Friday November 6, 2015 at 3:36pm
With the traditional venue in Rendlesham Forest being unavailable the nineteenth annual running of this event, which was also the penultimate round of the Eastern Centre Pre-70 Championship, was staged at Blaxhall Circuit. It was staged over four laps of 12 sections set out mainly on the steep wooded banks, with some loose stuff and a little bit of mud around the edges of a couple of ponds thrown in for good measure. A total of 55 riders started the day, 21 on a wide range of Pre-70 bikes and the remainder on the usual mix of Twin-Shock machines.
In the Pre-Unit class Kevin Hood (Royal Enfield 350) comfortably led the field held at the end of the first lap on the hard route, despite continuig to hold his lead he failed to complete the trial when his bike let him down and forced him to retire a couple of sections short of the end of lap 3. This left James Williams ( Royal Enfield 350 ) leading the field, but with only a four mark advantage over Daniel Carter ( Matchless 400 ) with 14 sections left to ride. Williams managed to hold on to his lead to claim victory, dropping a further six marks against Carters seven, in the closing stages. However, Carter had done enough to win the Hard route John Easty Shield, awarded to the best performing Woodbridge Club rider, claiming it for the fourth year in a row.
There were no intermediate route riders in the Pre-Unit class and Joe Stollery ( Indian 600 ) was the sole contender on the easy route, with only one five dropped all day he handled the big bike well to end the day on a total of 30, which would have left him well placed in any of the other classes.
In the Unit class on the hard route, previous multi time winner of this event Chris Collins ( BSA 270 ) started out with cleans on sections 1 and 2, however, a stall on a drop in section 3 and two lost on the steep climb in section 4 was to end his challenge before things had hardly gotten underway. At this early stage, last years winner Gary Baker ( Triumph 200 ) had only lost three marks, and went on to ride superbly all day, cleaning everything in his path with just the exception of taking a one and a two on the very steeply cambered section 1. His total of six marks lost was the best of the day on the hard route, across all the classes.
On the intermediate route Kevin Bishop (Triumph 230) held a five mark advantage over veteran Graham Braybrook ( Royal Enfield 250 ) at the end of their first lap. Braybrook, who had dropped a five on section 3 on his first lap, lost another maximum in the twisting section 7 on his second lap, allowing Bishop to go further ahead. There was only a single mark difference between the two of them over the third and fourth laps, Bishop finally taking the win by a six mark margin.
Richard Challis (BSA 249) was a comfortable winner of the Unit class on the easy route, with three lap scores of seven, split by a clean second lap, he was never really challenged. Second placed rider Bob Clarke ( BSA 350 ) failed to master the drop and loose climb of section 3, losing a dozen marks there. He also struggled with the tight turns of sections 7 and 11, fihishing sixteen marks adrift of the winner.
Graham Brown (James 246) was the only competitor in the Two-Stroke class on the hard route, lap scores of 1,2,2,and 2 put him on the second best Hard route score of the day.
There were two contestants on the intermediate route in the Two-Stroke class, a couple of un-explained stalls towards the end of the day proved to cost John Chapman ( James 250 ) dear, consigning him to second place. Winner Trevor Hill ( BSA 185 ) went through the day without dropping a five, outscoring Chapman on all but their third lap, on his way the win by a margin of seven marks.
The easy route in the Two-Stroke class also only had two riders contending it, winner Chris Chapman ( Wasp 250 ) rode well all day on his way to an easy victory, his worst losses being four threes. In contrast, second placed rider Hugo Rose ( Sprite 250 ) struggled to master his machine, finding the swap from his normal Ossa Twin-Shock machine a tough challenge.
There was a three way family battle on the hard route in the Twin-Shock class, brothers Graham ( SWM 320 ), Kevin ( Fantic 200 ) and Roy Palmer ( Yamaha 250 ) leading the field all day. With an opening lap of 2 Graham took the early lead by five marks over Kevin, whilst Roy had put himself almost out of contention after losing ten on his opening lap. On his second lap Graham dropped a five on section 4, the only one of the day between all three of them, allowing Kevin to close the gap to two, Roy also pulled a mark back on Graham. Graham put in a good third lap, dropping just three to Kevins five, whilst Roy dropped out of contention and consigning himself to third place with a lap total of eight.On the final lap Kevin was riding the better of the three and got to within a single mark of Graham, after he dropped a three on the loose climb out of section 4. The two of them had a couple of dabs over the closing sections, giving Graham the victory by a single mark.
On the intermediate route Dave Ward ( Honda 230 ) rode consistently well all day on his way to the class win. Mark Gibb ( Honda 125 ) failed to master the big climb in section 3, his loss of fourteen marks here cost him the chance of the win. Third placed rider Andrew Pipe ( Yamaha 175 ) who was riding for the very first time after several years lay off since his schoolboy days finished just four marks behind Gibb, and put in a performance worthy of his winning of the Intermediate route John Easty Shield.
On the easy route Gary Smith ( Honda 200 ) lost sixteen of his total of nineteen on section 7, where he failed to overcome the twisting turns through the trees and loose exit climb, taking a one and three fives. Trevor Ellis ( Honda 200 ) fared better on section 7, but a five on his second attempt at section 4 and a total of four lost in the pond at section 12 left him five marks off the lead at the close of play. Pre-Unit
Hard route James Williams Royal Enfield 350 20 Daniel Carter Matchless 400 25
Easy route Joe Stollery Indian 600 30
Unit
Hard route Gary Baker Triumph 200 6 Chris Collins BSA 270 16
Intermediate route Kevin Bishop Triumph 230 16 Graham Braybrook Royal Enfield 250 22
Easy route Richard Challis BSA 249 21 Bob Clarke BSA 350 37
Two-Stroke
Hard route Graham Brown James 246 7
Intermediate route Trevor Hill BSA 185 21 John Chapman James 250 29
Easy route Chris Chapman Wasp 250 24 Hugo Rose Sprite 250 72
Twin-Shock
Hard route Graham Palmer Yamaha 175 18 Kevin Palmer Fantic 200 19 Roy Palmer Yamaha 250 31
Intermediate route Dave Ward Honda 230 20 Mark Gibb Honda 125 29 Andrew Pipe Yamaha 175 33
Easy route Gary Smith Honda 200 19 Trevor Ellis Honda 200 24
John Easty Memorial Shield Hard route Daniel Carter Intermediate route Andrew Pipe
Report by Trevor Andrews --- Woodbridge & DMCC Trial Secretary