The second round of the 2016 Winter Championship, the Mercury Cup was held today at Haslett Farm, Shorwell. The recent wet weather has made access & parking to most venues impossible and the Club would like to say a special thank you to Mr Glen Draper for allowing us back at Haslett, at very short notice.
Today’s course setters were well aware that back to back trials at the same venue required some ‘out of the box’ thinking in order to provide something different – well they certainly managed that, brilliantly! Very many thanks to Nick Symes, Stewart Freeman and Calvin Wright for eight excellent but testing sections. A good mixture of long steep climbs with tight and twisty turns - all just waiting to take points off of us! Great effort guys.
The Club would like to welcome returning member Laura Milton and new members Ben Brodie, Phil Chase and Steve Chase. We look forward to seeing you back again soon.
The Expert class proved to be a Family affair and was convincingly won by Will West from brother Jim - good performance from both riders, with just sections four and six separating the two. No less than ten competitors battled for the win in the Intermediate class with Mark Coombes snatching victory from Andy Steele. Tom Read did just enough to finish ahead of Dad, Tony for third place – just two marks between second and fourth place!
Simon Watmough was riding alone in the Clubman class but still managed to post a really competitive total of thirty-seven. Paul Kent fought off a determined effort from Novice class rival Brian Brockwell to take the top spot, sections four and six making all the difference. James Craven also rode well to finish in third place, on today’s tricky course. Nick Symes convincingly won the Twin Shock class from fellow course setter Stewart Freeman – great ride Nick.
Phil Silvester put in a confident performance to take the win in the Adult Beginners class, dropping a miserly thirteen marks. The Beginner classes were restricted to six sections, as sections one and five were simply too difficult to include the easier routes. Youngster Alfie Haydon should be really pleased with his efforts, finishing with the lowest score of the day, only five dropped marks. Harrison Crickmore, riding the same route but in a different class, was only two more adrift, with a score of just seven – very well done to both riders. Scott Milton also put in a great performance to take the win in the Sportsman class, convincingly beating Wayne Brodie, who finished in second.
The next trial will be held on 14/02/16 – keep an eye on the Club’s website where the full details will be available nearer the time. Don’t forget the Clubs annual awards evening on the 20th Feb – some great food on offer with the Mechanix playing us into the 21st! Full details, again, on the Club website – www.iowmcc.co.uk