At the end of the day Shirty knew he should not be in any section yet chose to be there, perhaps the punishment was/is harsh but never the less was known and apparently pointed out by JC prior. So whilst we all try to push our luck/bend the rules in many things ultimately one day its going to come back and bite you on the a***
It must be remembered that at the British Championship meeting it was agreed there would be one ‘assistant’ and that ‘assistant’ was not allowed in the section without the prior agreement of the observer. That assistant was the person who had signed on at the start of the trial. Any rider or person associated with that rider/team would be excluded if they contravened the rules. John Collins pointed this out at the riders briefings.