Wig wam bam!
By TMX Archives on 2nd May 11
Following on from Sunday's Victory Trial (see opposite page) the South Liverpool club hosted the sixth round of the ACU S3-Parts Clubman championship in the north Wales valleys on Easter Monday with their annual Lomax Cup National Trial.
Overall victory went to Sam Haslam from JST Gas Gas team colleague Ross Danby and S3-Parts leading contender Ricky Wiggins.
The latter was also the best Under 21 rider with eighteen-year-old student Ben Morphett only going down on most cleans to the rampant Wiggins after both lads dropped nine marks.
Surprisingly and somewhat inconsiderably, as the Lomax was oversubscribed with a full-house 120 entry, thirty of the those never made scenic Glyn Ceiriog start on Monday morning, for whatever reasons.
Last year the South Liverpool team were under fire for laying out what was very much a traditional Lomax, easy first half and no queues with a tendency to keep the sting in the tail of the one-lap trial.
On Monday this year, from the first three beck subs in the gully at Llechwed Gywn, it was clear that things had been changed as Sam Haslam dropped his first of seven marks in total through the 37 sections.
Ben Morphett and Richard Timperley had a boot down in the same spot.
Dan Thorpe was wide awake and cleaned the group but championship front runners Guy Kendrew and Shaun Fox failed the second sub.
Haslam then cleaned Fron Uchaf's three subs, and Rhydloes and Moelfree Hall, then took two to get up Gelli where both Danby and Wiggins dropped six marks.
That was the final count for Sam who was revelling in the Welsh valleys, and sunshine.
Wiggins was as consistent as Danby all the way but a softish two in Fron Uchaf was a bridge too far.
Championship leader Dan Thorpe was hanging in up to Gelli then banged in a 5-2-1 which allowed Morphett to
attack Wiggins, but the cleans dictated otherwise.
It was though another good result for Morphett, Richard Sadler and Richard Timperley. MRS will be well pleased with their teamsters.
A two in Bryniau for Thorpe and then a dabs in Plas Onn and Heartbreak Farm meant another batch of S3 Parts points ahead of Timperley, but Wiggins took the maximum 20 on this occasion.
Richard Sadler, Simon Welch and Guy Kendrew are still at the sharp end of the series.
The slightly changed format yielded some comment as competitors waited for any changes in the sections, and some that waited too long went out of time, five competitors in all, while a total of 28 riders invoked time penalties.
As John Lyons commented on Tuesday morning to TMX: "We listened to what was said by the competitors last year and marked the sections a little more severely.
"So the attitude changed completely on Monday because it was then perceived as being too hard. Time was lost because of riders waiting too long for sections to bed-in.
"The Lomax Cup has always been easy then gradually stiffening towards the end."
Some you win-some you lose...
S3-PARTS NATIONAL CLUBMAN TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 6 - Lomax Cup Trial (South Liverpool MC).
S3 CLASS SCORERS: Ricky Wiggins (RCM Gas Gas) 9 marks lost, Dan Thorpe (JST Gas Gas) 13, Richard Timperley (MRS Sherco) 15, Richard Sadler (MRS Sherco) 20, Simon Welch (280 Raw Gas Gas) 21, Guy Kendrew (280 Ossa Moto UK) 22, Miles Jones (Montesa) 24, Shaun Fox (BVM Gas Gas) 25, Tom Sagar (???) 28, Andy Blackman (300 Gas Gas) 39, Chris Barnfather (300 Gas Gas) 40, Ross Crosby (Pidcock Montesa) 43, Henry Bendall (Gas Gas) 46, Mark Atkinson (???) 48, Gavin Lowther (Gas Gas) 50.
SERIES STANDINGS (S3 Class) after 6 (of 9) rounds: 1 Thorpe 95 points, 2 Wiggins 82, 3 Richard Timperley 71, 4 Kendrew 70, 5 Sadler 52, 6 Fox 38, 7 Blackman 35, 8 Simon Welch 32, 9 Disney 25, 10 Regan 23,Ö
S3 OVER 40 CLASS SCORERS: Mark Hicken (300 Beta) 54 marks lost, Dave Clinkard (250 Beta) 55, Darren Wasley (Gas Gas) 59, Mick Boam (Scorpa) 62, Kevin Morphett (250 Montesa) 72, Paul Bennett (290 Sherco) 77, Paul Sagar (250 Scorpa) 85, Michael James (???) 91, Peter Morris (???) 96, Jeremy Darlington (280 Gas Gas) 98, Tim Morris (250 Gas Gas) 104, Rob Armson (RCM Gas Gas) 108, David Burrows (300 Gas Gas) 114, Phil O'Donoghue (???) 115, Paul Atkinson (280 Gas Gas) 124.
SERIES STANDINGS after 6 (of 9) rounds: 1 Hicken 95 points, 2 Wasley 86, 3 Clinkard 84, 4 Boam 75, 5 Koch 42, 6 Shirt 40, 7 Kevin Morphett 37, 8 Allen 36, 9 Grindle 18, 10 Brightmore 16,...
S3 125cc CLASS SCORERS: Shay Loughran (???) 155 marks lost.
SERIES STANDINGS after 6 (of 9) rounds: 1 Billy Craig 80 points, 2 Shay Loughran 20, 3 Emma Morphett 20,Ö
S3 TWIN-SHOCK CLASS: No scorers
SERIES STANDINGS after 6 (of 9) rounds: 1 Pye 80 points, 2 Nolan 49, 3 Wiffen 32,Ö
NEXT ROUND: June 5 - Alan Trophy Trial (Cumberland County MC).
NON-CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS
Expert Class: Sam Haslam (Gas Gas) 3 marks lost, Ross Danby (Gas Gas) 7, Ben Morphett (Sherco) 9, Chris Pearson (290 Sherco) 22.
