The final Manchester 17 Club’s Dead Easy Trial for this year was held last Saturday at Haslins Farm on the outskirts of Buxton in the heart of the Peak District.
The summer’s heat wave seemed a very distant memory when the section plotters arrived early on Saturday morning and were greeted with driving rain and a cold wind. With this in mind and the terrain being climbs and turns on grassy banks and limestone rock outcrop, the sections were set wide and with a choice of lines wherever possible.
Thankfully by the start the rain had stopped and the weather was ideal for riding. Even the ground started to dry as the forty nine solos and three sidecars set out to do battle with four laps of ten sections. The awful weather overnight no doubt affected the entry.
Despite the greasy conditions two riders remained clean on the Harder Route. Tim Jackson, and Sean Isherwood riding an immaculate 500cc Ariel, stayed focussed and kept their feet on the pegs.
On the Easy Route again there were two clean rides, Jonathan Brown and Matthew Arnell. Credit must go to these four riders as a glance down the results sheet proved it was very easy to get caught out if you strayed off line or your throttle control was wayward.
Three sidecars battled out their own contest with the combos of Bert White/Jon Stanley and Carl Baker/Wayne Kershaw going clean with Larry Gartside/Joe Waldron not benefiting from setting out the sections in third place.
After another successful series of seven events the Club would like to thank all the riders who have supported the Dead Easy Trials, and the Observers and Officials, without whom it would not be possible to stage the events.
Hope to see you all again next year.
REPORT: Roger Townsend