Aqueduct Classic Club Championship

The last event for 2018 had most of the Championship already sewn up, although a number of places were still up for grabs. It was a bit of an overcast day with the risk of changing weather but that did not stop the 66 riders turning up at Plas Onn to see out the year in style. A good measure of 22 Pre 65's were joined by 14 Twinshocks, 12 AC Monos and 18 Modern Monos. It was great to see some real exotic Pre 65's come through the section with a Saracen and and OK Supreme seeing the event through to the end. Grahams Whites recently restored Honda TLR 200 also looked fantastic.

It was good to see 8 riders take to the Expert route with 36 riders tackling the Inter route, 15 in the Clubman and 7 in the Beginners class.

Mark Gaskell - Inter Route (Pre 65)

My last trial of 2018 before all the family commitments kick in, Plas Onn with Aqueduct Classics riding the Green (Inter) route on my Drayton Triumph Twin

Section 1) Ride down into the stream bed, carefully up the loose rocks, turn between two boulders and back avoiding a low tree, blast to the end. Silly dab I didn’t really need.

Section 2) After a great ride along the stream for a couple of minutes we came to section 2. Up a slight bank, then tight right then left across the stream to line up for the greasy clay rut that climbed up to a right turn around a tree. Slippery descent back to the stream, climb over some roots and back into the stream to the end. Managed to stay clean, and didn’t run over the observer! (sorry Harry)

Section 3) A hillclimb, up a stream. This was relatively straightforward, but the two diversions from the rocky stream bed were slippery early on, and required either commitment or legwork. Hence my three marks. The Twin sounded glorious though!

Section 4) Should have been simple, but I made it difficult. A greasy downhill turn, followed by a greasy uphill turn. Drop into a small stream and turn before a large rock, up the stream and out over a root and round a tree. First lap I messed up the greasy uphill turn and had to paddle. Second lap tried to ride over the rock so needed a couple of dabs. Third lap didn’t concentrate for the greasy downhill turn, and didn’t for a five! Cleaned it easily on the last lap.

Section 5) Again, greasy slope down to a root step, then slalom from one side of a wide stream bed to the other. A loose rock and slow reactions gave me a silly three on lap one.

Section 6) Climbing up a short bank, then dropping off the steep face of it back to track level with only a bike length to line up for a cross camber path to the ends. Not as scary as it looked.

Section 7) An old favourite with a new entry. The last climb out over the jumble of rocks took marks off me though.

Section 8) Climb up a grass bank over some slippery roots, then down and back into the stream, crossing it twice, before exiting up the waterfall.

Section 9) A gentle descent into the stream, then ride up allowing the bike to find the rocks you can’t see. Carefully line up the exit in a cleft between two rocks that doesn’t look wide enough for the Twin, but was.

Section 10) Cross the stream, at a bike length point, then immediate right turn and re-cross the stream, a little wider here. Drop back into the stream and ride loose rocks, up two shallow steps before turning to the exit.

Superb trial, as we have come to expect from Aqueduct. Definitely could have done better ( as my school reports used to say) but enjoyed myself immensely ! Thank you to everyone involved, see you next year!

Rob Sloggett - Observer (Section 9)

I was issued with Section 9 which was only a short walk from the start. This was on the stream section just below the car park which normally has 3 or 4 sections over the whole lenght. A quick walk of the section gave me to good positions to observer from so I took the upper bank where I could clearly marshal the riders in and have a good direct view of the main challenge, a waterfall with different two routes for the Inters and Experts and a slightly more moderate route around the tree and up a extra part of the stream for the Clubman.

So what was the section like?

Well the Beginners and Inters shared the same entrance across the stream and up the adjacent back with the Inters having a tighter left hand turn and the Beginners having the option to take the same route or run more vertical up the bank (which was a bit muddy) but having the benefit of a broader sweeping turn. At this point the beginners had a straight run along the bank to the end cards but the Clubman had to drop back into the stream via an off camber right descent and then following the stream as it forked around a tree. They had a route via the left hand fork which had a relatively challenging right curve. A number of non movable rocks were visible but this did not stop riders catching these, regularly taking dabs. All credit to Peter Cocking (BSA Bantam) who takes my rider of the day award for taking the time to reassess the section after his 2 and 3 on his first two laps. This rewarded him with a single dap on his third lap and it was great to hear his whoops of pleasure as he took the last lap for a clean.

The Inters and Experts once again shared the same entrance but this time is was a forced run straight into the stream gully only to be presented with the main challenge as they approached the tree where the Clubman forked left. On this occasion the Inters and Experts took the right hand side of the tree with the Experts keeping closer to the trunk and having what looked like a really crafty double step with flowing water. The first step looked to be a V shaped root quickly followed by a rock step about 18 inches higher. Apart from a single five, the Experts found this OK with regular single dabs being taken. The Inter route was a steeper bank adjacent to the waterfall but with no running water, although the cut out had a number of exposed rocks set to just unsettle the rider enough to take regular marks.


So how has this left the Championship?

pdf Full results can be found here (58 KB)  but the top places were taken as follows:

Kev Ellis. Pre65 Expert

Paul Owen Pre65 intermediate

Graham Miller Pre65 Clubman

Ian Jones Twinshock Expert

Steve Williams Twinshock Intermediate

John Sowden Twinshock Clubman

Gordon Wilson AC Mono intermediate

Ken Williams AC Mono Clubman

Pete Thomas AC Mono Beginer

Paul Hempkins. Mono Intermediate

Steve Walker Mono Clubman

Congratulations to all of those rider above as well as those who came close as Runners Up. The season is always well supported with some great class rivalry playing out.

The feedbackfrom the riders provided a few sound bites as follows:

Great trials today. Sections were spot on. Company was good. Great to see so many friendly happy faces from riders. Organisers and observers. Big thanks to all involved in this years championship. Roll on 2019 - Paul Owen

Great trial as usual Russ,Thanks to all the gang who make it happen!- Gordon Wilson

Cracking trial, was spot on that! Thanks for all the efforts - Graham White

So that closes out the 2018 season in style. As well as hosting the opening round of the Kia Championship, we have regularly been in the mid 60 entries for the club events with the mid classes being strong and popular, a regular influx of beginners, the addition of some juniors on Osets and a continued strength in the Pre-65 and Twinshock classes where the clubs roots lie.

All that is left to say is on behalf of the club can we wish you all a very good Christmas and New Year and we will see you all at the first event of 2019.