb day beating second place Steve Allen by seven marks.One dab at Nappers, one at Seymours and a two at Lollington was all he needed to claim the class win.Class five, riding the Hard route, certainly had a testing day, although it still turned out to be a very close run thing between Alan Nicklin and Tim Blackmore.Alan lost one at Nappers and another at Seymours and that was his lot for the day.The Greeves rider was not at all fazed by the rocky drop-offs that faced riders in the third group and neither was Blackmore who remained feet up until the 22nd hazard, situated at Air Raid Shelter.This hazard took two marks from him while Nicklin went clean.Only Steve Thompson, Pete Kirby and Mark Stokes on the Triumph were able to match that effort.Tim lost out to Alan at Deer Lane with another dab, which meant second in class on the day.Barry Roads, riding in the more modern Twin-shock class managed to emulate Nicklins score as he managed the class winner.One dab at Lollington was not too much of a problem with only two riders making a clean Tony Moulder and Rob Faulkner and then one at the Shelter gave him the win ahead of Matt Sleep.Jon Bliss took a good win in the Twin-shock Easy Route class as did Nick Morgan riding the same route in the Trail bikes but there was also a great ride from Dave Renham. He rode the hard route on his Pampera and was great to watch.
