Tom’s Top Trial title
When a trials club elects to take entries on the day rather than go through the tedious procedure of organising on-line entries (or heaven forbid, entries by post) the possible downside is that the club never knows until the morning of the trial how many riders there will be.
The Barrow Club considered that an entry of 30 would be acceptable for the Henry trial on the first Sunday of June and whilst that would never be enough, in reality that’s the total that could be expected for a trial on the the first Sunday of a summer month.
So you can image that the club were delighted to have 45 riders enter on the morning, including some from riders outside of the Centre, for the Henry Trial at the Old Railway Line, Torver, a venue that provides a great selection of sections over four laps of 10 hazards.
There were three classes over two routes, a Hard course, a Green course using a mix of the Hard and the easier Clubman sections, and judging by accounts and indeed the results, clerk of the course Peter Blowers got it absolutely spot on.
On his current form, Tom Swindlehurst is just about unbeatable these days in local events, which proved to be the case for he lost just 5 marks in comparison to the 22 discarded by runner up Darren Brice and the 26 by third placed Wilf Shuttleworth. Bricey used to be as dominant in the past when at his best, as Swinny is currently, yet can still put in a competitive ride when he chooses to ride local trials.
The top three in the Green course were much more closely matched with Ethan King winning on 12 from Jonny Stott on 15 and Matt Edmondson on 16 whilst Anthony Hayhurst lost a miserly two marks to be the best Clubman class rider from Erik Buckley on ten and Mark Quinn on 11
The morning weather forecast had been wind and rain beating Irish Sea coasts, but fortunately, whilst the wind arrived, the day stayed bone dry which certainly made for a great trial at a popular venue used for anything from British Championship trials, through to a Sorra Championship trial down to multi-class club trials. In fact a great four hours at a great venue.
You Tube channel “2 wheels Off-Road” will feature action from the trial very soon. Full results are available from the Home page link.
And for those who asked, whilst Eric Kitchen has decided to hang up his cameras, we can confirm he remains fit and well and still very much interested in what is happening on the Northern Centre trials scene.