Tie Breaker
As the results were announced, it turned out that three riders Dan Thorpe, Butterworth and another former winner James Harland had all finished on seven marks apiece. Thorpe had gone clean on the first day but suffered an early five on Saturday and said: “I fived a section my dad cleaned”. His dad, of course, being Dave Thorpe, who is a six-time winner of the trial.
Dan added: “Dad used to have to mind for me in my early days of riding, but now I am having to mind for him!” as he sat at the top of Pipeline waiting for his father to make the ascent. And it was on Pipeline that Dan squandered another two marks as the Cub bounced offline on a section that yielded more cleans in 2017 than it has done for many a long year, despite the severity of the steep iconic hazard.
Classic Trials Magazine’s regular tester Nick Shield was riding his 500 Triumph which he took to 13th place. It was squirting oil at the finish of the second day as he commented: “Well it’s a Triumph, what do you expect!” as he reflected on his very respectable score of seven marks each day.
The big machines most definitely take some manhandling and, in the right hands, are good for the style of sections offered by the Pre-65 Scottish. There’s no doubt the rider has to be the boss and those campaigning big four-strokes experience a more challenging two days than those on the popular mix of the lightweight BSA Bantams and Triumph Tiger Cubs.
Each year the Edinburgh Club comes up with the goods for the classic trials scene and this competition, running in its 34th year, once again reflected their tireless efforts to produce a high-level event to be enjoyed by riders of all abilities. Once again, a near faultless affair was enjoyed, and it’s easy to understand why it so regularly attracts double the number of entries that is available. No doubt next year will be the same, and it’s so easy to understand why.
Macdonald, Noble, Thorpe may well be the big name winners, but throughout the finishing list, each and every rider will have given their all in what is anything but an easy couple of days of trials riding.