Scottish changes
By TMX Archives on 20th Jan 11
THE Edinburgh and DMCs Scottish Pre-65 Two-Day Trial committee met on Monday evening of this week to discuss several issues that have been brought-up by competitors in last year's trial and these have now been acted upon and this results in a quite dramatic change to the course.
The 2011 event will be based, as usual, on the village of Kinlochleven and run on Friday/Saturday, April 29/30.
The second day (Saturday) route for the Pre-65 Scottish Trial has been altered in length for this year. Some new sections have been added and some from years gone by are being re-introduced. The long moorland run over Blackwater Dam has been discontinued due to environmental considerations coupled with a number of complaints by competitors who thought the route was over-strenuous for older riders and bigger machines.
The route down Callart Pass has also been scrapped, again due to complaints from some competitors who found the drop down too steep and challenging. As a result, two-way traffic has been re-introduced on the Mamore Road .
There will also be a slight change to the sign-off procedure at the end of each day. The route card that riders are given at the start of each day MUST be handed back to the Finish Officials where the finish time will be recorded on the card. Failure to do this will result in the competitors retirement from the event.
The event was as expected once again heavily oversubscribed and once again there has been the inevitable controversy over who has been accepted and who has not got a ride. The club have done their best to ensure a real variety of nationalities, makes of machinery and capacities. Riders from at least a dozen Nations will be taking part including from Spain, France, Sweden and Austria while some 20 varieties of machinery will be taking part from 200cc Villiers single cylinder two-strokes to rorty 500cc Triumph twins and every combination in between - including Ulster's John Griffiths on his 250cc OK Supreme which graced the front page of T+MX last year!
The Pre-65 is an amazing social event and draws a large number of family entries of fathers and sons, brothers and sometimes fathers and daughters although the only lady entry we've spotted is regular Scottish entry, Bantam mounted Victoria Glover. Family entries include Peter and Neil Gaunt, Colin and Scott Dommett, David and George Emmott, David and Mark Coughlan, Gary and Thomas Kinsman, Davy and Reece Morewood, Jean-Jacques and Luc Nictou, Max and Paul Heys and many more.
Steve Saunders came close to victory last year in his first go at the trial on a Triumph twin and returns for another crack having really enjoyed himself. You just can't pick a Scottish winner though with the likes of Tony Calvert, Paul Heys, Davy Morewood, Neil Gaunt, Channel Islander Graham DuFeu, Scott Dommett, Scots Murray Whittaker and Les Winthrop. Roger Williams is back with his James and of course you can never rule out veteran Dave Thorpe who just keeps on winning.
T+MX will keep you up to date on both the Pre-65 Two Day and of course the Scottish Six Days on the run-up to the events.