scorpa3

Union Jack Trophy Martin Wilmore 500 Ariel 7 marks lost The Sam Cooper Trophy Mick Ash 500 Ariel 9 marks lost Englebach Trophy Peter Gaunt 249 Royal Enfield 11 marks lost Two Stroke Cup Chris Denney 250 James 11 marks lost Sidecar Cup Peter Pestefield/ Keith Laker 47 marks lost Shell Cup Bernard Rodemark 290 BSA 3 marks lost sidecar route Ralph Varden Shield Ian Hannam/ Deborah Smith 22 marks lost Twin Shock Nick Draper 200 Cotswold 6 marks lost Trail Bikes Davis Eeles 230 Honda 27 marks lost Phil Hewitt Trophy Nick Paxton 350 BSA 7 marks lost Trail Bike easy route Chris Newsham DOT 3 marks lost Trail bike easy route 400cc class Pete Barnett DRZ Suzuki 12 marks lost Mick Grant was a late entry and dropped 19 marks, Neil Gaunt lost 20. The event was a huge success with over 100 riders including six sidecars. Overall the sections were a little harder than last year due to the heavy overnight rain, but as you can see scores for the leaders were still on the low side.

I know it's not an exact science, but the more riders that attend, generally the more observers you can find. We are lucky, we have a number of venues where we could find 20 good sections..... IF we could find the observers. Unfortunately, we always seem to struggle to find more than nine or ten observers from the 40 to fifty riders who turn up. 20 sections would mean less queuing, which is brilliant.

I'm no expert, but here in the wet and muddy Midlands UK (No rocks, just lots of wet cambered banks) IRC's seem to work very well.

Fingers crossed for the Stator

Ooops, sorry to Neil and Peter. Yes indeed my mistake. It was early this morning, Peter Gaunt starts number 47 and Neil Gaunt, The Scottish winner, starts number 48 in the Union Jack trial on Sunday.

The entry list is out for the Union Jack Classic trial run by the Stratford-Upon-Avon Club on Sunday. Scottish Classic winner Neil Gaunt is a hot favourite but he will have stiff opposition from a field of very experienced competitors including, Mick Ash, Jon Bliss, Peter Salt, Steve Clarke, Nic Draper, Martyn Goodall and a numer of others. Also look out for some good trail bike riders who might just take the win, Honda mounted Keith Wells and Dave Eeles always go well in this event. The route takes in some excellent trials riding terrain and covers 35 miles and 35 sections. A bumper entry of 102 riders will start two per minute at 9.30 from Downs farm near Bourton-on-the-Hill in the Cotswolds.

Same here apart from I disconnect the wires to the rear light, cable tie them out of the way and fill the two holes with bathroom sealer. This stops the rear light from filling up with mud. When I sell the bike, the sealer simply pulls off and the wires (and bulbs) plug back in.

Please don't think I'm being harsh here, but if the bike was so bad, why hasn't your Dad posted negative feedback to warn other ebayers instead of just coming on TC which a lot of buyers won't see?

We run an evening trial each year on a self observe basis. Riders may ride as many laps as they wish, only the first four count. If a group Experts wish to make a harder version of the section for themselves then thats fine too. We just wanted to run a practice session, but by the time we'd organised insurance permit permission etc, we may as well run a trial. So that's what we do. The beauty of self observing is that riders can turn up and just start any time between 5 and 7.30 with the sections being closed at 9pm sharp. It always works very well.

Yep, same thing happened to me when I got my Scorpa. It made me look a lot better than I really am. Trouble is the Hard route seems a lot harder!

My lad had a txt200 a few years back. Steve Saunders from BVM looked at the barrel for me because it was rattling badly. He said it was a C barrel with a B piston in it, presumably fitted from new. We ordered a C piston from Gas Gas which turned out to be not available. My lad continued to ride it until (months later)it finally disintergrated. Fair play to BVM, they gave me a good price for it against a new bike, even with a shot motor. The moral of the story is; don't assume you will be able to get the parts until you are holding them in your hand!

My lad has a 2004 Rev3 200, it has been very reliable (so far, touch wood) the only common fault it has had is the brittle kick start breaking when it was new, replaced by Lampkins free of charge. The 2004 200 has a different electrical system to the 250, the 250 I originally had at the same time was rubbish. It used two stators in five trials (which were replaced free of charge)but it spoilt the Beta experience for me and I changed to a Scorpa. I can highly recommend the 200. For easy trials or when going gets really slippy, the power is perfect. I am quite large and have never found a section I couldn't ride on the 200 that I could do on a 250.

I agree, he sure does look like a she to me!!!!

In other words; let the rider ask for a 'five' and save everyone's time and effort.

John Bliss (Cotswold motorcycles)has done a number of these and they go very well from what I've seen and they sound lovely. I have ridden one of his trials bike conversions (with a modified JeiLing frame as opposed to the JeiLing engine in a Gasser conversion) and that was very good indeed. I can honestly say I would not loose any more marks on that than on my SY250 in the easy trials that I ride. John used to ride an actual JeiLing trail bike in Trail bike trials to good effect, I never saw him short of grunt on that. He is definately the man to talk to, I believe he can get the complete engines with electrics, without having to buy a doner bike. I'm afraid I don't have any contact details for him, but he rides a lot of Miller rounds and LDT's in the Midlands/Gloucestershire area. Sorry if I've spelt JeiLing wrong by the way.

Used Belzona two pack metal filler. Wash the casing in de greaser first, clean up the edges of the crack with a file or sand paper and apply. Put it on as somooth as possible as it takes some serious sanding to flat it down once it has set. I've even used Belzona on a race bike after crashing at the TT, to build up a brocken lug on a magnezium engine casing. It sets so hard that you can drill and tap it with a thread.

The Stratford-Upon-Avon Club are holding their annual Union Jack Classic trial on the 14th May starting from Downs Farm near Moreton-in-Marsh. A round of the Sammy Miller Classic championship, the Union Jack trial also has two classes for trail bikes. Riders will follow a 35 mile route accross the Cotswold Hills, taking in many traditional groups of sections as well as some brand new terrain for 2006. The 35 sections will all have two routes, Trail bike riders can choose to ride the hard route which is for Classic trials bikes, or the easy route which is set out for Classic side cars. For entry forms or more information contact Richard Gill tel 0121 2465823

And a disc front brake. TR34 Stripey was a Beta although I'm not sure what year that was... 1990 maybe?

A Pinky is about the same age as a Stripey. They are in the same era as the KRoo's.

I just wish I had those black wheels and 'sticky up' rear mudguard.

Well written 'Trials Fanatic' I think you've summed up my feeling on the matter very well. Taking your line of thought one step further: Whilst I agree organisers should set out trials that are not dangerous, we do all make mistakes. I can remember setting out a section at Sambourne Farm a few years back which on hind sight was dangerous. It was only one section out of sixteen sections, the others were all spot on; I just misjudged the severity of that one. Oddly, the winner of the trial was the only rider to get through on all three laps and he thought it was a good section. His brother fell and broke the bars on his Montesa, I don't think he would have agreed. A number of riders asked for fives after the first lap, with 16 sections it didn't ruin the trial, however it would have been wrong to have forced everyone to ride the section by fear of a 10, that would have ruined the trial and possibly injured someone. It was my mistake... the section was too hard. It happens. Asking for a 'five' is perfectly acceptable in my book.

No- The 10 rule was dropped a few years back. It was thought that penalising riders for not trying a section that they didn't feel they could do, might lead to injury claims. A good decision in my view. But now there is discussion about re-introducing an extra penalty for not making a genuine attempt. I was wondering what other riders think?

Yep, riding through the start might do it, but what if the observer deems it not to have been a genuine attempt? I think the rule is fine as it is. As long as you ask for a five then you should be under no pressure to attempt the section. If we pressure riders to do something they are reluctant to do and then they hurt themselves, does that not open up the possibility for compensation?

There is some discussion at the moment concerning the practice of allowing riders to ask for a 'five' rather than attempt a section. Some organisers think that failing to make a genuine attempt at a section should be punished with more than five marks. I personally think that providing a rider asks for a five in person, then this is fine. What do others think? Should we be 'encouraged' to ride every section?