Stuart Matthews concentrating hard on section 8 Bewdley Motor Cycle Club ran the second of a three round series of Clubman and Beginners Trials last Thursday evening, at the popular venue of Birchwood Farm, Shatterford and once again received a bumper entry. The woodland did give the riders a little respite from the hot sunny evening and allowed the course plotters to lay out a challenging eitht section course on the venues sandy banks and turns.
Section two provided the hard route competitors with their stiffest challenge of the trial. Observed by former Triumph works rider Norma Crump, the climbs provided and twists suited brothers Josh an Charlie Bawden (Gas Gas) and Beta respectively). Both riders returned the perfect score on the section but Charlies single mark lost on section three, meant it was catch up on his brother, for the remainder of the trial. Third place finisher was the ever- improving Andrew Hickman (Gas Gas), but try as he might could not quite match the performance of Josh and Charlie. But it could have been so very different, had Stewart Matthews (Gas Gas) not cast away a five on his first visit to section one. Making a welcome return to the sport, Matthews added managed to loose onle one mark on section two, finishing a mark down on Hickman.
The B Route again provided close completion between Bill Middup- Jones (Montesa) and Neil Brown (Montesa). Returning a score of six marks lost, Middup-Jones held on to his lead over Brown, gained on section three and finished on top spot of the podium. Lewis Brown, son of Neil and riding in the youth class, grabbed a well-earned third position, making it a family second and third.
Riding the C Route, in another rare outing, former Honda employee Mervyn Smith (Honda)had a fairly comfortable route win, but behind him, a battle raged between Luke Pearson (Beta) and Ethan Richardson (Beta). Little separated the schoolboys throughout the trial and at the finish, both returned the same score. Tie break came into force and Pearson gained the runner up position. Another youth rider, Oscar Pattinson, who is in his first year of riding improves week by week, claimed fourth spot.