Red hot Coles
By TMX Archives on 18th Oct 10
The IOW motorcycle club held the final and decisive round of the 2010 Ladies and Girls British championships at Shorwell quarry last weekend, and with two of the classes undecided it was all to play for.
The main British Ladies championship class was at stake with the Island's Becky Cook on her MRS Sherco and the up and coming ACE trial team's Joanne Coles tied on points at the start. It was a similar story in the girls B class with Chloe Richardson and Nakita Smith, both from Yorkshire, ready to settle their championship. With the unseasonable sunny weather and with two championships to be decided it was great to see a much larger crowd of spectators than expected turn out to follow the action in this nail biting end to the season.
The main Championship course had been set to take marks, and having tested all the sections clerk of course Alan Gosden felt sure that the course was sufficiently hard enough to push the top riders to their limits. However following a wet week the course dried considerably over Saturday night to leave a slightly easier course than expected, with the top riders having little trouble with the six foot step at section one. At section two Coles was lucky to escape with a three after getting it wrong on the 30 foot loose climb; Cook dropped a one while everyone else failed to reach the top.
Next came the first real big test, section three had a six foot double drop off and a 12 foot step at the end, which is something you don't normally get in Ladies trials. Coles went first and was brilliant getting up the step for a one.Emma Bristow nearly over shot at the top but got away with a three, but the shock came when Cook failed to get up and crashed out for five.
The next mark stealer was the off set angled rocks at section seven where Coles got it all wrong, failing to make the step for five while Cook was fighting back and went for a safe three to reach the end cards. Nine was an interesting one, it had a double angled tree truck climb followed by a difficult double rock step climb to the finish. Coles got it wrong again crashing out for another five while Cook played safe with another dab to continue the fight back.
The final section in the woods looked fairly hard with an angled step halfway up a steep climb followed by an even steeper climb to the finish. First to go was Coles who lost a one on the step but then rode the rest of the section in style to end the lap on 15. Then came the biggest shock of the day and probably the most decisive moment of the whole Championship year, as Cook cleaned the step with ease but then completely missed the next set of marker flags to loose five marks. Know one could believe it, least of all her minder Craig Talbot as a four mark lead was turned into a one mark disadvantage.
On the second lap there was little between the top riders with Coles and Cook matching each other section for section, with Emma Bristow never far behind. So it was all down to the final lap to see who would be crowned British champion. The top two went into another gear and produced some amazing rides under pressure with the crowed following their every move through the final sections. As Coles attacked the final steps of section nine she needed a clean to maintain her one point lead over Cook but it was not to be as she struggled over the final step for a very large one mark loss. Cook was next and she had an amazing ride to record only the second clean of the day which was greeted by a huge roar from the crowed. She was now level with Coles with two sections remaining. Both riders went clear to the finish so it was down to the tie brake to see who was Champion. After a tense wait the name of Joanne Coles was written at the top of the board and for the first time in six years Britain had a new Ladies trial champion. It was a bitter defeat for Cook who had ridden so well on her home ground, but made worse knowing that missing the flag on section 11 had cost her the trial and the Championship.
The only Youth on the Hard course was Hannah Styles who had some remarkable riders on the 125 Gas Gas, especially on the more technical section where skill rather than a touch of insanity was called for.
There was still a Youth B Championship to be decided between Nikita Smith and Chloe Richardson. The Yorkshire girls were a class above the rest on the day and there was little between them.
Smith took a narrow lead after the first lap and try as she may, Richardson couldn't get the better of her so had to settle for second on the day which gave Nikita Smith the Championship.
The best riders on the C course were Maisie Payne closely followed by Beth Waite from north Yorkshire. Several Island girls also did well in this class, the best of these was Emma Percy who had a great ride followed by Louise Guster and young Elli Attrill.
ACU LADIES TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 8 – Shorwell Chalk Pit, Isle of Wight (Isle of Wight MCC)
LADIES CLASS (Route A): Joanne Coles (Gas Gas) 26 marks lost (21x0,8x1), Becky Cook (250 Sherco) 26 (21x0,7x1), Emma Bristow (250 Gas Gas) 41.
SERIES STANDINGS after 8 rounds: 1 Joanne Coles 134 points (CHAMPION), 2 Cook 128 (145), 3 Bristow 107 (122), 4 Fox 50, 5 Sunter 41, 6 Peacock 11.
YOUTH A (Route A): Hannah Styles (Gas Gas) 98 marks lost.
SERIES STANDINGS after 8 rounds: 1 Hannah Styles 140 (160) points (CHAMPION), 2 Danielle Whitham 119.
YOUTH B (Route B): Nikita Smith (Gas Gas) 10 marks lost, Chloe Richardson (Sherco) 12, Simone Wallis (Sherco) 53, Hannah Richardson (Gas Gas) 53, Victoria Payne (Beta) 71.
SERIES STANDINGS after 8 rounds: 1 Nikita Smith 131 (148) points (CHAMPION), 2 Chloe Richardson 131 (148), 3 Wallis 101 (114), 4 Hunter 90, 5 Richardson 85, 6 Payne 70, 7 Ellie Braithwaite 68, 8 Louise Alford 24, 9 Alex Head 18.
LADIES INTER (Route B): Emma Morphett (Gas Gas) 33 marks lost, Harriet Shore (Gas Gas) 47, Lianda Dabill (Gas Gas) 56.
SERIES STANDINGS after 8 rounds: 1 Emma Morphett 130 points (CHAMPION), 2 Dabill 107 (117), 3 Shore 101 (112), 4 Alford 80, 5 Wraight 75, 6 Alderson 37, 7 Harris 33, 8 Fry 33, 9 Ellis 30
YOUTH C (Route C): Maisie Payne (Beta) 10 marks lost, Beth Waite (Beta) 12, Naimh Richardson (Beta) 53, Alicia Robinson (Gas Gas) 53, Alice Minta (Gas Gas) 71, Leah Robinson (Gas Gas) 123.
SERIES STANDINGS after 8 rounds: 1 Maisie Payne 140 (157) points, 2 Waite 120, 3 Richardson 107 (122), 4 Gabby Witham 91, 5 A Robinson 76, 6 Minta 73 (81), 7 L Robinson 51, 8 Meg Savage 13, 9 Rosie Rowett 11.
NON-CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSES
YOUTH NEWCOMER (Route C): Nieve Holmes (Beta) 42 marks lost, Eleanor Atrill (Beta) 77.
LADIES NEWCOMER (Route C): Emma Percy (Gas Gas) 67 marks lost, Louise Gustar (Beta) 127.