Macclesfield trials club report John MacDonald road trial 19-10-08

            A total of 73 riders turned out for the Macclesfield trials club’s Annual Road trial - one of the biggest if not the biggest entry in the tria’ls short history. The club laid out 21 sections, each tackled twice and all with 2 routes, with the added option of riding the 50/50 route for any rider who fancied a harder day’s ride but without having to tackle all of the hard route sections.  

            The main challengers to take the John MacDonald trophy didn’t have to worry about the challenge from last year’s winner, Paul Bennett, as although entered he was unable to attend due to illness. Only those riders riding the hard route had to ride section 1,( a small stream running through a steep gully, with a long slippery rock slab ending). This section  set the scene for the day, in regard to the main challengers, as only young Josh Woods managed a clean on both visits whilst Richard Timperley and Mike Boam had a single dab. These 3 riders would fill the top three places at the end of the day. Richard, the eventual winner then went on to clean every section until the top section at Hilda’s Gully where he lost 2, followed by a dab at section 16 at Higher Knabbs and another at the final section at the super slippery Cleulow. This made a total of 5 dropped. Mike Boam pushed Richard all the way and ended the day losing out by the narrowest of margins with a score of 6.In third place in the experts was Josh Woods recording a score of 13.

On the 50/50 route South Shropshire and 0/40 rider J Cowley recorded the a fine score of 12 marks lost to take top spot , just in front of local rider Andy Hipwell on 16.  Andy was also riding in the 0/40 class. Best inter and club stalwart was Ben Miles (21) who had put a lot of effort into organising and running the event.

On the clubman’s route the top scores again came from 0/40 riders with club rider Andy Shaw losing 26 just 2 marks in front of P Clarkson on 28. Best novice went to T Shepherd and best 0/50 to the ever green Kev Stannard who just beat off the challenge of Henry Rosenthal and Chris Lear in this ever more competitive class.

Finally a big thanks to all the club workers especially ben and his family who more or less camped out at the venue for three days to ensure its successful conclusion and to Gail Critchlow who had the hard task of finding 21 observers.

Winners

Hard route

John MacDonald Trophy          Richard Timperley        5

1^st class expert              Mike Boam                  6

1^st class expert                          Josh Woods                 13

50/50 Route

Best Inter                                 Ben Miles                     21

1^st Class Int                              Steve Hitchcock           31       

Best 0/40                                 J Cowley                      12

1^st class 0/40                            Andy Hipwell               16

Best Nov                                  M Timperley                 36

Clubman route

Best Nov                                  T Shepherd                  58

1^st Class Nov                           P Emery                       68

Best 0/40                                 Andy Shaw                  26

Best 0/50                                 Kev Stannard               39

1^st Class 0/50                           Henry Rosenthal           45

Best T/S                                   P Hulme                       51