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Normandale Series / Aircooled Series


turbo
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I see from provisional 2016 acu fixture list that all the Normandale rounds are in place but there seems only 1 round for the new aircooled series ? , I believe that there is no longer a pre 65 / twinshock class for the Normandale rounds so if this is the case whats gone wrong ? or am I  wrong ? . Can anybody enlighten me ? .Thanks .

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Yes, happy to enlighten Mr Turbo.

 

The ACU Trials and Enduro Committee realised that the Normandale series which included a class for pre 1975 British Bikes, Twin shocks and air-cooled monos, saw an ever decreasing number of entries in these three classes, with the bulk of the entries being in the Over 40, 50 and 60 categories.

 

Therefore it was decided that the Normandale series, after consultation with Phil Ducker the sponsor, that the series would forthwith be a Veterans (over 40) championship for three classes.

 

Two of the committee members had several meetings with Alan Wright and Gerry Minshall with a view to bringing their popular twin-shock series in within the ACU's jurisdiction. There followed a meeting in the summer at Rugby with Alan and Gerry, and the ACU committee were hopeful that the Kia championship (Wright and Minshall's sponsors) would become a fully fledged ACU championships and when they left the meeting, the committee felt that every question and potential problem of amalgamating had been overcome.

 

However, it proved not to be and both Alan and Gerry decided they preferred to go their own way.

 

Having already decided that the Normandale would be a Veterans championship,  the new Air-cooled championship was created as that would cover every machine that would no longer be eligible for the Normandale series. However, only two clubs applied to run a round, and one of those has yet to supply a date. The committee are hoping to attract at least two or three more clubs to run a round so that it becomes viable and long term the committee hope that the Wright/Minshall series can join in with the ACU, as only under ACU jurisdiction can class winners in that series be called a British Champion.

 

Hope that makes everything clear to date.

 

Mike Rapley T and E Committee.

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Shame this was never communicated to the riders sooner as i have just spent a lot of money on an air cooled mono to ride the Normandale series!!  Why not have a/c in the Sammy Miller or has that all changed as well!  In fact ACU, please can the riders be updated on any 2016 changes ASAP.  It would help.  

 

I for one will ride the KIA series as they seem to have had it spot on for the last couple of years! 

Edited by gasserguy
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Having ridden in a number of the Kia champ rounds, all I can say is bring your aircooled classic trials bikes along, they are great events set out very well and on good terrain. The two routes caters for different levels of rider ability.

For me it doesn't matter which governing body is behind the events, I have an ACU licence but I also ride in Peak Classic club trials which are AMCA.

 

Perhaps the Normandale series should put in two more classes in with date brakes of say 1990 to 2000 and 2000 to 2010 to cater for all the older water cooled bikes out there?

Stephen. 

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In response to Gasserguy, ALL the information with regard to how the 2016 championships would run, classes etc, were distributed back in September prior to clubs applying. However, we can't pretend that the information actually reached those who wanted or needed to know. The ACU's method of communication has been to post the information on the ACU website and also to send it out to all the Centre Secretaries who should then distribute it to clubs.

 

We recognise that this is not the best solution and have now arranged with Andy Grieg, owner of this site, Trials Central, to have a ACU news page where all the information with regard to changes etc can be found. The plan is to post the information following every T and E committee meeting and then hopefully more people will know about it.

 

The first batch has just been sent to Andy and presumably he will set up the ACU page very soon.

 

To everybody else who has a view about what should happen and what is wrong, there is an open trials forum to which anybody is invited on February 6 at ACU headquarters, Rugby. The fact of the matter, is that no matter what decision the committee makes - and believe us loads of time is spent talking about the most seemingly insignificant problems - it is not possible to please all the people all of the time.

 

The committee, all very experienced riders and organisers who are very much in touch with the sport, do their best to make decisions that they believe will benefit the majority. And if they get it wrong, they are not afraid to change!!

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Am I also correct in saying the over 50 class in the Normandale  series now has to ride 50/50 course ,i.e. half main route ,half eased route ? . fine but wonder what the thinking was on this ? probably be a lot of old gits struggling now (including me ! ).  

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