Trial report for RTC Inc trial at Bob's Creek 3rd April 2011

[David Lahey]

Once again we had overcast cool breezy conditions to enjoy. The rainy summer meant that access to the normal areas where we ride at Bob’s Creek was impossible due to mud, extreme vegetation density and depth of water. This meant having all sections in the vicinity of the hilltop quarry. The well drained and bare flat section of the quarry was a perfect car park and the sections were very imaginatively set on the banks, cuttings, rockpiles, log stacks, waterholes and mudholes surrounding it. It has been many years since we had sections there and it was quite an enjoyable change to ride there. Some riders had never ridden loose rockpiles but soon learned the necessary techniques for maintaining motion up them and control on the way down. The off-camber and sloping log jump in section 1 generated many points for riders in B, Twinshock and A grades, especially once the water from the mudhole reached all the way to the logs.

There were officially six upper grade sections, but Don Jones reckoned that the section for cars driving in through the gate should have been counted as a seventh section. The landowner had formed a water diversion bank across the old track and it would have damaged it driving over it so Don taped it off (like a section) so drivers had to do a tight S bend to get in through the gate. Luckily Ken didn’t bring his motorhome this time! We are very fortunate to have somewhere like the quarry to ride in such wet conditions. Even if there had been car access to near one of the creekside sites, the vegetation was so thick it would have taken days to cut tracks and sections.

I heard many favourable comments about the entertainment aspect of the upper grade sections, probably due to it being so different to what we normally ride, and the way it was so easy to both get around between them and to be able to watch others ride them from many locations – rider and spectator friendly.

There were five separate Novice/Junior sections which the riders enjoyed. A ride-off was necessary for first place and the C grade line of upper grade section 6 was used for this with new rider Tim Stone managing to edge ahead of Timothy Evans for the win.

There were quite a few new and returning riders amongst the 35 entrants. Peter Deloub rode for the first time in about 12 years, adapting well to riding his brother’s 280 Gas Gas. Peter will probably be back to riding in B grade by the next trial as he gets more accustomed to the modern bike. Riley Hunt rode Don Jones’ TY175 and had a good day. Kane and Kevin Havek were back after a few years absence. I think it might have been Patrick Lynham’s first trial but not too sure of that. Tim Stone rode one of his TY175s for the first time in a trial and had a good time. He also picked up some advice from people on bike set-up and riding style.

David McDonald rode his 1975 Honda TL250 for the first time in a trial. That bike had spent its life up until now as an AG bike on a dairy farm in North Queensland. David has recently cleaned it up and set it up for trials competition and had a great time riding it at Bob’s Creek.

Mark Casswell rode his recently-rejuvenated SWM in Twinshock and amongst some other bike improvements, revelled in having tyres that gripped.

The creek was especially popular with some of the kids after the riding finished. Once you fought your way through the amazingly dense creek-side vegetation, the flow and depth in the deeper sections was good for cooling off. The layout of things (boulders, logs etc) down in the creek is completely different to last time we rode there and it was hard to work out where things used to be, the water having come through there so deep and fast during the extreme rainfall periods in January.

Results

Novice
Tim Stone 0 (Yamaha TY175), Timothy Evans 0 (Kawasaki KT250) , Nicole Casey 1, Samantha Sophios 4, Riley Hunt 6 (Yamaha TY175), Patrick Lynham 21, Abbey Armitage 58

C Grade
Peter Deloub 3, Glenn Pincham 8, Kane Havik 9, Mick Casey 12, Hunter Pincham 21, Kevin Havek 24, Brian Crozier 31, Brodie Matheson 38

B Grade
Phil Lynham 4, Shayne Freebody 9, Jacob Armitage 11, Todd Matheson 12, Andrew Lynham 12, Angela Sophios 12, Peter Casey 12, Travis Boyle 35

Twinshock
David McDonald 1 (Honda TL250), David Lahey 1 (Yamaha Majesty 250), Ken Cutmore 10 (Honda TLR200), Mark Reed 19 (Suzuki RL250), Mark Casswell 26 (SWM TL320)

A Grade
Michael Armitage 8, Don Jones 14, Jordan Smith 21, Barry Caird 32, Davie Cue 34, Neil McLucas 39, John Sophios 47

David Lahey
5th April 2011