tricky dicky

That is trials! Awesome!

Dabster I meant this year. Fort William was a strange event because the sections were taking marks because they were so long and the riders had to rush which meant that they had to take strategic dabs or 3's as they did on 1 section. I think you will find that Carlisle doesn't have many natural sections and they have been placed there with a digger! World rounds are a dying sport and there is always going to be the discussion about the rules. Michaud wants France to go no stop and why not. It doesnt need massive steps to take marks. I had a discussion with Cabes when we were in Spain and he says that with no stop the sections needed to be bigger, I don't agree as when he rode the ssdt in 2010 he had a 3 up pipers burn and straight after an over 40 clubman cleaned it no problem! This is how non stop works. It's not all about 10ft steps because the top riders don't lose marks on the big steps, it's the bits inbetween that take the marks. We have indoor trials as the showcase which is great but that doesn't get people buying bikes! Joe public wants to go and watch a WTC or BTC and think its very hard but they could have a go at a similar version of the course. They don't want to go and watch all the hopping 10ft up in the air and go home thinking "I can't do that", this is the problem.

I've done every BTC this year and I've been to every world round apart from Japan and I can honestly say if anybody is aiming at doing the stuff Toni, Raga, Cabes etc do then you are dreaming. The WTC is basically now an indoor outdoors and it's so boring. Every section is all about how quick you can hop round because the sections are so long they can't take their time. I've seen the top riders having to take 3's because the sections are too technical. I'm sure that's not what the few hundred spectators ( as that's all there is now ) want to see. I don't mind if it's hopping rules or no stop, the winners will be the same regardless. Trying to encourage people to the sport though, of which trials is a poor mans sport at the side of most motorsports then no stop or something along those lines is more appealing. As has been said a lot of the responsibility is with the clerk of the course and section setting teams when the sections are layed out. I've seen at least 4 times this year in the S3 no stop championship that the sections haven't been layed out correctly and the observer has let the riders stop. This is a joke! The observer should just observe the rules of the trial and five everybody as then the clubs will realise that they have made an error. I grew up riding when reversing was allowed and it was all ok but a stationary dab was a five and this rule was abused as riders found how to get away without being fived. The argument that irritates me is that clubs say they can't set a difficult trial out due to poor land etc and they have to make it tight and hoppy to take marks. The only people that get penalised for this are the ones that can't hop! A trial doesn't need to be bigtime or hoppy to take marks, it just needs to be thought about and observed correctly. There will always be harsh observers and lenient observers but that's how it is. I just think we need a standard set of rules which apply to all trials and is easy to observe. Some observers quote that they let riders stop for 3 seconds in no stop trials! No stop would make trials far more manageable provided they are layed out and observed correctly. People seem to be scared to lose marks now but how do you get any better if you get away with stuff all the time?!

All I will say is that it's a national event, it should be harder than a club trial and riders should rise to the occasion instead of having no challenge at all. If you're not up to the job then dont enter, it's quite simple! I've given an insight into what the standard of the trial is and if people don't want to ride then that's their choice.

This is exactly what we want, some feedback! It's not viable laying 3 routes out so that is out of the equation straight away. The main problem in the past has been a lack of consistency with the sections as the solo clubmen usually ride the sidecar route and it's way too easy. What then happens is because it's too easy there has to be some sections to decide the trial and we got this wrong last year. We are running the solo routes completely separate this year so the standard of the clubman route will be much more like a standard clubman route and nothing like last year. This trial used to be a Normandale round in the past so expect something very similar to that.

Hi all, the regs are now out for the Merle Morewood Peak Trial on Sunday 6th November 2011. The trial is the final round of the Luscombe Suzuki Leeds British sidecar trials championship. The trial features all the sidecar classes plus a completely separate route for Expert solos and a solo clubmen route. The sidecars will take in 2 laps at Elmore Hill Farm, back to the start to refuel and change punch card, then 2 laps at the infamous Backtor. The solo route is a single lap of approx 34-36 sections starting with 8 at Elmore Hill farm including the infamous graded hill climb! Then a further 12 in the stream at the fantastic Offerton Hall. Riders will then return to the start to change punch card and refuel. The route will then take the solos up to the rocks of Backtor for 14-16 sections (this has yet to be finalised). The time allowance this year will also be increased by a further 15 mins as in the past it is a bit of a rush at Backtor. The club received feedback that the expert route was a touch on the tough side. This will be rectified this year and will offer a good challenge to all the riders. The clubman route will be a similar standard to the Dave Rowland/Northern Experts clubman route and offers some cracking hazards to have a go at without anybody hurting themselves. It would be great to see a bigger entry of solos this year as the club puts a lot of hard work into making the trial a good day out. So dont be shy and get your regs downloaded from www.trialstalk.co.uk Entries close on Monday 31st October. Any further info can be obtained from the event secretary Gill Morewood on 01246 417140. Hope to see some new riders entering this year Cheers

If it's a genuine error then that's fine. It should be formally announced who was the winner now

Yes Dabster, all 4 sections were the same for the juniors and the youths. I wonder if he was presented with the award before the trial even started????? Jack Challoner won last year but could not attend as he is backed by Relentless so his dad and sister went. All sounds a bit of a scam to me and after all the hype before it seems as it is being played down as it has been incorrectly awarded.

So he was awarded the prize incorrectly? It said the best score in junior and youth by a British rider. Jonathan lost 12 and Sheppard 24?????? Interesting

Having read the press releases about the Red Bull F1 prize, I am surprised we haven't seen who won. It stated that it was the best score over 2 laps on sections 9,10,11 and 12 by a British rider in the junior and youth classes. By my calculations the winner is Jonathan Richardson. Anybody heard anything?

I wouldnt strap anything to your bike. You are going to ride the sections so you can take your bag off before you ride the sections. There is no point strapping everything to your bike and it being heavier in the sections. Your bag will get lighter as the day goes on as you will have drunk the 1.5 litres of drink. I normally just set off with a litre of drink in my bag and there is plenty of water at the petrol stops and then you can fill up your backpack again at the lunch stop. What you need is: front tube tyre repair strips/dog turds and tool good pump and c02 bottles adjustable spanner, this will undo your rear wheel and will fit all other nuts allen keys screwdrivers split link for chain and pliers spark plug These are the essentials really Hope this helps

It has been a 1 day event on the website for some time now. The 2 day pass is to watch the practise etc on the Saturday which was on the Friday in 2010. There wasn't a massive turnout last year and it will be even less this year. Based on a family of 2 adults and 2 kids, you would hardly get any change out of

Dead easy. When you pull the pipe off the carb squeeze the pipe and it will obviously stop the fuel coming out. I just push a philips screwdriver into the end of the pipe and job done.

I think that before slagging off Jack Burnicle then maybe the commentator who used to fill in on some rounds before should be worthy of a mention. Remember a five being called a fiasco and he literally had no idea who any of the riders were. Jack Burnicle would know riders if he saw them in the street! He is tuned in with all the bike sports and actually makes the motocross half worth watching and that is like watching paint dry. I remember Keith Heuwen and Julian Ryder doing a commentary on the old Bercy indoor in 1992? and they had no idea what was going on at all. All they talked about was speedway. I think its an inenviable task doing commentary for a live broadcast when as we know trials riders are all finicky sods who criticise everything. In relation to the alleged dodgy observing, there was no question that the decision was correct. The observer was stood right next to it when it happened and Dibs had both feet down at the back of the bike. Toni however did his magnificent jump back as he does, landed and lost his balance then dabbed so was not actually going backwards when his foot went down. At a glance I understand why JB thought it was a five as it simply looked a bit like Dibs' failure but it was a completely different scenario. On the whole JB is informative and does bring a bit of humour and excitement to the event. I know for a fact that I couldnt do his job. He mentions other events that we can relate to like the trials race at the tough one and the first BTC. The bit I miss is that he used to be quick at spying the pretty girls and he missed the 2 that were there on Saturday night :-) I think the commentary at Sheffield is awful and ruins a good event. Fair enough Crosser knows what hes on about but they are off-putting for the riders. Most people I know think the commentary at Sheffield lets it down but it wont change as Neil Crosswaite is in charge and Martin is his son.

Bou can be beaten. He wasn't as good in Geneva as he was in Barcelona but was still very dominant. His cyclo trials style suits the indoors. In the outdoors Bou was beaten a few times last year and when he wins he doesnt win by the margin Doug used to. Saying Bou will never be beaten is wrong as there will be somebody probably about 12 or 13 years old (probably in Spain) copying what Bou is doing on a smaller scale so when they come of age they will take over the mantle. It would be nice to think there could be somebody British but we will see.

Glad you enjoyed the trial Billy. I wasn't keen on having section 10 in but that was the request of Barry as he wanted us to ride that way back to the carpark. I think the clubman and easy route turned out too hard and this has been addressed. We dont normally use Dudwood and what looks easy can soon change. Good entry with an excellent standard on the hard route. We had a full house of observers well before the 10:30 start time aswell so all in all a good day. To say it was muddy was a massive understatement!!!!!!

I do of course know the reason! A lot of the riders dont even know the basic rules so they have no chance of observing! I have seen a 4 on the observers boards on quite a few occasions and it still makes me laugh now.

I completely agree that you can end up stuck there for easy half an hour if you dont make the decision to put the board down. If the board is passed to the next rider it flows well but its not that simple. We put the boards at the end of the section if we cant get observers but it always seems to be the same few that will get off their bikes and pick the board up. As stated we could rant about this for pages and pages. Hopefully we will get a full quota of observers for this weekends event.

You would get a guaranteed ride on either the Championship class or Expert A. I agree that not all the rounds were full. The first one will be oversubscribed as it always is but not everybody will make the trip to Devon for round 2. If you enter and get a decent result more often than not you wont have a problem getting a ride in the others.

I would have thought that they will be out anytime soon. I know there is a hard route and no doubt there will be a clubman class on the Normandale route for non-champ riders. There is in every other round usually.

If you look at the list the three tier Expert B is made up quite sensibly. Top tier is championship positions from last year so by rights should be the priority. Second tier was any other points scorers and some who rode in rounds last year. Third tier is mainly others who rode in rounds last year. Thats how I basically make it out anyway. Its more sense than having 80 on the list like last year and some of the riders never even did a round.

Cheers! I hope we get a good entry like in the last few trials we have organised. I know exactly what you mean about the riders that wont pick up the board even to watch their mates through. It really does annoy me but never mind! I think we may have a bit of competition as Macclesfield are running a trial on Sunday but it would be nice to have an even share. Lets just hope the weather stays kind now.

I have seen clubs offering free rides if they bring an observer and it doesnt seem to bring them out. Obviously winter isn't ideal for observers but any sort of incentive helps. A lot of the problem I see is parents not willing to observe and insist on running round after their kids. Fair enough when they have either just started or are C/D class age but anything above that is a bit silly in my eyes. I know when you join Earl Shilton you have to put down a date for one of the 12 trials they run in the year where you will provide an observer. Superb idea I think.

It would be nice to get a good turn out as we have changed the structure of our trials to be more accommodating to the beginners and everybody else. I think at present they only get a fiver for their troubles but in my opinion it should be at least

Hi all, this Sunday 13th February, Sheffield & Hallamshire mc are running a trial at Dudwood Farm, Elton in Derbyshire with a start time of 10:30am. This is a change to our usual Eadons Fields venue and will be a bit of a change. All classes are catered for except sidecars and youth D class. The trial will have 3 routes: hard, clubman and easy and will be run under no-stop rules. The trial will be layed out very flowing with nothing silly and will be a good day out for all. The easy route is aimed at riders wanting a nice run round with their mates and is suitable for beginners. It would be nice to see a few of you there. Observers are always required and will be rewarded in cash for their services.