British Trials Cup
ROUND ONE
The British Trials Cup opened with round one at the superb Bob McGregor Trial Academy facility in Ayrshire, Scotland. For 2018 the Biketrial Federation United Kingdom are organising a threeround National Cup Series. The 15th of April saw the first round of the National Trials Cup Series take place in Scotland, simultaneously incorporating the first round of the Scottish Biketrial Championship. Blessed with dry weather on the day the preparation over the two previous weekends was not undermined and a great trial ensued. With the heritage of biketrial firmly resting with motorsport’s Bob McGregor’s Trial Academy it proved to be a fantastic venue to kick off this year’s competitive season at a national level in the UK
The organisers had put in a lot of work moving round the large rocks and concrete blocks in order to lay out six testing obstacles, each to be covered three times. Hats off to them, as they succeeded in a great mix of sections for the massive range of abilities from the young sixyear-old beginners all the way through to the Elite riders and the fathers that compete along the way.
PODIUM FOR EACH ROUTE: For 2018 there is a top-three podium for each route, but for the series totals the routes are split by age in line with the international age groups.
White Route
On the easiest, but by no means easy, White ‘Primary’ route it was the Scottish rider Harry Adamson who took the win and the early lead in the Primary ‘Senior’ class, losing just 15 marks including a great final lap of just three marks. It was a close-fought battle with Northallerton’s Will Robinson on 19 marks and another Scot Charlie Henshall another three marks behind on 22. The best under 10-yearold Primary rider was Jackson Carrol, who had a tough day losing 82 marks.
Green Route
The next route is the Green ‘Novice’ class which had a great entry of 13 riders. This time the Derbyshire Tyke Trial members dominated the podium, with senior rider 13-year-old Max Ward taking the win on just nine marks and the best under-13-year-old rider, 9-year-old Eddie Weightman just three marks behind on 12, very closely followed by his father Carl on 13 marks. That must have been a good discussion on the long journey home!
Blue Route
The Blue ‘Intermediate’ route is the next class and again it was the Derbyshire riders taking the top steps. Not to be outdone by his younger brother the current BIU Benjamin World Champion Oliver Weightman had a fantastic ride, losing just five marks all day with section one proving his stumbling block taking him for a dab every lap. This route is also the correct age class for Oliver, so he takes the lead in the Intermediate championship. Senior Intermediate rider Daniel White from Chesterfield also had a good ride losing 16 to get the second spot on the podium and the early lead in the senior category. Third place was Bailey Dacker, keeping his medal in the highlands losing 56 marks.
Red Route
The Red Expert class doesn’t have any age restrictions or class splits and also has slightly different observing rules to the lower classes. For this class and the Elite class the riders get penalised a ‘dab’ every time anything touches the floor including the bike’s pedals and ‘bashguard’, so it’s similar to the X trial rules thus making those big rock steps that little bit harder. All the Expert riders found the route hard, with Yorkshire’s Reece Seymour taking the top step of the podium on 46 marks. Moto trials rider Aldis Blacker ditched the petrol power for pedal power and had a day-long battle with Scotland’s Ross McArthur, with Aldis taking a very close second place on 78 marks and Ross just one behind on 79.
Yellow Route
The hardest ‘Yellow’ Elite route caters for the country’s best riders, who have had to meet the strict qualifying criteria to ride these sections. The current National Elite Champion, Devon’s Andrei Burton, made the long trip north worthwhile as he lost only 15 marks and took the win to carry on where he left off last season. Seventeen-year-old Will Ackerly from York improved as the day went on to take second position on 31 marks, with the youngest rider in this class, sixteen-year-old Adam Morewood taking the final spot on the podium on 38 marks.
Biketrial Federation UK
They were delighted to note a growing number of kids attending at round one as a result of involvement via cycling clubs. On Saturday, the day before the competition, we saw many of them at the venue practising at the same time as other kids on their Osets – and no doubt a few dads and mums were being ‘mithered’ about giving that a go whilst on that “how long until we get home” drive back from the venue. The core bike-handling skills the kids acquire through either discipline are impressive and hopefully the federation can be part of the movement that lets the secret out of the bag. It would be great to see participation levels increase in both facets of trialling, and attracting new blood from within existing cycling communities will no doubt be part of the way forward for the sport in the UK. Biketrial Federation UK hope to be present at a number of motorcycle trials this year with ‘demo’ bikes to give kids a chance to self-propel themselves through sections. The bulk of the talent at the top level of biketrial retains a strong connection with the motorcycle side of trials riding and it would be great to see more riders participating in both sides of the sport. Here’s hoping everyone has a great season, whether that is motorised or not.
There is now a short break until round two of the series which will be held at the BikeTrial Academy in Cambridgeshire with the final round to be held in September in Derbyshire. The Federation will also be organising the National Championships in June where riders must ride in their age groups, to be held near York.