Report: Lonsdale Cup Trial

And John Crinson made the trip over from Sunderland in the North East to make it a Beta one-two as visitors dominated the podium in this excellent road-based event with Tom Hick completing the podium.

There were three routes to choose from and local Mark Batty took a great win on the Easy course on his 1970s Beamish Suzuki, while Andy Tales bagged first place in the super competitive Green 50/50 course.

The trial started on the club's own land at Firbank, midway between Kendal and Sedbergh, close to the M6 at junction 37. The recent well-publicised flooding in the area had left several bridges in the out of action to road traffic which restricted the course plotters as it put several usual groups out of range but several weeks of plotting saw a cracking trial laid on. The saying goes, if you provide it they will come, and come they did with just short of 100 riders signing on, on a not very promising day weatherwise.

Riders were welcomed from Yorkshire, Northumberland, Lancashire and Scotland (not forgetting regular visitor John Holland from whatever county he calls home – but Johnno is adopted northern centre anyway!)

Twisted

An opening group at Firbank to get the event underway was followed by a very wet and muddy run over towards the Kendal – Sedbergh road and there were some mucky looking bikes and bodies who arrived at the six section second group that was lapped twice. 

The tight, twisting stream gully had been cleaned out and extended by the course plotters and ended with a real sting in the tail. The final sub of the group twisted its way upstream before ending in a swing out to the right, up a vertical muddy bank.

This proved extremely slippery and was very soon just a brown, virtually gripless mess that all classes had to tackle. The Easy and Green courses had a little more chance of a run-up but whether you approached out of the beck or stayed on the bank didn't make much difference. Apart from a few flashes of skill and a couple of attempts off sneaky lines anything less than five was valuable marks saved.

It remained in this state until half-way round the second lap of the group when a line and a bottom were found and it was suddenly a whole lot better. 

Riding right at the back of the huge entry – and many early starters had completed two laps of the group before they even arrived – the Experts took advantage of the situation and logged double cleans.

With extremely misty, foggy conditions, it was then back to the start to refuel and head in the opposite direction to find some further slippery sections in the woods which made up the trial.

Sadler made it right through to the 24th section before dropping a mark but then snagged a maximum on the 28th where Crinson took the only clean in the Expert class. This was Richard's total for the day though, and those six marks saw him home a clear winner.

The last couple of hazards were as tough as it got and Richard cleaned them both. Tom Hick and Will Brockbank joined him in the feet-up stakes in the penultimate sub while Richard Gaskell and Ross Crosby signed off in style with cleans on the final section. Crinson took a dab in each which pretty much summed up his day. 

John didn't drop a five but the ones and twos added up to a 12 mark total which still left him well clear of Tom Hick in third. 

Westmorland club member Will Brock was the best rider from the host centre in fourth ahead of Lancashire's Jack Spencer making a welcome appearance.

Hazards

The Green course turned out to be the toughest as far as marks lost went as they tackled some of the tougher Expert sections. The popular 50/50 route was also super competitive with only a dozen marks covering the top ten finishers.

But it was Yorky Andy Tales who put his experience to good use in the conditions to find grip on the awkward hazards. 

The podium was completed by the relatively inexperienced Nathan Parker and all-rounder and popular Lancashire off-road dealer Martin Sandiford – he's equally competent on a motocrosser or enduro bike.

The top ten was completed by North East enthusiast Glenn Quinn who had brought pal Andrew Nicholson over for some Scottish practice, as after years of trying, Andrew has finally achieved his dream of a ride in the Six Days. Andrew dropped 72 to SSDT regular Quinny's 44 so maybe a few more outings before heading to Fort William!

The Easy course saw a memorable win for Mark Batty on the old Beamish Suzuki twin-shock, the early version with the trail bike TS250 engine. Mark just pipped Anthony Brockbank who not only sponsored the event but was involved in plotting the route, marking out, observing the tough (but endlessly entertaining) final sub at the second group and then whipping in. All in all it was quite a busy day for Brock!

Ian Haigh took third, just ahead of Tony Haddow, another member of the hard working Westmorland squad and another rider who is maturing well in as much as the older he gets the better he rides! And there was another twin-shock in fifth, Richard Taylor on his 350 Montesa getting the better of many modern machines.

All in all it was a challenging day out and, although there were plenty of very wet, muddy, bedraggled and tired riders the vast majority had enjoyed a great day out playing in the mud and the becks in the mist.