Nick's in the Red'
By TMX Archives on 19th Mar 09
THE Brookhouse Brickworks was first used as a venue for trials in the early 'fifties, so even though last Saturday's Angela Redford Trial was on land considered suitable for very ancient trials steeds and it can still prove to be more than acceptable for modern machinery. And the machinery that was used in this second round of the ACU's Normandale-sponsored Traditional Trials Series was of a huge variety. Pre-75 British Bikes, Twin-shocks, Air-cooled Monos and the latest up to date machinery ridden by riders over the age of 40 were all in use by the 152 starters who took part in this Lancs County-organised event.
Held over two laps of 20 sections at the Brickworks venue – now better know as an eight turbine wind-farm – and the adjacent Anna's Ghyll, the day's best performance was put up by Nick Shield, who coaxed his very tidy 250 Majesty round for the loss of 16 marks in the Twin-shock class.
The win was almost an embarrassment for the former winner of the series, as it was he who planned and marked out the course, but he hastened to add that he had not practiced on the sections beforehand. "Far too busy deciding where to go and what to offer,” and anyway, riding round the venue twice on the day before, twice during the trial and once before the start to check all was well and most of the lap after the event picking up flags was enough for anybody.
Roger Williams took second place in the Twin-shock class on 21 but considered he had lost only 16 – the same as Shield. However, the results sheets showed otherwise and second was his finishing position. Behind these two, it was all very close with Ian Baker, Nigel Birkett, Chris Koch and David Pye very close together.
Frequently it's the Over 40 riders who dominate these events, but not last Saturday, as the Over 40 winner, Sean Isherwood was on 26, the same as Paul Bennett and they could only be separated by most cleans. David Braithwaite came in third but then the marks were all very close.
However, close results were not the format in the Air-cooled Mono class where Chris Dixon on 19 was the winner and second overall in the trial (everybody rode the same sections), some 11 ahead of Kieran Hankin who was having one of his last rides on a trials bike before he returns for a summer of road racing. Look out for him in the TT as he's a near 120mph lapper over there.
NORMANDALE ACU TRADITIONAL TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 2 – Angela Redford Trophy Trial
(Lancs County MCC Ltd)
CLASS A – PRE-75 BRIT BIKE: Tony Calvert (Triumph) 28 marks lost, John Maxfield (Triumph) 31, Paul Heys (Triumph) 33, Carl Batty (James) 35 (26x0), Neil Gaunt (Ariel) 35 (23x0), Dave Thorpe (Triumph) 39, Chris Gascoigne (James) 40, Rob Bowyer (Triumph) 42, Scott Dommett (BSA) 46, Phil Wickett (Triumph) 50, Peter Grange (Triumph) 51, Alan Wright (James) 57, Anthony Cooper (Triumph) 60, Ben Robinson (Triumph) 64, Colin Bailey (Triumph) 70.
CLASS B – TWIN-SHOCK: Nick Shield (Majesty) 16, Roger Williams (Fantic) 21, Ian Baker (Honda) 22, Nigel Birkett (Suzuki) 23, Chris Koch (Cotswold) 27 (25x0), David Pye (Fantic) 27 (29x0), Chris Haigh (Honda) 38 (23x0), Barry Roads (Fantic) 38 (22x0), Stuart Gaskell (Yamaha) 42, John Holland (Yamaha) 45, Chris Greenwood (Honda) 47, Mark Barrow (Honda) 48, Daniel Watson (Honda) 52, Dave Shave (Honda) 55, Martin Gilbert (Fantic) 55.
CLASS C – AIRCOOLED MONO: Chris Dixon (Yamaha) 19, Kiaran Hankin (Honda) 30, Pete Ruscoe (Gas Gas) 31, Mark Reason (Fantic) 43, Jon Dunne (Montesa) 64, Kevin Peters (Fantic) 66, Dave Oswald (Yamaha) 76, Steve Ransom (Yamaha) 78, Derek Bainbridge (Honda) 83, Lee Hutchinson (Scorpa) 92, Stewart Ormesher (Montesa) 96.
CLASS D – OVER 40 MODERN: Sean Isherwood (Beta) 26 (29x0), Paul Bennett (Sherco) 26 (28x0), David Braithwaite (Beta) 27, Ashley Hall (Beta) 28 (30x0), Ian Haigh (Sherco) 28 (26x0), David Hardy (Montesa 4RT) 30, Phil Scott (Beta 4T) 33, Trevor Widdowson (Montesa 4RT) 34 (10x1), Keith Fawcett (Gas Gas) 34 ( 9x1), Simon Levett (Montesa) 37, Marcus Faulkner (Scorpa) 38, Andy Hipwell (Gas Gas) 45, Andy Dawson (Gas Gas) 47 (13x1), Pete Clibburn (Beta) 47 (12x1), Phil Martin (Montesa 4RT) 48.
CLASS E – OVER 50 MODERN: Stephen Farrall (Gas Gas) 31, Tony Haddow (Montesa 4RT) 43, Graham Atkinson (Gas Gas) 56, Simon Thornhill (Sherco) 59, Kevin Stannard (Gas Gas) 60, Dave Lovell (Montesa) 72, Cliff Camfield (Beta) 73, Clive Charlton (Beta) 74, John Penfold (Beta) 77, Mike Husband (Gas Gas) 82, Martin Greenwood (Beta) 84, Chris Halsall (Gas Gas) 105, Stephen Shutt (Gas Gas) 113, Paul Knight (Montesa) 123, John Lawrence (Beta) 126.
Class F – Over 60 Modern: Mike Rapley (Beta) 49, Jon Bliss (Sherco) 70, Brian Cooper (Beta) 77, Dave Ketteringham (Beta) 85.
NEXT ROUND: March 15 – Bootle Classic Trial (Bootle SC).
NON-CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS
Clubman Guest: Ben Butterworth (Beta) 35, Matthew Alpe (Beta) 64, Jack Wilkinson (Beta) 85.
FOR FULL STORY, SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2009
Sean Isherwood took the Over 40 Modern class from Paul Bennett, the two riders only separated on most cleans.