2018 Kia Twinshock Championship preview

By Team TMX on 22nd Feb 18

Trials

The KIA National Twinshock Trials Championship glides effortlessly into its fifth season, with the 2018 edition of this mega-popular celebration of Classic trials kicking-off this Sunday, February 25.

And for the first time in its short history, the nine-round series wont be spearheaded by the Congleton club at Mow Cop because, as per the long-term plan, clubs and venues will be rested to allow other clubs and organisers to join in so the series is always kept fresh.

So it will be the Aqueduct club guys and gals who will host the opener at a pretty central venue for contenders and, while the club has hosted previous KIA rounds, the 2018 opener will be at a new venue at Selatyn, Cheshire.

As well as the new venue to start the year with, there are also two clubs new to the series joining in the fun.

Manchester 17 will run at Pott Shrigley, Cheshire, in May (after the Scottish) and Torridge will be in action at their well-known and liked Lower Wembsworthy Farm, Hartland, in Devon come September.

The series is northern-biased this year but not by design and the organisers would more than welcome offers from Southern-based clubs to apply to run rounds in future.

For the benefit of those who dont know, the history of the series is that three enthusiasts, Peter Salt, Alan Wright and Gerry Minshall were chatting and decided to run a series maily for the benefit of Historic Spanish bikes.

Most Twinshock series are biased towards brand-new Britshock machines and the standard classic Spanish bikes are not competitive against such opposition.

They floated the idea at the Telford Show in 2014 and ran the opening round just one month later.

That very first series was effectively made-up as it went along and gathered momentum like a runaway train.

There are four classes which are basically, Class 1: Air-cooled Monoshock. Class 2: Historic Spanish/ Pre-78 Twinshock. Class 3: Twinshock and Class 4: Pre-72 Britshock. Then there are Expert and Clubman routes to give riders of all abilities a guaranteed good day out.

The Class 2 allows machines like TY175 Yamahas and Beamish Suzukis to run with the Bultacos, Ossas and Montesas rather than the Open Twinshock class against more modern Majesties, Fantics, Hondas etc.

If they have been extensively modified then they will be asked to run in Class 3 Twinshock.

There are signs that there could be quite a jump in Historic Spanish entries this year for several reasons, which is great. Some riders have simply got over riding the very latest, most highly-developed Britshock or Twinshock and are going back to trials at its most basic.

Back in the day you bought a Bult, Ossa or Mont and rode it as it was, which was the idea when the series was originally discussed.

There are rules, which you can read on the KIA Twinshock website, and while there is no official scrutineering as such, riders are advised not to try and cheat. One, it is not in the spirit of the series and two, you will be spotted immediately by other knowledgeable riders as machine eligibility is very effectively self-policed. Dont do it!

In truth there have been few problems as the vast majority are very competitive but mainly just want to have fun in their favourite sport with like-minded enthusiasts.

All trials are off-road only and aimed at two laps of 20 sections with the lap length ideally a couple of miles to keep things flowing and allow riders and bikes a good blow-out.

Last year saw the Castleside club get involved with Ossy Byers at the helm and it proved a brilliant addition to the series with its elevated fell venue, near Consett in County Durham.

The Spen Valley club, with Robin Luscombe heavily involved, also staged their first round at Tong, Bradford which hosted the British round of the World Trials Championship and it provided a good variety of sections in the woodland setting.

With seven of the nine rounds counting towards the Championship, contenders can either miss a couple (and risk a DNF for whatever reason in others) or ride the lot and drop the two lowest scores.

All last years champions are named on here and theres more than a good chance that most, if not all, will be back again.

Theres often quite a lively (impromptu) social scene and while there are no official invites, if you like a lively night out before your trials on Sunday there will be opportunity!

KIA has proved to be a lively and generous sponsor, thanks mainly to Chesterfield dealer David Dench of Triangle Motors who is, need it be said, an enthusiastic Classic trials fan. The cash input is passed on via a generous observers draw at EVERY round with spending money going to the lucky top three observers names drawn out of the hat.

Average entries have been well into three figures right from the start and there is every sign that this will continue. As this piece was written, over a week before the opening round, there were already 130 entries and Regs are already out for the next two rounds.

If you want in, just check-out the KIA National Twinshock Championship website where you can find all the details including rules and entry forms.

And of course TMX will be covering each round with major reports/ pictures because this is trials at its classic best.

2018 Kia Twinshock Championship Schedule

  • February 25: Aqueduct MCC,Selatyn, Shropshire

  • March 25: Castleside TC, Edmundbyers, Co Durham

  • April 22: Scunthorpe MCC, Alkborough, N Lincs

  • May 20: Manchester 17 MCC, Pott Shrigley, Cheshire

  • June 17: Spen Valley MCC, Tong, Bradford, Yorkshire

  • July 22: Nene Valley MCC, Geddington, Northants

  • September 16: Torridge & DMCC, Hartland, Devon

  • October 21: Central Wales AC, Knighton, Powys

  • November 4: Hillsborough MCC, Bradfield, Yorks

2017 Kia Twinshock Champions

Expert

  • Historic Spanish/ Pre-78 T/S: Stephen Bisby (Ossa)

  • Air-cooled Mono: Dan Sanders (Yamaha)

  • Twinshock: Richard Allen (Honda TLR)

  • Britshock: Nigel Scott (Triumph Cub)

Clubman

  • Historic Spanish Pre-78 T/S: Eirian Davies (Yamaha)

  • Air-cooled Mono: Gary Fleckney (Honda RTL)

  • Twinshock: Stephen Robson (Fantic)

  • Britshock: Peter Edwards (Bantam)

  • Best Lady Rider: Janice Proctor (Yamaha)

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