Advantage just one by Tom
Riding Trial GB rounds has proved to be a positive effort by Tom Swindlehurst who scored a narrow but decisive win in the Bootle Club’s 4th round of their 2023 series at Fell Green on the last Sunday of October.
Swinny only lost six marks which that in itself was a fine ride and with Darren Brice just a mark behind on seven, the two were way ahead of others riding the hard course of the four lap ten section event at the popular course overlooking the Irish Sea, the Isle of Man and Sellafield – though the misty conditions reduced visibility to just the sea being visible.
Third was Joel Gowan who had set out much of the trial but he was more than double the score of the top two.
When it comes to the Green course, a 50/50 mix of the hard and clubman sections, it’s generally a good bet that Stuart Gaskell will come out best and that was the case, but it was a win by the greatest number of cleans from Jake Gowan, with both riders losing 33 marks in a trial that was more difficult than many would have expected. Connor Anderson was third another 13 marks behind but the young man shows plenty of promise for the future.
Perhaps surprisingly, the Bootle Club attracts lots of younger lads, generally those who mix in the farming community, on well used machinery, and it’s good to see them having a go in trials with varying degrees of talent but all with lots of enthusiasm, and whilst their scores were massive in many cases, they egg each other on and do what youngsters should be doing on bikes and that’s enjoying themselves and their machines – and can often be persuaded to do another lap and help clear up.
Divided into Under 40 and Over 40 groups, Lee Southam, Johnathan Cooper and Angus Maguire were the top three in the Under 40s with Kevin Seward a clear cut overall clubman winner as well as the best over 40 from Anthony Brockbank and Simon Brice.
Full results are in the Results section linked from the Home page and Eric Kitchen was once again out in the chill breeze photographing the sport in his inimitable way. What a star he is! His pictures will be in the Gallery soon.