50 replies to this topic

[paulmc]

Did I read those scores right? Alexz only had two 3's and Pune fived everything. How hard was that?!!!

[mickwren]

What a great effort by all our lads just to even get there. Top that off with some brilliant results they should all be proud of themselves.
even 2 more bloody thirds for Jack Challoner he must be pleased with that !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Neils on Wheels]

No disrespect to him, but the fact that Michael Brown fived every section & still scored championship points really shows how daft the WTC has become. Hopefully all the effort our lads have made will pay dividends in Portugal after an enforced holiday!

Me & Mrs Neils on Wheels are stranded in Madrid after a holiday in Seville. I think I missed a trick not asking to be diverted to Porto!

[sectiononecleaner]

did pune ride every section and five it or did he retire at some point and the scorecard shows fives on every section ? I would be very surprised if that was the case. Furthermore this year i forget toni bou is ridin cause the guy is in a class of his own similar to shuewy in f1 a few years back. Todays result just goes to show that. Im more interested in the battle for 2nd, 3rd and 4th. I know this is an ongoing discussion and perhaps by making the sections easier would allow other riders to come through. Not wanting to open up a can of worms everyone knows something needs to change but whatever you change, contoversy will follow.

[totalshell]

i clearly remember when dougie was strutting his stuff and martin saying the trials should be harder as a stray dab could cost a trial in low scoring competitions.

[TooFastTim]

Neils on Wheels, on Apr 18 2010, 09:23 PM, said:

Me & Mrs Neils on Wheels are stranded in Madrid after a holiday in Seville.

What a blow

[tricky dicky]

I really do think this is interesting. This is mainly a question for Sectiononecleaner. So Scarborough's BTC round was fantastic and Browny dropped over 100 yet he fives everything in a world round for whatever reason and its ok????? I think its a contradiction in terms that you think this. I rode at Scarborough and at Kinlochleven and I have been holding out a little bit with my criticism so far but here goes. The Scarborough trial would have been too hard even if it was held in August. The changes made after the practise lap were not sufficient and I know for a fact that it put people off riding anymore rounds this year. There were too many hard sections. We all know that its the premier event for the club of the year but to just blame it on the weather is ridiculous. At the beginning of the year the weather was awful for all of January and most of February aswell so I cannot accept that as a valid excuse. In Kinlochleven the weather was superb and was good conditions for the trial and after the practise lap it was noted that Arthur Macdonald was actually asking riders what we thought and the sections were suitably tightened up for the trial. After the Scarborough trial practise lap everybody said it was far too hard yet hardly anything was eased at all. Sorry to slightly hijack the thread but it is exactly the same for the world rounds. If the riders think its too hard it will get changed. I am only guessing that Browny had some sort of problem and asked for fives to end up with a maximum total. Its a shame after the effort the lads put in to get there.

[sectiononecleaner]

Who's claiming its ok? Factually 1st round event was organised very well. Weather played havoc full stop. its very harsh to compare any other event as each is unique to both its land, course setters and of course the weather. And as for holding the trial in august it would have been spot on, having some understanding of the ground at low north camp the sections were right. Perhaps the trial was too hard for you tricky i dont know ? Also maybe in august also be too hard because i never heard of you, so not sure.

[tricky dicky]

I am not disclosing who I am but I was slightly unlucky in Scarborough due to drawing out a crap starting number but for the winner on my route to drop 110 that to me suggests that it is too hard. I never once said that there was anything wrong with the organisation at any point. You probably at a guess haven't been involved long enough to remember who I am but if you figure it out then ask some of the Scarborough officials and no doubt they will fill you in that I used to be quite good and I would still hope that I still am. I know the land very well at Harwood Dale and it was far too hard. Asuggestion to prove it was that make the BTC one route and as hard as it was and see how many people would turn up. I am guessing that maybe even some on the championship route would think again. Taking 80 off Dabill is suicide the same as taking 50 off Bou in the world rounds. I would like you to estimate for me how many people would pay £30 + £10 for a minder if everybody was doing the one route layed out how it was. There werent even that many spectators there. Ive seen more spectators at a youth A+ B round. Somebody has got to realise that the way things are going is wrong and blaming things on the weather is ridiculous. It is far better to just stand up and say we got it wrong. I am interested how many people will bother going to Scotland for the World round in June cos its a long way to go to watch people rushing through sections with their feet down.

[ishy]

totalshell, on Apr 18 2010, 11:26 PM, said:

i clearly remember when dougie was strutting his stuff and martin saying the trials should be harder as a stray dab could cost a trial in low scoring competitions.

Top riders want it tough so they have better chance of the win, as stated by Totalshell.
Had the same problem this weekend when riders at the top end of the class want the sections toughening up a bit, it's a big NO NO!!!!!
cater for one rider, end up with one rider.

I think the FIM are favoring certain groups or teams at the expense of the majority, then start changing rules to cover up the real problem.
Martin Lampkin and any other team manager will push for what is best for the team rider, it's a no brainer and I would do the same for any rider on my team if I had one.

Why they keep repeating the same mistakes I don't know.

[Baldilocks]

I think the time limit of 1 minute could be a good thing in time with appropriate sections. I think Dougie referred to having to rush, I thought the lack of time would lead to smaller obstacles but in Spain it didnt appear to looking at the results. At 1.30 per section there was still a lot of balancing going on.

No matter what the rules are a clerk of the course can get it wrong, looks like the people in spain did to me.

[sectiononecleaner]

[quote name='tricky dicky' date='Apr 19 2010, 03:09 PM' post='235340']
I am not disclosing who I am but I was slightly unlucky in Scarborough due to drawing out a crap starting number but for the winner on my route to drop 110 that to me suggests that it is too hard. I never once said that there was anything wrong with the organisation at any point. You probably at a guess haven't been involved long enough to remember who I am but if you figure it out then ask some of the Scarborough officials and no doubt they will fill you in that I used to be quite good and I would still hope that I still am. I know the land very well at Harwood Dale and it was far too hard. Asuggestion to prove it was that make the BTC one route and as hard as it was and see how many people would turn up. I am guessing that maybe even some on the championship route would think again. Taking 80 off Dabill is suicide the same as taking 50 off Bou in the world rounds. I would like you to estimate for me how many people would pay £30 + £10 for a minder if everybody was doing the one route layed out how it was. There werent even that many spectators there. Ive seen more spectators at a youth A+ B round. Somebody has got to realise that the way things are going is wrong and blaming things on the weather is ridiculous. It is far better to just stand up and say we got it wrong. I am interested how many people will bother going to Scotland for the World round in June cos its a long way to go to watch people rushing through sections with their feet down.
[/quo

your final point i totally agree as travelling that far for the trial is gonna be unaccessable for a lot of people unless you take a plane trip with but hiding your identity i totally scratch my head as to why? Seems you have a chip on your shoulder which is a shame in this sport as i have never met a fellow rider who knocks his own sport. Oh well enjoy your anonimity.

[tricky dicky]

At a guess you don't pay and travel to all these events so you can only form a biased opinion from the Scarborough event. Why should I say who I am? What difference is that going to make? I always give the organisers of every trial I ride any constructive criticism as if people don't do that then how will they know for future if they have got it wrong. I showed my mate who only potters round club trials the scores from Scarborough and he said it looked ridiculous and that is the general opinion. If a club cant just stand up and admit they got it too hard then there are problems. I dont have any chip on my shoulder at all, I have been riding a long time and I have seen trials deteriorate due to trials being layed out for the minority. A good example of this was the Scottish in the early 90's. It was layed out daft to cater for the top riders and the entries soon dropped and the organising committee soon realised there was a problem and changed things to suit and low and behold the trial is now oversubscribed every year even in the current financial climate. Shame all the clubs cant take this on board and unfortunately the British and world championships are on a decline due to this. Try taking into account how many would ride if there are no support classes in both championships and that might open your eyes.

[Rosey]

The void between the winners and also ran riders is getting larger so it seems.

To take 48 of Bou says it's too hard.

Sadly riders as good as Wiggy and Browny look poor in the results (and we know they can ride!)

If they don't have one then the FIM needs to wise up and get a professional section advisor to travel the series (I'm talking an ex top world level rider) ... It will cost money (but if they can't afford such costs then they may as well pull the plug), but so what...

Still how can they take marks of the best without killing the others it remains a challenge!

I was looking forward to going to Baiona, but the volcanic ash put a stop to that... Hey the sections may have been laid out easy, but the volcanic ash could have greased them up!!!.... Tricky was there any volcanic activity before the Scarborough trial?

[totalshell]

trials going the same way at the top as rallying did 10 - 15 years ago. when i was rallying ( slowly not competatively what i called participating) anyone could enter the top events given the qualifying regs meant all you had to do was complete a dozen or so lower std rallies to be able to drive in a world championship round. the point been i drove the same route as Tony Pond , hannu Mikkola, Ari vatenan etc etc and the rallies were FULL 180- 200 each year.
then it went all PRO and now only 20 - 30 people qualify to drive fewer people spectate everybody manufacturers etc fans etc all lose out

world and national level trials were equally open to most and had decent numbers riding on long ish rtoad based multi group trials people turned out 100 rode everybody won, now we have 18 lads and the best in gb are maxing every section.. is that progress?? no

make trials easier get mr bou to drop 1 or go clean and more folk will ride more will watch and you have a vibrqant sport again.. why cant events like the ssdt be a world round? there would be a winner at the end of the week and lads from all over would ride just to ride the same route as the stars.. or have the stars / manufacturers/ FIM not got the bottle..
Tony Bou winning the SSdt would garner Honda/ montesa 00 times more publicity than losing 48 at a spansish seaside resort that no ones ever heard of..