British Championship

As always it’s great to get the year’s action underway, and for the opening round of the ACU British Championship there could be no better place than the excellent Hook Woods Trials Centre near West Horsley, Guildford. Headed by Jim Connor and his team, they had used their excellent years of experience to make for a very interesting event covering 12 hazards to be ridden over three laps. The weather had been very damp on the run-up to the event but the action was very hot all the way. Jack Price sneaked his first adult BTC win from Michael Brown and Jack Sheppard, as ‘old hand’ Dan Thorpe took a clear win in the Expert Class, as did Billy Green in the Youth A Class.

CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS

So good was the variety of the hazards that in the end very few marks covered the top five riders, with the result being confirmed for the win on the final hazard of the day; how much better does it get than that! The opening lap appeared to take for ever as the riders all hesitated to attempt section one, but once under way they were parting with marks like you would never believe. By virtue of being the only rider — along with Dec Bullock — to pass through the high-flying final hazard parting with only a single mark as everyone else failed Jack Sheppard was the early leader. Dan Peace had been the early pace setter as the only rider to remain feet-up through section two with a very smooth attempt. Due to a heavy fall from the Expert Class rider Tyler Rendall this hazard was removed for the remaining two laps while he received attention from the excellent medical team. On the second lap the scores came down under the twenty marks with local rider Sam Connor the best on 11 marks lost, the best single-lap score of the event, made up from two fives and a single-mark ride through section four. At the start of the final lap it was very close with four riders all in with the chance of victory: Sheppard 35, Connor 38, Brown 39 and Price 40, followed by Dan Peace on 43. Every mark dropped would be important but it was Price who took the victory posting the best lap score of 12 followed by Brown on 14. For ‘Shep’ the five marks recorded for the stop on section 12 would snatch victory away from him.

EXPERT CLASS

With the biggest class entry for the first round in front of the Championship and Youth classes this series is just as important to win as the ‘main event’. Using his years of experience, it was Dan Thorpe who took the lead on the opening lap which he never surrendered. It was the super slippery terrain of section five where he parted with the majority of his marks as the opposition simply had no answer to his superb riding technique in the hazards, which in truth got much harder over the three laps. James Fry had opted to drop down from the Championship Class for 2017 and despite his ‘Southern Mud’ experience he had no answer to Thorpe as he headed off Jonny Starmer and Richard Sadler, with Northern based rider Tom Affleck rounding off the top five.

YOUTH CLASS

Full of enthusiasm and skill, it was Beta mounted Billy Green who headed the Youth A Class riders home. It was quite obvious from the opening lap, where he parted with a singe five mark penalty in his total of 12, that Green was going to take some stopping. His three single lap scores were all under the 20 mark and apart from Josh Hanlon who lost 19 on his final tour of the 12 hazards no one else dipped into the under 20 mark. Hanlon’s score of 26 along with Oliver Smith’s 23 on the opening lap would prove a goal to far to fight with Green for the victory.

Jack Price (JST Gas Gas UK): Quite rightly so – Jack was delighted with his first major adult win in the UK.

Michael Brown (JST Gas Gas UK): Looking very confident all day the ‘Mighty Atom’ may not be a full time rider anymore, but he looked good all day.

Sam Connor (Beta-UK): Proving he can still ride a bit, Sam posted the best single-lap score on the second of the three.

Dan Peace (JST Gas Gas UK): Looking very fresh and confident Dan will be looking to win at this level in 2017.

Jack Sheppard (Beta-UK): Young ‘Shep’ was gutted when he took the five mark penalty at the final hazard, denying him the victory.

Richard Sadler (Acklams Beta): When a small rock dislodged the chain on section eight on the opening lap Sadler knew it was going to be ‘one of them days’.

Jack Peace (JST Gas Gas UK): Still learning his trade; look out for Jack in the latter part of the series as a potential winner.

Jonny Starmer (Beta): Proving he can still ride well Jonny will be happy with 3rd.

James Fry (Sherco): The best of the rest; expect to see James pushing for the win at the next round.

Dan Thorpe (JST Gas Gas UK): A little embarrassed with the win, Dan was head and shoulders above the rest on the day, which was reflected in the winning margin.

Josh Hanlon (Beta): A poor opening lap left Josh with too much work to do if he was to challenge for the win.

Billy Green (Beta-UK): One of the new breed of young riders, Billy looked good all day with his execution of the hazards.

Tom Affleck (Cloburn Sherco): Tom will be happy knowing his riding is not that far away from the top three.

Oliver Smith (Oset): In his first A Class year Oliver will no doubt be challenging for a win as the series evolves.