Top Price
By Jason Bellinger on 8th Oct 17
CONGRATULATIONS to Jack Price on taking his first RT Keedwell sponsored British Trials Championship - and commiserations to his vanquished challenger Jack Sheppard.
Price, at just 20 years of age, represents the young guns who will dominate trials in the coming decade while at 24 Sheppard is still to hit his prime.The two Jacks have followed very different paths this season, Yorkshireman Pricey has been competing in his first TrialGP season with the factory Gas Gas squad having won the Junior World Cup title last year following a winter practising hard in Spain.
Shep, from the flatlands of East Anglia, not exactly prime trials country, has concentrated almost exclusively on the British Championship on his Beta, not getting involved in the British National scene.
Fair play to both for taking the title right down to the wire, kept honest by the experienced Michael Brown, with Shep looking strong on the opening day of the back to back final rounds in Scotland last weekend to close within a point of the Prices lead only for it to go awry on Sunday.
Well done also to Dan Peace for concentrating on his own trial and nailing his first BTC win while the pressure was all on the two contenders on Sunday.
James Fry has split his year into riding selected events, targetting the S3 Parts and the BTC Experts series, while working hard for partner Emma Bristow in the World Champs so his Experts title was hard earned.
Well done also to newly crowned S3 Parts Champ Luke Walker on nailing the final Experts class win on Sunday.
Sherco ambassador Luke, at 22, is a stalwart of the British National scene, riding virtually every single weekend and almost always in contention so the National S3 Parts title and a BTC Experts win is a real end of season result.
The BTC has genuinaly covered the country from the opening round at Hookwood in Surrey, through the West of England in Devon, up through Wales and into Scotland via Yorkshire.
The only downside has been the marked drop-off in entries over the final couple of rounds. Maybe re-jigging the scheduling (if possible) might help but apart from that there isnt a lot the ACU can do, it is just the way of the world.
You cant force people to ride!
