Preview: British Trials Championship at Bootle

Last year the club ran its very first BTC event as the fourth and final round of the 2013 series, which Brown won to claim the title from his arch rival and deposed four-time champion, James Dabill.

 

This season the Lakes MTA get the expanded seven-round RT Keedwell Group-sponsored series underway and, once again, it will run under ‘no-stop' rules with sections to suit. 

 

Riders and promoters have now got a real grasp of how to make this work and Fell Green is an excellent venue for a championship event.

 

In the Championship class a healthy 25 riders will tackle this opening round, headed of course by Gas Gas UK No.1 Michael and his Beta-mounted counterpart Dabill.

 

‘Dibs' has just completed a successful World X-Trial campaign and stands as a clear No.4 in the world, so he will be looking to reclaim that lost British crown.

 

There will be plenty of opposition for the top two, though, with Jotagas ace Ross Danby, the reigning British No.3 always a threat, while Alexz Wigg – who won the recent Bemrose National – is off on the World Championship trail again this year and the Gas Gas pilot will be looking for top form.

 

Sam Connor has always been a class act, while Jonathan Richardson – who is on Beta machinery this year – remains something of an enigma, you never know whether he is going to be brilliant or terrible. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Jack Challoner will make it, after Ossa's new man broke his wrist in the Sheffield X-Trial in January. 

 

Watch out for young Welsh ace Iwan Roberts, though, as he tackles the Championship class for the first time, as does the equally-promising Jack Price.

 

Take your pick of the rest – all are good lads capable of an upset, like Leyburn livewire Richard Sadler, Andy Chilton, Jack Sheppard and Ricky Wiggins, while Sam Haslam, James Fry and Dan Thorpe can always be relied on for a good, solid points score.

 

Of the 40-odd challengers for Expert class honours your guess is as good as any. Guy Kendrew, Brad Bullock, Rich Timperley, Josh Woods, James Stones and Tom Affleck should all make their mark.

 

And who would rule Ladies Champ, Emma Bristow, out of the mix, after she has kept fit during the winter winning the Ladies World Indoor Enduro Championship.

 

Becky Cook has also entered, making the long trip north from the Isle of Wight. There's no sign of reigning British Expert champ, local ace Darren Brice in the entry as perhaps Darren has retired from the series undefeated.

 

The course will feature a good mix of rocky outcrops, slippery becks and loose rocky gullies. 

 

All the action starts from 9.30am on Sunday.Follow the signs from Bootle village to Fell Green.