Another glorious day, another great trial. Eddie Graham "The Hobbitt" had organised us another new property at Western Valley.
Shane, "Virg' and "The Hobbitt" had set out all the sections along the river bank under the trees, something we were all grateful of as the temperature nudged 30 degrees. The sections were a good mix of slippery rocks, banks, tight turns and even a few logs thrown in for good measure. There were 8 sections to be riden 4 times by everyone.
I decided to have a go at the expert sections for this trial and thought they all looked pretty ridable for me. However after setting off with Mr. Rat and Shane I soon discovered that some of those small rocks, branches and clumps of grass were in fact "red arrows" put there by mother nature to make the tight turns tighter and force us to practice our hopping techniques. As expected Mr Rat cleaned up with about a third of my final score. Still I was happy enough with my efforts and it was only on the last lap that the soaring temperature and those "Imaginery Red Arrows" took their toll and my score blew out.
In the Intermediates John Regan continued his good form on the new Beta to win that class again and "Captain T" Mike Elliott again dominated the Cubman A Class. (I see yellow arrows in your future Mike). Clubman B was a split decision with Peter Dunn and newcomer Nathan R sharing top spot and in the Presidents class Dick Gardiner edged out John Philp.
A couple of things we need to address for the next trial however. Firstly no-one should be riding on their own! Apart from the whole score card thing there's a very real safety issue here. And secondly please don't practise on the sections untill everyone has finished. Having said that it was great to see our young riders, Bradley and David, having a go on the experts sections after the trial. Way to go boys.
The day was rounded off nicely with some "Refreshments" and some "Lie telling" at the Little River Pub. Thanks again to The Hobbitt and his band of helpers for and awesome day.
Derek Scott