With the sun out and frost in the ground conditions stayed about perfect if very slippery for the Southend and District Motorcycle clubs first trial of the year at the Royal Oak Pits, Danbury. The 60 riders gathered tackled 4 laps of 11 sections.
On the Expert route Ton Norman came out on top losing most of his marks on the very difficult section 6 indeed only 1 expert managed to not lose a 5 on this section and that was Brandon Youngman.
On the inter/expert B route, occasional rider Paul Fairhurst showed the others how it was done with a ride of just 24 marks lost. Matthew Skeet (inter ) and Graham Palmer followed close on his heels on 27 marks lost. Special mention on this route goes to Gary Baker who's spirited ride on his beautiful Tiger cub won many comments.
On the Novice route Dave Spurgeon on the Ex John Kendell Ariel Arrow lead the way home with Paul Owen(gasgas) , Bob Garrod(beta) and Steve Smith(gasgas) all all in a close group a few marks behind.
In the sidecars Chris Dellow/Fiona Strachan showed what a difference a modern bike makes with a good win over Suzuki Beamish mounted Steve Todd and Bob Chapman
On the beginner and Wobbler's route Richard Armiger showed them how it was done, but the fast improving Libby Martinez is catching up fast and apart from section 1 was close to overhauling Richard.
Overall a great day out in the sunshine.