Classic Manx notes
Almost 20 riders from the Northern area and its closest borders attended the Classic Manx Two Day Trial last Bank Holiday weekend where the weather was varied depending upon a rider’s number during the trial and where any rider was in the running order. Riders later each day generally got wet but riders closer to the front of the running order usually stayed dry.
With the first day based at Peel in the south of the island and day two based at Ramsey in the north, riders had a wide variety of 30 sections each day to tackle. With two routes, a Premier route and a Clubman route, the trial was definitely on the fairly easy side which suited just about every rider in this classic event.
The entry totalled 232 starters with 38 failing to finish for numerous reasons, the most notable being Michael Irving whose front brake plate broke, sending him over the handlebars which resulted in a bad knee injury and gravel rash. Just as he had previously some 25 or so years ago, he had to visit Nobles Hospital who dressed the injuries and suggested he seek further attendance to health care back home.
Ironically, “2 wheels off-road” channel owner Phil Haygarth suffered an identical machine failure which also brought his trial to an end, though thankfully without any physical injury.
In a trial where the Premier route twinshock winner was Juan Knight once again – this time on a Kawasaki KT250 (never a particularly good trials bike), the Pre 65 class on the Premier route went to James Harland. On the Clubman route, Welsh rider Glyn Moses won the Pre 65 class and Phil Hammond the Twinshock class.
The best performer from “our” group of nearly 20 riders was Nick Shield with fourth in the Premier Pre 65 class.
You Tube channel 2wheels offroad has 3 excellent videos showing (or it will have by Wednesday evening).