Report: National Wainwright Shield Trial
By Barry Robinson on 29th Jun 16
Richard Sadler won the National Wainwright Shield Trial at Marsett on Sunday from James Stones and Danny Gamble.
Fifteen Expert riders completed the testing moorland course high above Marsett. The Clubman class was won by Roger Williams from Paul Dennis, followed by Steve Swanson and Andy Tales.
The latter two riders were separated by a tie-break.
The Club followed the traditional Wainwright format with two long laps of moorland and 24 sections.
The first nine sections tracked Oughtershaw Gill which at the extremes of section nine is about a mile of trudging through knee deep grass and heather.
The opener dropped down to the Oughtershaw stream taking in a couple of mild climbs.
The heavy stuff started at the third section where Brian Ayrton watched riders battle up the green rocks.
James Stones added a dab to his second section prod.
Sam Beecroft-Penny stopped and only Richard Sadler, winner last year on 14, cleaned the entire west end sections but he did mutter at dropping a boot on at the tenth section.
To that point Stones was on three and Danny Gamble up to four as was Thomas Housecroft.
Another 200 metres along and the four Dead Wood sections extracted a heavy toll.
Only Sadler cleaned the green rock stream.
The trio of challengers, Gamble, Housecroft and Stones dropped marks in the top sub. Sections 10, 11 and 12 marked the turning of the course with a return to parc ferme for refuelling and refreshments.
The clubmen missed the vertical flight at 11 and climbed a narrow muddy slot on the opposite banking.
Only Roger Williams, Paul Dennis and Swanson cleaned on lap one due mainly to the rock step out of the stream at the bottom of the section.
The second loop took in Huntershaw Gill and New Close with an initial run off seven section in dryish stream beds.
Sadler dabbed 16 and then on lap two had to take three. He cleaned the last two in style. The difficult final climb had a sharp right turn at the top but Sadler, Sam Yeadon, Danny Gamble and Roger Williams floated over the hardware.
RESULTS
Hard course: Richard Sadler (Beta) 7, James Stones (Sherco) 19, Danny Gamble (Sherco) 37, Thomas Housecroft (Beta) 46, Sam Beecroft-Penny (Monteaa) 57, Tom Hick (Beta) 80.
Clubmen: Roger Williams (Yamaha) 11, Paul Dennis (Beta) 29, Steve Swanson (Beta) 30, Andrew Tales (Beta) 30, Andrew Jackson (Scorpa) 34, Sam Jennings (Montesa) 48.
