Loughborough and District Trials club ran at its alternative Scalford venue on Sunday (16th September) and a good entry made the efforts of the hard working section plotters worth while. It’s the first time the club has run at this venue in such dry conditions which made the section setters task (who give up their valuable free time to support the club) very difficult with hard routes being easy to find but incorporating routes for other classes a real challenge. Some of the sections rode harder than intended and while feedback to the club has been mainly positive it is recognised that the number of fails and retirements is higher than previous events and things will be back to normal next time out.
At the top of the house Youth A Dan Tuley had a solid ride to take the win with only the loose rock climb on section 8 being a problem, he did make a mistake on section 10 which nearly let Ed Dain (second) in for a sniff of victory but Dan held his nerve to the end. Rob Margetts took 3rd and was looking like he would put more pressure on Dan until an uncharacteristic error on section 1 put him on the back foot.
On the 50/50 route a tight battle took place between top over 40 rider Pete Jones and normal hard route contender Paul Wareing who was using a borrowed late 90’s 200 Gasser having just sold his 2102 300 Pro, bit of a difference! Pete just held on to top spot but both of these riders were well clear of Youth B Kieran McDaid who took a number of scalps to come in third.
Paul Davies of Cambridge Trials Centre was on this route riding the most blinged 4RT in the UK, it was however a close battle between his “Tango” machine and the newly acquired ex Factory Scottish Six Day bike being run by Mark Barrington as to best turned out 4RT.
On the middle route Chris Aylott headed home Jim York and Don Snaith with Jim finding the tight turns of section 9 a bit of a handful for his trusty TY Mono. Don only just held on from top youth on this route Ryan Lawson by a mark to secure the final podium place.
Roy Fuller gave Jota Gas its mainden win at a Loughborough event with a clear victory over Youth Ed Jones and third placed Kev Bottrill on the easy route. The loose shale banks on one side of the venue and the climbs and drops of the other took there toll on a number of White route riders with the climb of 7 proving to much for some of the older bikes.
A good day in the sunshine, a venue that is getting better with every visit and a few opportunities for the next event, hope we see you there.