For a change, the sun was shining for most of the day at this the final round of the winter Championship sponsored by Team 6t9 . A good entry of 77 riders tackled the 12 sections for 3 laps of the popular venue.On the hard route even the absence of Richard Timperley (who had won the championship overall) could not prevent a fifth win for a Dronfield rider as in Richardʼs place stepped Corey Dubik.
As in previous rounds, it was Sam Yeomans who pushed the Sheffield rider all the way with Corey just 1 dab in front after three laps . It was a close fought victory with Corey losing just 5 on the ultra steep climb of section 4 compared to Sams s 10 . Sam pulled 6 marks back on the rocky gully of section 10 but it was to be Coreyʼs day.
Dan Slack made it 4 out of 4 wins to take best youth with Mitch Brightmore as ever in close pursuit. So it was 1st & 2nd on the day and 1st & 2nd in the championship.
The 50/50 route for Inters & O/40plus riders saw Mat Treweek just beat Josh Atkinson on the most cleans rule to take the win on the day but it wasn't enough to stop Josh take the overall Inter championship trophy back home . In the O/40+ class a rare visit by Ian Margetts was made worthwhile by a good win - some 12 clear from second place Leigh Elliott . Leigh also finished second in the team6t9 championship behind Mark Timperley.
Toby Eyre on his twin shock Yam out performed all the competition by only losing only one mark throughout the trial . The only mark he did lose was on section 1 on his second lap observed by none other than Dad Ken .Three other riders also remain in single figures - fellow twin-shock rider Rob Bowyer losing 3 on his Triumph Twin and Andy Foot on 6, which gave Andy top spot in the O/50 class. The third rider was young C class Ashley Brightmore on his Beta on 6 - an outstanding ride on his little machine . In the Novice class, Paul Johnson took top place on 24 with John Shipley Jr on 27 just behind. Paul also came first in the nov championship with Tony Ancliff getting 2nd place and John in 3rd. Rob Kelsall was O/40 champion with 3 wins and 2 third places which included the win here just 2 in front of Harry Hall. Colin Bowers and Martin Howarth came 2nd & 3rd in this championship.
Last, but far from least of the adult classes on the middle route was the well-supported and fiercely contested O/50 championship. Top on the day was Andy Foot but second place for Dave Mathews on the most cleans rule from Chris Lear was enough to give Dave the championship over Henry Rosenthal who would have had to take a full 20 points and 1st place to win.
In the youth A class on the middle route Daniel Johnson on 29 was 1st with Daniel Renshaw in second on 37. These two were also 1st & 2nd in the championship. If it was a battle of the Daniels in the A class, it was a battle of the Olivers in the B class with Oliver Allen taking his first win to spoil Oliver Jenkins 5 straight wins in the series. Their places were reversed in the Team6t9 championship.
It was exactly the same scenario in the C class where Ashley Brightmore took the win spoiling Tom Shepherdʼs full house of wins but Tom took first in the championship with Ashley second.
With the top spot in the clubmanʼs class already confirmed and the winner (Andy Atkinson) sunning himself whilst drinking large amounts of beer, it was left to 2 Twinshock riders to take first & second on this route. Bantam mounted Steve Thomas lost 15 with Carl Braddock on his Cotswold Majesty on 16. . Craig Read had a steady ride to get 6th on the day but that was good enough to secure 2nd overall. Andrew Renshaw was best youth on 46 and best overall .Ollie Sheldon was second on the day with this being the only round he rode and Andrew Worth in 3rd on the day and 2nd in the Championship.
On the easy route Owen Bowers made it 5 wins out of 5 in the series and easily took top spot on the day he lost just 8 marks in the very tricky and slippery conditions. Best adult was Bill Brown giving his Fantic a run out. Bill lost 5 marks . Eventual championship winner Stephen Simpson finished in 4th on the day which was good enough .