With one round remaining, Jack Peace (Sherco) clinched his first Trial GB title at the Ripon organised event at Rock & Hop on Sunday. Peace came into the event needing to ensure his closest rival in this year's title chase, Billy Green (Scorpa) finished behind him and this rolled out when Green hit technical issues early on in the event.
Eventually, after three laps of a titanic battle where the initiative swung three ways, Toby Martyn (Montesa Honda) grabbed the win on the very last section of the Trial. Just one mark separated the old and new champion after the thirty six sections were complete and local hero Harry Hemingway (Beta) was just one mark further adrift in third.
Still trying to claim his first podium finish, Jack Dance (GasGas) was the best of the rest in fourth and actually posted the best score on lap two when slight rain made the rocks void of grip. This included no less that seven cleans on the technical hillside sections.
Both Harry Turner (Scorpa) and Green were forced to take fives to see out the Trial, Green from midway around lap two and Turner for the final tour of twelve sections.
With some very technical, but sensible sections both in length and severity, the lead was constantly changing between the top three. Martyn and Peace shared the lead at the end of lap one on seven marks. At this point Hemingway recorded fifteen when his wristband was downloaded, but he immediately bounced back, shedding just six on lap two which also gave him the best lap bonus point, now just one mark behind Peace as the trio set off on the final tour of the race.
Peace suffered double maximums on zones four and five which temporarily gave Hemingway the lead, but Martyn was not conceding, losing just two marks on the second half of the final lap whilst we have recorded Peace's final section failure, Hemingway lost a soft - by his standards - five on the penultimate section which handed the win back to a surprised Martyn.
The scores were 37, 38 and 39 which does not reflect the standard of the thirty six sections set out by the Ripon Club.
Whilst Peace has amassed enough points to be crowned Champion and be drenched in champagne after the Podium Ceremony, the battle for Vice Champion will go to the last round as Hemingway and Green are separated by two points.
Choosing to only compete in selected rounds this year, Andy Chilton (Scorpa) hoisted himself into the seeded riders group with a win in the Trial 2 class. In an extremely closely fought contest he had to dig deep on the final lap to hold onto the advantage he had built up on the first two tours, posting lap scores of 9-12-17 to edge out a two mark win from James Fry (Sherco) who is enjoying his best season in the class and maintains his second in the series with one round remaining.
However, not only being the only rider in the class on a 125cc machine, young George Hemingway (Beta) claimed third place overall after losing out on a tie break with Fry, but secured enough points to take the Trial 2 crown, with one round remaining.
Whilst his rivals generally increased their scores after the opening lap, Hemingway improved as the day went on posting laps of 19-13-9 which also gave him the best lap bonus point along with Chilton.
Consistency in the technical sections paid dividends for Fry as he recorded twenty cleans on the thirty six sections throughout the event.
Fry's arch rival, Oliver Smith (TRRS) stayed in contention until the final lap but eventually had to settle for a safe fourth spot.
Hugo Jervis (Beta) continued his run of recent good form to finish fifth which included the only triple clean on the final section in the arena where many of the hundreds of fans congregated during the event.
George Morton (TRRS) fought off Scottish rivals Duncan MacColl (Beta) and Jamie Galloway (TRRS) to snatch sixth and climb into the top fifteen in the class after missing several of the earlier rounds.
MacColl edged seventh from Galloway with a stunning middle lap of thirteen, whilst Sam Connor (Beta) claimed ninth with Josh Hanlon (GasGas) rounding out the top ten.
With a comfortable win in the Trial Expert category, Brad Bullock (Beta) has kept the pressure on his arch rival, Dan Thorpe (GasGas) whilst we have a five week break ahead of the season finale.
With the twelve sections being perfect for the wide range of ability riders, Bullock kept his losses to a minimum with lap scores of 5-5-6, whilst Thorpe went 8 -11 -7. The extra best lap bonus point for the Beta rider could prove vital when the results are finalised at Geddington on September 24th.
Emma Bristow MBE (Sherco) made a welcome return to the podium and was right in contention, but two failures on her last lap put her in a tie break position for the last step on the podium. Our ladies World Champion elect recorded laps of 9-11-13.
Fourth place finisher, Charlie Smith (Vertigo) was right in contention after the opening lap of twelve sections, but could not keep the pressure on the leading duo and slipped to fourth at the end of a superb event.
With the Trial Electric championship already sewn up, Chris Pearson (EM) riding at the head of the field, finished fifth ahead of Tom Swindlehurst (Sherco) whose sixth place finish now puts him into the seeded riders for the last round.
Malcolm Summers (GasGas) was engaged in a day long battle with Sam Beecroft-Penny (TRRS) which was eventually resolved by three more cleans to take seventh, meaning that Sam slips to fourth in the standings.
Joshua McParland (Beta) recorded his best finish of the season in ninth which could have been even better without two fiascos in the last four sections on the final tour of the race.
After missing some rounds earlier in the year, Elliott Laws (Scorpa) rounded out the top ten.
Harison Skelton (Scorpa) has put himself right back in contention with a Trial 125 class win at Rock & Hop on Sunday. With one round remaining he heads into the final battle in September two points ahead of his season long arch rival, Harry Blackwell (Beta).
Skelton was aided by the fact that Daniel Da Breo (GasGas) pushed Blackwell back into third position at the three lap, twelve section event.
Skelton stamped his mark early on with an opening lap of fourteen, whilst Da Breo was equal with Blackwell, four marks adrift. However, Da Breo upped his game on the second lap and posted the best lap of the day in the class with a loss of twelve, which also earned him the best lap bonus point.
Going into the final round at Geddington on September 24
th, Skelton has 130 points with Blackwell on 128 which effectively means whoever comes out on top of the two of them will clinch the crown.