Jersey Two-Day
The well-organised Jersey Motor Cycle and Light Car Club 2019 4Hire
Jersey Two-Day Trial had an extra incentive to compete this year. The ‘Channel Hopping’ talents of two of Great Britain’s hottest trials properties, Jack Price (Gas Gas) and Toby Martyn (Beta), would be joined by the trials legend Dougie Lampkin (Vertigo). With this added attraction a full entry of 120 riders was soon reached, made up from 15 riders on the Expert route, 55 on the Clubman and 50 on the Novice route. As the event is run over the Remembrance Day celebrations, before Sunday’s action got underway, all the riders and officials observed two minutes of silence to respect this occasion.
Heavy rain on the run-up to the event had made section marking difficult, and on the first day of action, it turned into a very wet event as storms battered the island once again, bringing with them more heavy rain. Clerk of the Course Dennis Le Breton and his hardworking team had laid out two separate days of action. Each day would take in a proposed three laps of 15 hazards at two separate locations on the island, but the club made the correct decision to reduce the action to just two laps on the opening day. Fortunately, on day two, the sun came out to make for a much better day’s sport!
Expert Route
Two trials were going on in this class. The eventual top three finishers, Jack Price (Gas Gas), Dougie Lampkin (Vertigo) and Toby Martyn (Beta), rode at a very high level above the chasing pack which was headed by home riders Richard Pallot (Beta) and Adam Le Cheminant (Gas Gas). On day one it was Price who held the advantage over Martyn who was in second with Lampkin third. The weather made the hazards deteriorate and, as you can see, the gap back to the highest placed Jersey rider Richard Pallot was considerable; he was in close company with Adam Le Cheminant. On day two and with the sunshine appearing the top two, Price and Lampkin, recorded very low scores as Martyn slipped just off the pace. After a long hard-fought day, Richard Pallot had just enough in hand to keep Adam Le Cheminant away from the award for the highest-placed Jersey rider.
Clubman Route
A good entry of 55 riders was always going to make this class a very difficult one to win, but Richard Fry (Sherco) was the man in command over both days. After a disastrous day, one Miles Carruthers (Sherco) came fighting back with a score of nine to secure the runner-up position in front of Ben Le Page (TRS). After a tough day in the mud on day one, where he parted with a massive 56 marks, Neil Saffin (Montesa) recorded the best score on just five marks lost on the second day to move into fourth overall. Rounding off the top five positions was the ‘come-back kid’ George Marshman (Scorpa), who was more than happy with his ride after a brief break from the sport.
Novice + Route
Team Wales was out in strength in this class as Martyn Jones (Beta) dominated both days with a substantial winning margin after some excellent riding during the challenging first day in the mud as the rain came down. Jersey two day regular, Steve Kenny (Beta), revelled in the sunshine to fight back up the leader-board to take a well-earned eventual second position.
Novice Route
This class was full of surprises. On day one, the early leaders were Douglas Wright (Beta), John Philpot (Beta) and Steve Elliot (TRS). They had to make way for the charge of the eventual winner Jerry Glover (Gas Gas) who led home Robert Richards (Beta) and Geoff Van Katwyk (Sherco),
as John Philpot (Beta) rescued a fourth-place finish. Stewart Le Breton, Trials
Chairman: “On behalf of the Jersey Motor Cycle and Light
Car Club I would like to thank everyone who made the effort to cross the water and make this one of the best two-day events the club has run in more recent times. To see such top-class riders encouraging and supporting the other riders showed just how good the sport of motorcycle trials is, one to be enjoyed by all; we look forward to seeing you all again next year – thank you”.