Last weekend was the opening round for the European Ladies Championship held in Varallo Sesia, Italy. The venue consisted of steep sandy banks with rocky outcrops which soon got slippery after the mud got dragged onto them. Recent Top Trial Team recruit, Becky Cook was feeling confident aboard her Beta and with all the team there supporting her she was ready for the challenge.
Becky rode strong from the start with only four marks lost on her first lap which consisted of single dabs on sections four and five and two marks lost on section seven. The first lap scores showed Becky in second place behind Laia Sanz who had had a clean lap and Emma Bristow in third on eight. However, Becky knew that it was easy to lose marks on the slippery, loose rocks and climbs and Laia could still make a mistake so she went into the last lap trying to get the cleans but making sure no major marks would be lost.
Becky remained clean until section five where a big rock had moved so she had to take a new line and needed a quick dab. The sections had become harder second time around as the lines dug out and kicked up small loose rocks. Laia parted with two marks, Becky parted with nine and Emma eleven. The final scores were Laia on two, Becky on thirteen and Emma on nineteen.
Becky also rode in Sunday's event in the International class over similar sections as the previous day. This was so she could practice the kind of sections she will encounter in ladies events and try to perfect her riding and concentration on the easier tricky sections. She had a solid steady day finishing with another podium position in third place on seventeen marks lost.
Becky Cook: "I am happy with my weekend taking two podium positions for my new team and bike but I know I am more than capable of cleaning every one of those sections so will be pushing hard ready for the next round. I must thank my minders, Craig Talbot and Carlo Fabri and team manager, Michele Bosi for helping me around today's trial. The support and set up with Top Trial team is invaluable and will help me get on the top step of the podium"