Report: Whitegates Farm - Rockshocks Classic Trials Championship
By John Dickinson on 1st Jul 22
The fifth of the 10-round 2022 Rockshocks Classic Trials Championship was staged last Sunday by the Huddersfield Falcons boys and girls and run at Whitegates Farm, Cartworth Moor, Holmfirth in deepest Yorkshire.
Nigel Greenwood and his team had drawn an entry of close on three figures and none were disappointed with the 20 sections, lapped twice, which were packed into the compact course confined to a steep-sided wooded valley which provided both slippery streams and grippy bankside hazards. And as the threatened rain held off thankfully they remained grippy!
All classes, both Expert and Clubman, proved to be super competitive but there was only one solitary clean ride on the day and that was by Simon Hirst on his Villiers powered Drayton in the Clubman Pre-75s.
Simon held off series regulars, southern visitor Tony Martin on his shiny 500 Triumph twin and Chris Myers from across the border in Cumbria, mounted on his unique 250 Tribsa twin, on five and six marks respectively. Devonian Martin Gilbert also kept his losses in single figures, just seven.
Rob Faulke
The most popular class by quite a way was Clubman Twinshock with around 35 contenders and it was regular competitor Rob Faulkner who made his trip north worthwhile as he forced his well-travelled Yamaha 175 to victory dropping just a single mark.
There were no fewer than 14 riders who kept their scores in single figures, Rob being joined on the virtual podium by Chris Tolson and Andy Turner.
Clubman Air-cooled Mono was also very well supported with almost 30 hopefuls but it was north east series contender Ian Cheetham who proved unbeatable as Keith Burgess made it a Yamaha one-two ahead of the GASGAS of Jim Williams and Joel Brayfords Beta with plenty of variety of machinery on show.
Andrew Weston
The smaller Experts numbers saw classes every bit as keenly contested with local Sam Clark taking top spot on his TY250 from Lancashires Chris Garlick whose five on the penultimate section on the second lap dropped him out of contention on the GASGAS.
Roman Kyrnyckyj completed the top three having switched from his regular SWM to a very smartly turned out Honda TLM 260 two-stroke.
Ben Robinson
Robin Luscombes well-used Bantam carried the Leeds Suzuki car dealer to a clear win in the Britshock Pre-75s, with the podium places being contested by the Tiger Cubs of Paul Dennis and Ben Robinson and the Greeves of Liam Robinson, Liam losing out on this occasion.
Which just leaves the most popular Experts class, the Twinshocks and the usual Fantic v Honda battles. Fantic ruled on Sunday with Thomas Jackson winning on just three marks from the Honda of competitive Welsh ace Miles Jones and Will Tolson who took a costly maximum at the tenth hazard first time through.
James Noble was horrified to veer the wrong way round a flag in the penultimate section while Stuart Blythe enjoyed a cracking ride on the sole Bultaco.
Another cracking Rockshocks round with lots of praise from competitors as they departed, as they pondered every single mark lost!
Big thanks to the Falcons guys and girls and all who made the event possible.
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