Morris podium at first BTC!
By TMX Archives on 15th Apr 08
Shaun Morris (Team JSTGGUK) is slowly returning to form with a 'confidence boosting' 3rd place at yesterdays 1st Round of the British Trials Championship.
As always the event at Kinlochleven was superblyorganised but with the sections being very technical and a bit too long for theallowed 1.5 minute time limit the event proved to be very high scoring. Evenwith the sections being tough, not one section was dangerous or unrideable so onthe whole i personally think the Lochaber club did a very good job. Maybe inthese circumstances giving the riders 2 minutes per section would have beeneasier than chamging the sections? But then the overall time limit is thenaffected etc...
Anyway back to the GG boys...
Shaun rode at the front of the entry (as normal) and hada 'shakey' start with running out of time on a few sections and a few 'dumb'mistakes. I was pleased to see he stayed positive and although tiring on thelast lap he actually had his best lapwith 21 marks lost.
With this confidence boosting ride i think Shaun will goto Wales this weekend with a better frame of mind. Also when he is 'armed' withthe new RAGA bike at Round 3 after the Scottish i'm confident we will see Shaunback where he was before his accident.
Sam Haslam (JSTGGUK) had another good ride to follow onfrom his excellent weekend in Ireland and finished 5th some 17 marks infront ofAlexz Wigg. (Alexz simply had a bad day obviously because i thrashed him at poolin the pub on Saturday night!)Sam rode with his headrealising the time wastight and went for '3s' on the first lap to assess how the sections rode. Infact he had the least'5s' on the first lap than anyone with only fiving twosections...Sam is riding very well at the moment but still makes some 'lazy'mistakes where abit more aggression is needed.
Ross Danby (JSTGGUK) finished 8th in his firstChampionship Class BTC, only 3 marks off 6th! In was certainly 'in at the deepend' for Ross with a VERY tough event losing 150 marks! Ross needs to treat thisfirst year in the main class as a learning year where he will realise that thestep up from the Expert Class is massive.
Craig Robinson (JSTGGUK) was 13th also is his firstChamp Class BTC and struggled but yet enjoyed the harder sections. Craigcertainly has the technique for the 'big sections' and i think with a moreaccurate trick riding / lining up and less 'pi**ing' about his results willimprove. I expect Craig to improve ALOT this year and will suprise a few peopleas the season progresses.
As for the Expert Class i'm a bit dissapointed with theGasser Boys. Liam Walker was the best JSTGGUK rider in 4th taking the step downfrom the Championship Class this year. Dan Thorpe was 5th who struggled withthe very technical sections. We all know Dan is AWESOME in the more tradionalsections and im sure he'll improve this weekend in sunny Wales.
The Youth Class was won by Jonny Walkerwiththe JSTGGUKA Class Ben Morphett rider battling on finishing 4th.
CONGRATULATIONS to Michael Brown who won theChamp Class with an awesome last lap and also to Jack Challoner who won the theExpert Class on a 125!