speckled hen

Just following this thread and had a worrying incident on the Vic Britain 2 weeks ago. I was fuelling 2 riders out of my van and following them to strategic points to meet up with them. At one point I was waiting for them in a lay-by with several other vans when a small Peugeot car stopped and the driver came over to me asking who was running the trial. I asked why he wanted to know and he said he had just been run into a ditch by two trials riders riding alongside each other on a blind bend-he was really shaken up and said he was a biker himself but couldn't believe the way some riders were behaving on the road and intended to report the incident either to the police or at least the organising club. If he did go and make a complaint this can't do us any good for future events in the Clee Hills area and he looked intent on doing something about it to me. The other point is that on that trial, like lots of other road trials, the riders were tight for time to finish so a lot of them were riding flatout between sections-surely this is likely to lead to exactly the sort of incident I experienced and perhaps organisers should start considering either shortening these events or being a little more generous with time although its obviously difficult at this time of year.

Photos here http://www.southshropshiremcc.co.uk/eventi...TML/index.htm?1

Results now up on here: http://www.midlandcentreacu.org.uk/Vic%20B...es%20sorted.pdf

Spot on Paoli-surely we need to have some more discipline about who rides the Novogars because right now for certain riders its like a club expert riding the inter or novice route-it wouldn't be allowed at a club trial but it is at National level. In my humble opinion the British Championship is for the countrys best 12 or so riders, the Expert class caters for the next best 30 and from then on the Novogars cater for everyone else but no-one should be allowed to run in more than one championship at a time so it would take the top guys out of the Novogar and let the lesser lights have a chance of being front runners whilst making it an easier task for organisers to plot sensible sections for the majority. With regular Nationals it would stay as now and anyone could enter so not restricting the top guys. I certainly think when some average ability riders see well known aces entered for Novogars it puts them off entering as they automatically assume the trial will be too hard for them.

Andy, Thanks for that-pleased to hear Hawkstone isn't likely to be at risk for the future. Regarding Jordi, thanks for the explanation and totally understandable under the circumstances. Just would have been nice if Jack Burnicle had been briefed about this to explain to the crowd-let's hope he can make it next time-I have great memories of him riding a Hawkstone in the 90's and bet he can still show the young pretenders a thing or two! As a person "in the know", what do you think the odds are for expanding the Mini Masters in future? Looks like a winning formula to me.

Just to add a few more comments about this excellent event, I was personally dissapointed that Jordi Tarres was not riding as billed in the pre-event publicity but I guess this is as a result of the recent shakeups at Gas Gas meaning he wasn't able to travel with the team. If 3000 people attend an event and pay

Thanks guys-will get a 38T sprocket & try it this weekend. Isn't this what's great about TC-instant expert advice from all over the globe! Cheers, SH

We have a GG Pro back wheel that we would like to use as a spare in our new 06 Scorpa SY250-looks like it should fit with some mods & a 38T sprocket-anybody got any experience of what's involved to save us doing it by trial & error?

Heres an observers point of view then. Firstly, as I've said in previous threads, observers at most club trials don't get briefed which is particularly bad if there are first-timers manning sections and leads to marking inconsistencies. Secondly, I don't give a one for a brief stop feetup and neither do most other observers I speak to. What the adult riders have to consider is the kids doing the same sections. I observed yesterday at Bikespaces championship trial on a stream section with a tightish turn to a tricky rocky exit. This was difficult enough for most of the adults, 2s and 3s being the norm on the clubman route with a rare clean or dab. Then we have C Class youths on 80s coming along doing the same route-only the very best in the country would likely clean it. Predictably, they all stopped at more or less the same large rocks and had to leg over to the next one until they reached the end cards. Are you really going to dock them a mark for stopping as anything less than a 3 was a great effort from the little guys? You should have seen the smiling faces of those few who managed it-highlight of the day for me. So, if you mark that way for the kids you have to do the same for the adults, right? By the way, had a complaint from an adult expert yesterday who stopped feetup but leant against a bank with his leg with his bike on its side then had a seperate dab and we docked him 2 marks-he wasn't happy but what would you have given him?

I've been following the posts about this trial this week and wanted to make a few comments regarding observers. The riders are praising the observers for sticking to their posts for so long in freezing conditions-what an understatement! I observe regularly in the same centre but also ride the occasional trial. I observed at this same trial last year, also in freezing conditions, and was ready at my section at 10.45 but the first riders did not appear until well over an hour later and riders were still going through at 5.15-to make matters worse, some riders numbers had been duplicated so the observers had to improvise a doubled up number and write names against them if they knew them. On the last lap, 50% of the riders thanked us for observing the rest just went home long before we could. Some riders stopped halfway through the trial, went to the butty bar had a cup of tea, had a natter etc all meaning the poor observers are delayed at their posts even longer. So we would have learned from that experience for this year, wouldn't we? Not at all. It is totally irresponsible of the organisers not to start the trial at the published time especially in view of the high number of entries. Let those who have bothered to get there early get going with the stragglers starting & finishing whenever. The observers were all in place before 11.00am so no reason for a delay apart from the rider briefing. Those who persistently show up late are generally the same people so why give them special treatment? Next point is briefing of observers-it never happens in our centre anyway-just get handed a board & pencil & directed to a section. One observer on Sunday asked me if he should be marking a 1 or 2 for a static dab? Only people who observe regularly seem to understand the correct rules interperations. Third point is shortage of observers-some clubs in our centre offer incentives, Frodsham half-price entry for rider with observer, Oswestry have an observers draw for a rear tyre every trial, others give out Mars bars etc as a small token of appreciation. However, the most outstanding is Denbigh & Mold where 5 committee members never ride their own trials but observe so only have to find 5 others-others take note please. Some of the observers on Sunday are retired in their late 60's & early 70's and made special trips to observe-and then have to spend 6 hours standing in below zero conditions-totally unreasonable, irresponsible & unnecessary-come on organisers, get your act together and put the observers first before pandering to the riders .