2008 QUEENSLAND MOTO TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIPS. Round up.

[Steve Holzhauser]

The Western Districts Motorcycle Club took on the challenge of running the 2008 Queensland Moto Trials Championships at a relatively new property on the high ranges north of Toowoomba.This magnificent property is owned by club official Chris Williams and is a real treasure for anyone to have access to, but paradise for Trials enthusiasts.

Looking at the rider list prior to the event showed a relatively small field of riders, but some of the cream of Championship divisions had entered for the event including the reigning National solo pilot Colin Zarzynski as well as Veteran National Title holder Paul Moore competing on his home territory.In the Masters class Don Murray of ACT and Kerrin Phillips from NSW made the trip up, which made the challenge for the local boys a very high ask indeed.

The staging area and car park were stretched to capacity and the overnight rain presented a headache for the weekends event, but everything seemed to have run very smoothly over the two days.

There was a strong representation of marques with Mal and Jill Loone making the long trip up from Geelong Victoria to prepare their Gas Gas display as well as Don Murray and Andrew Carpenter, Queenslands Sherco distributor there to help out their strong following of Sherco riders. Kal Daley was also present with a helping hand for those in need and his van on ready with an ever growing list of motorcycle wares.

The venue had been subject to a huge effort which was so obvious after the completion of the first lap. Bulldozers had been utilized to make tracks down the range to an area where the main course was set out. The manpower to clear and present an array of sections of a calibre rarely seen, is a real credit to the Western Districts Club and Rowan and Chris in particular.

With the setout of the course it was with great pleasure to ride sections of the Open Solo, Masters and Veterans division combine and to witness some outstanding rides in very English type terrain, wet, wet, wet, steep and very slick to the unwary. Travelling between sections and back up the range to the score tent was also to prove a challenge in negotiating the trial over the two days of competition.

The scores have been posted already on this site and shows just how the positions could have changed by a loose ride in any given section.

The most outstanding ride of the weekend to me must be the effort of Tony Bax in Masters, produced on the second day. He moved his overnight standing of third back to second and overtake Ex Australian Champion Don Murray in a display that impressed many of his piers, well done Tony.

Colin Zar now Sherco four stroke mounted, was very impressive and again showed why he is Australia's premier rider. His presence in Queensland I am sure is welcomed as Mitch and Boyd can only benefit from the experience of competing in such close proxcimity to Colin.

Back home in Casino, we had the pleasure of accomodating Colin & his gorgeous wife, Brooke, on the Friday night, and again on the Monday night after the event. This allowed me on Tuesday morning, after cleaning the bikes, to take Colin to my practice area next door, and being treated to a feast of brilliant riding skills that I could only ever achieve in my dreams.

The Post Classic really became a twinkle toes event with the Chadwick boys, Wayne and Troy, showing their skills are still a challenge for anyone to overcome. With Danial Telfer on his TY175 riding clean for day 2, it still was not enough to peg back the penalties he accumulated on the first day to take the win.

A big field of Juniors saw Lachlan Gibson absolutely shine and round out two days of riding with a very impressive winning margin.
I saw Lachlan accompanying his dad in the Veterans Class on his last lap, when Rowan took a very unexpected 5 on section 2. As he was given the big five, I overheard Lachlan say, "Keep it together Dad, and gave him pat on the shoulder", with a big grin.

In the Junior Women I saw both these girls Ailsa and Adina on day 1, and was really impressed at the ability and determination they put into some very challenging sections. I thought a very good ride by both these young ladies.

Classics, well what can you say in conditions like this. How they managed to get their bikes back up the range at the completion of each lap beats me. I saw Peter Sampson riding so very well on day 1 then the first time I was to see him on Day 2 was at section 4 ? when he gave his bike a handful mid section to scoot out over some slippery tree roots and his throttle jammed on full with a very scary chase resulting. I felt this was typical of what it must have been like for all the boys, weekend long.

In the Veterans class it was a field of very capable old and not so old riders that were to front a course that was so well laid out for a championship event.
With probably four of the best and wiliest older veterans in Australia you could muster together, it was always going to be a very testing two days. The reigning Australian Champion Paul Moore had a very unfortunate ride early in the first lap of day 1 and collected a 5, this proved to be unredeemable. Tim English, who has been riding with such consistancy and error free most of the last year, moved a little out of contention after day 1 by hanging a few loose penalties together.
The biggest smile over the two days was with Michael Frith, as he is a great lover of the wet and slippery flowing English type sections that were presented. After a tied first day on only the 3 marks lost, Michael and myself were well aware any errors would cost dearly on day 2.
Again with overnight showers, the course was slicked up even more than on the first day, but well thought out sections by Rowen and Chris produced a very testing course which gave a result to split the previous days tie.

Overall, the Western Districts Club must be very proud of the event they hosted, particularly with the conditions varying so much from the fine weather that was anticipated. A BIG thanks to all the observers that gave their time in pretty ordinary conditions for a marker. I am pretty sure it was an event that was enjoyed by all competitors - maybe not so much the spectators!!

Steve.

[Trango]

Thank you Steve for your informative account of the trial. I was unable to attend on the weekend or take part in the working bees leading up to the trial so I read yours and Kevin Zarczynski's stories with great interest. Congratulations to everyone involved in staging the event and to all the competitors.

Ian Millar

[David Lahey]

Here are some photos of a few of the Post Classic entry (before the rain) to try and capture the atmosphere

[Steve Holzhauser]

Here are few snaps that give a view of the terrain. The rider is the 2008 Open Queensland Champion Colin Z.