Trials Report by Mike Stewart

Last Sunday the Macclesfield Trials Club ran the fourth and final round of it’s club Championship sponsored by local enthusiast and top trials dealer Kelcoat.

 Heavy rain for several hours prior to the start of the trial made things rather more difficult than the organisers would have liked, however as the riders started their first lap, the rain stopped and the sun made several brief appearances.

 The usual 3 routes per section, plus a 50/50 route saw another healthy 100 plus entry set off for 4 laps of 12 sections round Rough Hayes Quarry. In the Championship, the best 3 scores from the 4 rounds would find the winners. On the Expert route, former Centre Champion Mark Reynolds was pleased his main opposition Craig Robinson, had decided to spend the weekend practicing for the Scottish. With the Championship in the bag, he had the luxury of a pressure free ride. Best expert on the day was Gas Gas rider Mike Roberts, he piped his friend and riding companion Mark Reynolds by one mark.

 On the 50/50 route the battle was much closer. Ian Robinson knew he had to win and hope Championship leader Toby Eyre slipped up. Ian was out of luck, still getting used to his Montesa four stroke he finished with a smile on his face but Toby had done enough to take the Championship by the narrowest of margins. Youth rider Dec Bullock had a cracking ride on this route and would have placed fifth beating several very able adult riders.

 The middle route at Macc trials is always well supported, half the entry choose this route with ages ranging from 12 to well past the first flush of youth!! Neil Butterworth has made the Novice class a one horse race in this series and once again he trounced the opposition and will doubtless be pleased that his award will be paid for by his Dad Simon, joint owner of sponsors Kelcoat. The over 40 class was wide open prior to Sundays trial but claiming the top spot with a clear second place on the day was Phil Turner with an excellent score of 34 marks. Winner in some style was Mike Leddy on 17 marks one of only two riders to keep their scores in single figures on the very slippery section 8. In the over 50 class, Mr Renthal bars Henry Rosenthal winner of the first three rounds just failed to make it a clean sweep on Sunday, must have been the new helmet!! However having his first outing in this series Mr Cripps senior showed all the regulars the way round with a fine score of 61 marks lost. Best youth on the route was the smallest rider in the trial, Gas Gas 125 rider Jonny Stewart on 37 marks lost.

 The easy route proved to be more difficult than usual, however all but one of the riders kept their scores below the 100 mark. Brian Cottrell out on an old pre 65 iron looked favourite to take the Championship but a lowly fifth place could of blown it for him, but with his main opponent Barry Craig finishing behind him Brian had done enough to top the points. A newcomer to the White route, Scrorpa mounted S. Standring looked very stylish in taking the win and will surely move up to the middle route quite soon.

 The butty wagon did a healthy trade all day with several riders paying more than one visit to partake in the excellent cuisine!!

 Macclesfield Trials Club now move on to their summer evening trials series, the first of which is on Saturday 24^th May at a venue TBA.

 RESULTS

 Hard route.       M. Robert 26   M. Reynolds 27  R. Bowyer 51  S. Minchington 85  Best youth  T. Stewart 98

50/50 route      B. Miles 40   L. Robinson 51   T. Sutton 51   T. Eyre 51

                        Best youth   D. Bullock 62 

 Middle route     Novice –   N. Butterworth 45   C. Allison 75   T. Ancliff 79

                        Over 40 -  M. Leddy 17   P. Turner 34   A. Shaw 44

                        Over 50 -   S. Cripps 61   A. Sprinks 78   H. Rosenthal 88

                        Best youth   J. Stewart 37

 Easy route        S. Standring 26    S. Cocker 28    M. Renshaw  29   R. Boyd 37

                        Best youth    D. Holt 73