RICH REWARDS
By Team TMX on 30th Sep 15
Sadler reclaims Travers Trophy
THE 85th annual Travers Trophy Trial, incorporating the final S3 Championship round, was held on Sunday, starting from the old mining village of Allenheads in Northumberland.
The majority of the 40 sections on the single-lap course were based in and around the remote Wear Valley, where Beta-mounted Richard Sadler was determined to regain the trophy he had held for three years, before relinquishing it to his friend and rival Guy Kendrew last year.
An absolutely stunning ride from Richard which saw him lose just four marks, gave him a fully-deserved win from Welsh Champion Iwan Roberts and Kendrew, who lost out on a tie-break after he and Roberts both dropped 19, in an all-Beta podium.
Chris Pearson was already assured of the overall S3 Championship, which was just as well as the Sherco rider lost six marks on time which dropped him from fourth to sixth on the day.
Meanwhile, in the Clubman Class evergreen Colin Ward repeated his win from 2014 losing ten marks, two less than runner-up Lee McGee.
The Travers is the Newcastle club's flagship trial and a healthy entry of 89 riders headed out from Allenheads in glorious September sunshine with the course going in the reverse direction this year.
The first two hazards in Bells Quarry didn't really cause much of a problem for the Championship and Clubman runners, although John Crinson effectively lost second place by fiving the second sub as he slid sideways off the rock step while feet-up, with his back wheel now the wrong side of the markers.
It was a different story at the next group on Burtree Fell where the tight climb, finishing with a greasy step, caught out all the top runners, the best efforts coming from Roberts, Kendrew, Dan Thorpe and James Stones, who all parted with a single dab.
Sadler needed a couple to clear the end cards.
Further on in this group only Sadler, Thorpe and Luke Walker cleaned section five, with the vast majority takings fives.
Generally speaking it was then steady away with just dabs here and there for the top runners until the top sub at Valance Lodge, where only Kendrew cleaned the huge and very slippery step.
Sadler recorded a one, while Thorpe and already-crowned 2015 S3 Champion Chris Pearson managed to crest the top with just a couple of marks added to their scores.
Trough Shop and Stockhill didn't take their usual toll with cleans galore, and only Thorpe fived Killhope.
Smallburns is all about the big step, however the lead up to it seems to get harder each year and no-one manged to clean this section, with Sadler taking his fourth and last mark here for the best effort of the day.
A real sting in the tail greeted riders at the final subs of the day at Sunnyside, where only Sadler, Roberts, Crinson, Thorpe and Walker managed to keep their feet up on the long, loose climb.
Clubman rider Richard Hawes was literally inches from a clean before succumbing to a single prod just before the ends cards after a spirited flat-out attack aboard his Beta.
Ward and McGee were fairly well-matched on the Clubman Course, each taking odd dabs throughout the day, surprisingly most of which were in different sections.
Both finished the first half of the course on six, before McGee blew his chances with a three in Burtree Ford and two more at Smallburns.
Ward went on to take a dab at Snodbury, before paddling out of Sunnyside as McGee joined Hawes and David Heys with excellent single-mark rides – but too late to stop Wardy taking another victory.
