The Macclesfield Club’s recent Christmas trial had a distinctively Spanish flavour about it. Guest of Gas Gas UK and formerly Adam Raga’s minder, Santi Navarro was out riding the factory 250. Shepherded round by Factory Kev and Andy Hipwell, Santi hopped, skipped and danced the Gas Gas through the first 9 sections in impressive style. However mid winter in these parts, usually means that somewhere during the trial you will encounter MUD, which proved to be Santi’s nemesis.
A turn out of close on 100 riders enjoyed a dry but cool day. Macclesfield’s usual format of 12 sections lapped 4 times kept queuing to a minimum and the last man to finish was back at the butty wagon enjoying the excellent fare long before darkness fell.
Three routes and a couple of 50/50 options keep all abilities happy. At the sharp end on the expert route, former Centre Champion Mike Roberts was on fire. His loss of 9 marks in total was inspired, losing just 3 marks on section 10 & 11 compared to Santi’s 26 (he didn’t like the mud!!!!) says it all. Mike’s riding buddy, Mark Reynolds finished in second spot on a very respectable 24 marks which included a 5 on his first section of the day. Whilst the rest of the entry on the hard route amassed some quite high scores all the comments following the trial were very positive, tough but not dangerous.
Riding a very fancy new Gas Gas on the 50/50 hard route, Andy Hipwell upheld the family honour with a cracking ride. With his feet firmly glued to the footrests, his loss of 12 marks left his usual adversary Pete Hallam, out on a borrowed 4 stroke Mont, trailing in his wake. Pete probably found the Mont down on power, compared to his, now sold TY Mono!!!! Neil Butterworth Continues to improve with every outing, he took the intermediate class win with a very tidy ride. In the youth class, Jonny Stewart and Gareth Salt battled round on their buzzing 125’s. Sections that needed, flat out in 3rd gear, seemed to keep both lads smiling all day.
The popular middle route was maybe a bit harder than usual but enjoyable never the less. Beta mounted Adrian Bellis was top man here, pipping his mate Henry Rosenthal by one solitary mark. Section 9, a tight turn into a short climb over some tree roots followed by a turn and another grip less climb claimed a full house of 5’s from all but 7 of the riders. So 20 marks there for most riders rather bumped up the scores.
The white route was a mix of youth and adult riders. The result couldn’t have been closer, with T. Pennington taking the win from the rather more experienced Alan Critchlow. Alan was very steady all day but a few too many marks on his first lap left him too much to do to take the win.
The 50/50 easy route is a fairly new variation for the club and gives the better riders who usually ride the white route, the chance to take on half the middle route as a stepping stone to grading up in the future. Club Secretary Bill Brown cruised to victory but like his fellow competitors had no answer to section 9. Elsewhere Bill’s smooth throttle control kept his marks to a minimum in this competitive class.
Thanks must go to the observers and setting out team. The club next trial will be in Feb 2009. Before that, a social event has been organised for January, (see the web site for details) and book your tickets now.
Results.
Hard route
Expert M. Roberts 9 M. Reynolds 24 S. Navarro 30 R. Bowyer 45 T. Criag 56
Youth T. Stewart 105 O. Pitt 126
50/50 Hard
Inter N. Butterworth 33 M. Treweek 48 S. Platt 66 J. Beresford 72
O/40 A. Hipwell 12 P. Hallam 29 T. Morris 29 P. Atkinson 43
Youth J. Stewart 60 G. Salt 64
Middle route
O/40 A. Bellis 28 T. Williams 31 A. Shaw 31 C. Bowers 34
O/50 H. Rosenthal 29 C. Lear 36 A. Foot 38 S. Ellis 50
Easy 50/50
Clubman B. Brown 40 C, Braddock 48 G. Rogers 49 J. Wilson 52
Easy route
Adult A. Critchlow 34 M. Newman38 D. Gasser 45 I. Dommett 47
Youth T. Pennington 33 A. Jones 54 D. Jones 59 J. Foot 90