A bumper entry of eighty one riders signed on for the final Manchester 17 Club Dead Easy Trial of the year with riders travelling from as far as Lincolnshire and Yorkshire to compete. The venue was the superb Wheston House Farm, a relatively new venue, in a lovely part of the Peak District south west of Buxton. The course was the usual format of four laps of ten sections and such is the variety on offer at least half of the hazards had never been used before.
Climbs, tight turns, drops and cambers, with a few rocks thrown in, all set on old limestone workings, with a lot of natural gulleys, present a trials riders delight, particularly for a trial of this nature.A 2 00 PM start time was trialled for the first time and proved very popular. It did mean that the course plotters had to be up bright and early. When they were plotting their dastardly deeds, the ground was wet, and being limestone was treacherous, so the sections were set accordingly.
By the time the trial got underway, a strong breeze had dried things up meaning that the sections turned out easier than intended, hence a whole raft of clean sheets. This did not seem to detract from the overall enjoyment, and concentration was still needed.
Among the Easy route contenders, Alan Critchlow on one mark was pipped to the post by brother Ray who went clean and gained the bragging rights. A true supporter of these trials who also went clean was local Edd Hibbert who sadly announced at the start that due to health issues this would be his last Dead Easy Trial. His rorty Honda will be missed. Lets hope that after a rest over the winter he may feel refreshed in the Spring to ride again.
A clutch of riders went clean on the Hard route with many hard luck stories from those nearly clean. Colin Fray on his immaculate DOT was one such contender who had inadvertently switched his fuel tap off and ran dry under the gaze of Observer Harvey Lloyd, managing to leg out of the section.
Mention must be made of two Youth D riders, Jasper Fox and Jacob Potts who rode their Oset Electric bikes round the Hard course, with young Jasper only losing three marks! The spectators were certainly marvelling at their skills.
That's it folks until next February. A big thank you to all who have helped run the trials, and especially the riders for supporting us.
Roger Townsend