Rew'thless Dibs
By TMX Archives on 14th Apr 11
Round two of the ACU Events sponsored British Solo Trials Championships, the Anthony Rew Trial, took place last weekend hosted by the West Of England Club at Kelly Farm, near Bovey Tracey in South Devon again although the April date was much earlier in the season than normal for this trial.
Kelly Farm comprises lots of big moss-strewn rocks with plenty of loose climbs thrown in. Following the practice session some alterations were made and just to add a little extra interest there was some heavy overnight rain in the area but this did not seem to affect matters too much. Whatever, nothing stopped Beta mounted James Dabill as he kept his incredible winning run going although Gas Gas's Michael Brown ran him very close on Sunday, finishing just four marks down, the leading pair losing just half the marks of third placed Alexz Wigg on the Sherco. Sherco rider, James Fry, nailed his first Expert A victory from 125 Beta mounted Jack Sheppard and similarly mounted Richard Timperley just held off a late charge from Guy Kendrew's Ossa in Expert B.
The well subscribed Experts B got things underway at 10am Sunday with five hours 30 minutes the standard time limit to ride three laps of 12 subs. Most spectators watched the entry through section one, a series of steps and climbs over a fallen tree for the B route. Guy Kendrew tackled it early and needed a dab to see him through as did Richard Timperley, Josh Woods and Buster Regan. It was a section that remained uncleaned on lap one and would account for an early maximum on Keelan Hancock's card although the Bodmin rider had a very successful day. Kendrew took a five at the fifth hazard and this allowed Timperley to take an early lead in the event, one he would not relinquish.
Section eight was a tough proposition for the B class and Keelan Hancock was best here throughout the day with two cleans and a two.
Sherco's Richard Timperley was looking very confident and his first lap score of four marks put him firmly out in front. Although he lost eight on lap two his rivals could not match it and a steady third would mean victory. Guy Kendrew has built an excellent reputation on the Ossa and a final circuit for three dabs was superb but not quite enough and he finished just one adrift of Richard. Hancock put in three very consistent circuits for third with Josh Woods fourth just ahead of Kyle Hayes who was ruing six marks lost on time overall.
Experts A were next away and the weather was still looking good. Ricky Wiggins won the opening encounter at Westwood and had impressed everyone with his riding. Very much an added interest this time out was the reintroduction into the series of Jack Sheppard riding the 125 Beta and Richard Sadler returning after a hand injury.
Richard opened up with a great clean on section one where the A's had a tougher stepped exit. It caught Sheppard for a solitary dab but there were good cleans from Wiggins and James Fry, who was having a dream day. Section three, with its slippery twists and turns caught all of the entry for marks on lap one and Sheppard fived it first time around although he went-on to post the only clean of the day here on his second circuit. There were not too many big problems for the group until they arrived at the tenth sub. James, who had only lost two dabs up to this point maxed out and only Andy Chilton and Josh Brain got through for solitary dabs. At the end of lap two, Fry and Wiggins were level on 11 marks dropped with Chilton on 15 and Sheppard one further back.
Sheppard suffered an early setback on his second circuit with a five on the long uphill sub two but then went on a superb run to post the best lap of the day to put himself right back into contention, just one mark adrift of Brighton‘s James Fry.
Fry was having his best ever Championship event and he finished strongly to take his first ever premier in the A class. Sheppard got home in second, four marks behind with Ricky Wiggins third and Andy Chilton fourth.
The Championship entry were last out and the interest level for these guys is huge. James Dabill is on a superb run of victories that goes back to 2009 but Michael Brown now looks well at home on the Gas Gas as does Alexz Wigg on the Sherco.
Alexz did not have the best of starts with a two dropped at the opener where the Championship had a big boulder to contend with mid hazard. The back wheel did not grip as he wanted but Alexz recovered for a two although worse was to follow with a five on section two. By comparison Browny started off with three straight cleans while James needed a single prod at the mid point of section three.
The infamous rock slab section came next and its final exit climb is always fraught with difficulty. Ben Morphett pioneered a different line on the initial climb up but, along with most, the last bit proved too much.
Michael was close, Wiggy was unlucky to suffer a puncture and it was fives all round until Dibs fired the Beta up with the help of a steadying prod. Section six, along the top of the course, had a selection of boulders culminating in a horrible exit, nothing new there then. Ross Danby was superb to clean here, Alexz was back on track with a single dab and Dabill's clean was pure class as he sought to pull out an early advantage on his rivals. Once again it was the eighth hazard that was one of the toughies and time was also a big factor. Only Jack Challoner saw anything less than a five on the punchcard first time around. After a superb opening to the event James did not finish as strongly as he would have wanted allowing the Mighty Atom to come back at him and as the scores were posted they were just one mark apart with Ross Danby holding a very good third.
The rains returned with the Championship riders half way round their second circuit but it did not seem to affect the scores too much and many actually reduced their losses. Dabill squeezed out a score of eight following a superb clean on section four. Only Challoner with a dab got anywhere near matching that ride. Browny got the better of things on eight as he kept his big rival within striking distance and both were clear of the rest of the field. Lap two saw time penalties incurred by most of the riders although Alexz Wigg kept to time as he sought to close in on Challoner and Danby who were still in front of him at this stage.
As they got to the fourth section there were a few more successes on the last visit. George Morton got through for a dab, Jonathan Richardson and Sam Haslam three, James two and Brown one before Alexz conquered it with a great clean.
Jack Challoner's and Ross Danby's bid for third place was fading as Wiggy posted no less than seven cleans in a row to grab that final place on the podium. Both James and Michael had got to grips with the second part of the course and both had identical scores of just four marks lost which was a testament to some superb riding. Once again however it was the current champion who got home to take the premier award but it was very close and sets up the rest of the series nicely.
With the British Championship series getting support from Michelin, the tyre awards this time went to James Fry in the A class, Richard Timperley in B Group and Tom Dexter in the non-championship Youth class which he won from Luke Walker.
ACU EVENTS BRITISH SOLO TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 2 – Anthony Rew Trial (West of England MC)
CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS
L1 L2 L3 Time Tot
1 James Dabill (Beta) 19 + 8 + 4 + 3 = 34
2 Michael Brown (Gas Gas) 20 + 10 + 4 + 4 = 38
3 Alexz Wigg (Sherco) 34 + 23 + 15 + - = 72
4 Jack Challoner (Beta) 31 + 19 + 28 + 3 = 81
5 Ross Danby (Gas Gas) 27 + 39 + 29 + 2 = 97
6 Jonathan Richardson (Sherco) 37 + 33 + 31 + 1 = 102
7 Sam Haslam (Gas Gas) 37 + 36 + 32 + 2 = 107
8 George Morton (Beta) 37 + 37 + 34 + - = 108
9 Ben Morphett (Sherco) (3x0) 44 + 49 + 46 + 1 = 140
10 Craig Robinson (Gas Gas) (0x0) 46 + 49 + 45 + - = 140
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 8) rounds: 1 Dabill 40 points, 2 Brown 34, 3 Wigg 30, 4 Haslam 22, 5 Danby 22, 6 Richardson 20, 7 Morton 17, 8 Morphett 15, 9 Challoner 13, 10 Robinson 13.
EXPERT A CLASS
1 James Fry (Sherco) 11 + 11 + 10 + - = 32
2 Jack Sheppard (Beta) 16 + 7 + 13 + - = 36
3 Ricky Wiggins (Gas Gas) 11 + 14 + 12 + - = 37
4 Andy Chilton (Sherco) 15 + 10 + 15 + - = 40
5 Richard Sadler (Sherco) 18 + 16 + 33 + - = 67
6 Ben Wibberley (Gas Gas) 23 + 19 + 27 + - = 69
7 Jack Spencer (Beta) 24 + 30 + 19 + - = 73
8 Jake Evans-Luter (Beta) 22 + 20 + 32 + 4 = 78
9 Josh Brain (Gas Gas) 26 + 29 + 31 + - = 86
10 Robert Harries (Gas Gas) 33 + 30 + 26 + - = 89
11 Chris Short (Gas Gas) 36 + 29 + 35 + - = 100
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 8) rounds: 1 Fry 35 points, 2 Wiggins 35, 3 Spencer 26, 4 Chilton 24, 5 Wibberley 23, 6 Sheppard 17, 7 Evans-Luter 16, 8 Harries 15, 9 Brain 14, 9 Brain 14, 10 Sadler 11, 11 Short 11, 12 Phillipson 10.
EXPERT B CLASS
1 Richard Timperley (Sherco) 4 + 8 + 11 + 2 = 25
2 Guy Kendrew (Ossa) 12 + 11 + 3 + - = 26
3 Keelan Hancock (Gas Gas) 12 + 14 + 13 + - = 39
4 Josh Woods (Gas Gas) 21 + 11 + 12 + - = 44
5 Kyle Hayes (Beta) 21 + 12 + 6 + 6 = 45
6 Buster Regan (Beta) 21 + 12 + 14 + - = 47
7 Shaun Fox (Gas Gas) 18 + 13 + 16 + 2 = 49
8 Zac Sherwin (Beta) 22 + 15 + 14 + - = 51
9 Mark Harries (Montesa) (15x0,8x1) 16 + 18 + 19 + - = 53
10 Adam Milner (Beta) (15x0,8x1) 15 + 15 + 23 + - = 53
11 Ross Hancock (Beta) 23 + 21 + 14 + - = 58
12 Ben Sprigg (Gas Gas) 17 + 25 + 17 + - = 59
13 Tom Affleck (Sherco) 22 + 15 + 26 + - = 63
14 Josh Law (Gas Gas) (11x0) 21 + 21 + 22 + - = 64
15 Becky Cook (Sherco) (10x0) 32 + 15 + 17 + - = 64
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 (of 8) rounds: 1 Timperley 37 points, 2 Kendrew 37, 3 Regan 25, 4 Woods 22, 5 Sherwin 21, 6 Milner 17, 7 Keelan Hancock 15, 8 Sprigg 14, 10 Hayes 11, 11 Fox 9, 12 Disney 8, 13 Jordan Potter 6, 14 Ross Hancock 5, 15 Blackman 5.
YOUTH SUPPORT CLASS (Non-champs)
1 Tom Dexter (Gas Gas) 31 + 31 + 29 + - = 91
2 Luke Walker (Sherco) 31 + 32 + 37 + - = 100
3 Bradley Cox (Beta) 34 + 32 + 35 + - = 101
4 George Gosden (Gas Gas) 44 + 39 + 56 + - = 139
NEXT ROUND: April 17 – Macdonald Trial at Kinlochleven, Argyll (Lochaber & DMCC Ltd).
