Morris dances to victory
By TMX Archives on 20th Sep 07
AFTER last year's success in hosting the Inter Centre Team Trial, the Thames MCC held round seven of the Colin Appleyard sponsored ACU British Trials Championship at the very popular Hook Woods Trials Centre, West Horsley, Surrey, on Sunday and what a cracking trial it turned out to be.
Clerk of the course Jim Connor, assisted by JonSands, put in hours of hard work beforehand, along with club members.The end result was a very well planned event with 12 spectator-friendlysections.
Lancashire's Shaun Morris claimed his second winof the series and moved to within two points of series leader andreigning champ Graham Jarvis with occasional rider James Dabill doingShaun a favour by pushing Graham down to third place on the day.
Ross Danby bagged his second win of his 2007Expert campaign which moved him into second place, after a battleroyale, behind long-time series leader Joe Baker
Section one rode across a shallow stream with astep-up and exit over a log and up a rocky gully. Youth ace JackChalloner got off to a confident start going clean. Early casualtieswere southerners Steve Foord and Simon Bird. The biggest surprise wasRoss Danby, when he stopped on the greasy step, while on theChampionship route, Gary MacDonald required a two.
Nearby, section two was the good old-fashionedHook Woods mud hole with some nasty logs and tree roots. George Mortontook a trip over his handlebars on lap one but most of the top runnersdid not have too many difficulties.
A bank, with some very nasty logs and tree roots,made up section three, where British Ladies champion, Becky Cook, hadtwo unfortunate fives on her first two visits but a super ride on lapthree for a dab made her day. Championship conten-der, Michael Browndropped an unwanted five on lap two when he rolled back off the log.
The fourth section had spectators gob-smacked - ahuge log with a ditch-crossing and another log. Both Dan Thorpe andleg-waving Joe Baker lost slack dabs on top of the log whereas MikaVesterinen posted three feet-up rides.
COLIN APPLEYARD BRITISH SOLO TRIALS CHAMPS Rd 7 - Thames Trial at Hook Wood (Thames MCC)
CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS
1 Shaun Morris (300 Gas Gas)(32x0) 7 +3 + 0 + - =10
2 James Dabill (Future Mont)(30x0) 2 +1 + 7 + - =10
3 Graham Jarvis (290 MRS Sherco) 10 + 6 +6 + - = 22
4 Sam Connor (270 JLI Beta) 13 + 15 +1 + - = 29
5 Steve Colley (300 JST Gas Gas) 18 + 14 + 13+ - = 45
6 Michael Brown (250 RepsolBeta) 22 + 20 +11 + - = 53
7 Sam Haslam (250 BirkettScorpa) 20 + 24+ 18 + 4 = 66
8 Alexz Wigg (300 JST Gas Gas) 24 + 28 + 23+ 1 = 76
9 Gary MacDonald (290 MRSSherco) 35 + 27+ 31 + - = 93
10 Lee Sampson (290 MRS Sherco) 38 + 37 + 22 +- = 97
11 Liam Walker (300 JST Gas Gas) 49 + 39 + 38+ - = 126
12 George Morton (270 Repsol Beta) 60 + 45 + 42+ - = 147
SERIES STANDINGS after 7 (of 8) rounds: 1 Jarvis125 points, 2 Morris 123, 3 Brown 102, 4 Wigg 76, 5 Colley 59, 6 Haslam67, 7 MacDonald 62, 8 Sampson 56, 9 Dabill 37, 10 Morton 31, 11Walker 31, 12 Elwood 27, 13 Connor 24, 14 Phillipson 16, 15 Austermuhle13, 16 Hemingway 11.
EXPERT CLASS
1 Ross Danby (JST Gas Gas)(28x0) 12 + 14+ 0 + - = 26
2 Joe Baker (250 Birkett Scorpa)(22x0) 8 + 13+ 5 + - = 26
3 Mika Vesterinen (250 Beta) 11 + 7 +10 + - = 28
4 James Fry (MRS Sherco) 19 + 2 + 14+ - = 35
5 Dan Thorpe (300 JST Gas Gas) 16 + 8 +12 + - = 36
6 Chris Pearson (290 MRS Sherco) 18 + 16 + 17+ - = 51
7 Craig Robinson (JST Gas Gas) 17 + 11 + 25+ - = 53
8 Matthew Jones (290 HavenSherco) 23 + 17+ 16 + - = 56
9 Jason Bayliss (290 MRS Sherco) 31 + 14 + 16+ - = 61
10 Dan Farrer (300 JST Gas Gas) 26 + 31 + 27 +- = 84
11 Ben Wibberley (Stevens Gas Gas) 30 + 22 + 33+ - = 85
12 Gary Jenkins (290 MRS Sherco) 38 + 28 + 21+ - = 87
13 Simon Welch (270 Beta) 42 + 35 + 36 +1 = 114
14 Nick Baker (250 OAS Beta 4T) 42 + 39 + 36 +- = 117
15 Buster Regan (Repsol Beta) 40 + 40 + 44 +- = 124
EXPERT STANDINGS after 7 (of 8) rounds: 1 Baker129 points, 2 Danby 117, 3 Thorpe 110, 4 Vesterinen 82, 5 Pearson 66, 6Robinson 61, 7 Jones 54, 8 Fry 52, 9 Andrews 38, 10 Jenkins 36, 11Farrer 27, 12 Brice 25, 13 Andrews 24, 14 Wibberley 16, 15 Bayliss 11,16 Doyle 10, 17 Ely 9, 18 Ludgate 7, 19 Hemingway 7, 20 Cripps 6, 21Sunter 5, 22 Sherwin 4, 23 Welch 3, 24 Blackman 3, 25 Crellin 3, 26Regan 3, 27 Baker 2, 28 Crinson 1.
EXPERT 125cc STANDINGS after 7 (of 8) rounds: 1 Danby 140 points, 2 Andrews 68, 3 Shankie 60, 4 Graham 17.
YOUTH SUPPORT CLASS
1 Jack Challoner (Repsol Beta) 15 + 4 + 14+ - = 33
2 Ben Morphett (125 Gas Gas) 33 + 27 + 21 +- = 81
3 Adam Jones (Haven Sherco) 29 + 23 + 31 +- = 83
FINAL ROUND: Oct 7 - Bradford Trial at Skyrakes Farm, nr Skipton (Bradford & DMC).
For full story and pictures, see T+MX NEWS, Friday, September 21, 2007.