Revenge is sweet for Rich
By Team TMX on 9th Oct 15
THE Barrow club staged the final round of the Northern Centre Trials Championship last Sunday with their longstanding Revenge Trophy Trial, held at Torver, near Coniston in the heart of the Lake District.
A great event offered three different routes with Experts, Clubman and the popular 50/50 (Green) route and this catch-all resulted in a strong entry of nearly 70 riders.
The venue is woodland based and featured a 13-section lap marked out by local super-enthusiast Norman Cooper which was covered three tmes. Cooperman knows what he is doing and the sections on all three routes were bang-on.
The Experts saw a close-fought battle over the day on the steep bankings and rocky streams in the wood and there were only a dozen marks between the top five.
Winner in the end was Richard Gaskell from Keswick on his Ossa, who parted with just 13.
The fourth and fifth hazards in the rocky beck were the toughest subs, the step in four being a problem for Green and Clubman contenders but the fifth made the Experts think, only Darren Brice cleaning it on all three laps.
Bricey wasn't having a good day on the Beta by his standards though and had to settle for third behind Richard and Steve Dixon on the Scorpa.
Will Brockbank raced round on his Sherco for fourth and James Johnson was right behind in fifth.
Dave Stevens made it an Ossa double with a convincing win on the popular Green course while Youth A rider James Postlethwaite rode with confidence to finish second from Simon Brice, Craig Seward and local lad Tom Hutchinson.
As ever the Clubman route attracted the biggest entry and was dominated by the Over 50 riders, with Antony Brockbank easing his Sherco round ahead of Tony Haddow and Jim Hudson.
Other class winners included Martin Peck, Will Hayhurst, Mark Batty and Joe Wilshaw.
Jim Hudson literally used the event for a bit of Scott practice and had finished his three laps before some had completed a single circuit.
All in all it was an eclectic entry with riders visiting from Scotland, the north east and Lancashire as well as the host Northern centre – and it was all the better for it.
