The small band of supporters of the Loughborough and District Trials club have been working hard on giving club riders what they want, no more so than the "thankless task team" better known as the section plotters and on Sunday a great turn out of riders made the efforts worthwhile. For this the club say "thank you" it makes it all the more satisfying given an alternative trial within 30 miles and a number of regulars away for the bank holiday weekend.
The excellent Vickers Farm venue provided a pleasant change for this weekend and 10 well-spaced sections kept queuing down, the dry conditions making for some great sections although to challenge the experts it did need some tight turns on the loose stuff to take marks.
Infrequent rider Patrick Wardle showed he has lost none of his skill by taking a clear win on the hard route from two youth riders Danny Catlin and Ben Morris. Section 6 being observed by injury victim Matt Dixon took the marks from this group but none of the sections were easy.
On the 50/50 route evergreen Ian Margetts, now on a 300 Fantic T/S just held off Mick Thurman, Guy Bradley and welcome visitor Ali Haigh to take the win. Riding the hard version of section 6 again took its toll on this group.
The middle route was the domain of Twin Shocks and Air Cooled Monos with Nick Oakley leading the way on his TY while 4RT mounted Nigel Wilson held off Pete Oakley by a mark and Bultaco mounted Rob Mycock and TY Mono man Jim York being separated by cleans. Section 3 under the watchful eye of Howard Jones was the difficult one for this group although if like Tony Field you had not bedded your new brake pads in the steep descent and turn of section one was a problem! This was the biggest group and all through the field local "battles" raged, the competitive streak even taking some people out for mid-week practice to steel a place or two, although some seemed to have peaked too early! For the first lap section 10 proved impossible for anyone but and Evo rider with hinges fitted but a quick flag move for the following laps made this a great section.
On the easy route Michael Smalley used his years of experience to take the win from Rob Wright and Josh Whitehead, again Matt on section 6 had a busy day with this group as well!
The sun shone, 99% of the riders liked the sections and as always the observers did a great job for which the club is very grateful. The organising team now start to focus on the Susan Harris Memorial Trial in August which this year promises to be bigger and better than last year's fantastic event with a two day extravaganza planned, keep looking for details.