The first round of the 2014 Loughborough Trials Club championship took place on Sunday at the excellent Riley's venue in Leicestershire. There were a number of options for Midlands's trials riders this weekend so the club were pleased with another solid entry. 10 sections were laid out by the hard working guys and gals of this small club and as the frost lifted from the ground so some innocuous looking slopes took on a grip level not significantly different to sheet ice.
Sam Gent showed the way round on the hard route but even he found sections 8 (being looked over by Mick Bone) and 9 under the watchful eye of Roland Slack to offer little in the way of grip to make the short but steep climbs. Still a good performance on 6 kept him ahead of Edward Dain in second and top youth Joe Collins in third. Uncle Bob took the 50/50 from Tony Jones with namesake Pete in third to make it a good day for the Gent family.
The largest entry was on the middle route which is the backbone of the club and Don Snaith, James Hammond and Ian Margetts on his T/S Fantic were all close with Don coming out on top.
Section 1 being observed by Hannah Kirtley-Paine who was a non starter through injury, and section 4 being looked after by Mick McDaid were classic Riley's winter sections, you either made it look easy, or at best made an ungainly three, ridden without stopping they were cleanable but as soon as a stray dab went in it was all over as a number found out. The two championship protagonists from 2013 on this route Jim York and Nigel Wilson must hope things get better as the year goes on if they are to be fighting out the 2014 championship.
The white route was well supported but 2013 champion Mike Massey lost out by a dab to Roy Fuller this time around with Shane Harvey in third. What looked a simple straight climb on section 8 took a number on this route for a five, still stops to many clean sheets!
Once again a great day, scores were up a bit on normal but just about everyone seemed to be complimentary, a January trial in the Midlands is not for mud haters!