Normandale gents descend on Ghyll Farm
Despite the blazing sunshine and baking conditions for the Sedbergh Club’s Normandale ACU Championship round for riders over 40 and those on air-cooled monoshocks, retirements were minimal in conditions least suited to trials riding, and the trial, hosted at Ghyll Farm, Bowston proved to be just right for the 50 strong entry.
With riders from as far distant as Southampton, Cornwall and South Wales taking part, the five classes brought together a class entry of older aces still keen to travel the country for the Normandale sponsored series aimed specifically at the riders in older age groups.
Richard Gaskell
Richard Gaskell upheld local honours by narrowly winning the Over 40 category from Cornwall’s George Edyvean by just a single mark, but Gaskell thought he had blown all chance of winning when he failed the penultimate section of the trial, a steep earth bank out of a narrow slippery and rocky gully. Edyvean recorded two excellent cleans on the hazard, arguably the most difficult of the trial and was the only rider to do so on the harder route 1 ridden ridden exclusively by those in the Over 40 category. But in the end it was Gaskell who triumphed by 10 marks to 11. In third was Phil Wiffen a further three marks adrift.
Route 2 was set out for those in the Over 50, Over 60, Air-cooled Monoshock and Twinshock classes and used slightly easier versions of the same 20 sections ridden twice. It was all very close in the Over 50 class with Steve Bird (featured image) taking four marks to just stay ahead of Chris Koch on five and Ashley Hall on nine.
Roger Johns
Roger Johns, Nick Shield and Phil Ducker (the man behind the Normandale sponsorship of the series for many years, a race car painting company) took the spoils in the Over 60 category whilst David Bathe won the poorly supported Air-cooled class from Mike Jones and local enthusiast Mike Instance was the only Twin-shock finisher on his totally standard and very smart 175 Yamaha.
Full results are under the Results link from the Home page and there’a small selection of pictures in the Gallery.