THE THORPE EDITION
Glorious weather ensured all one hundred and twenty entrants to this year’s Highland Classic Two Day at the Alvie shooting estate near Aviemore fully enjoyed the experience. The event has been going nine years as a two day trial, and, benefited by the support of Classic Trial and Trial Magazine, it is now very much an event for twin-shock or the Pre-65 rider’s
diary. Oversubscribed with no reserve list it now pays to enter early as it is still a first-come, first-served affair. No queues were experienced at the sections due to riders being able to start at either section one or seven which
had two observers in place to ensure a smooth flow of action around the estate.
Afeature of the trial is the short opening speeches just prior to the first day start. This year named ‘The Thorpe Edition’ in homage and celebration of the trial’s Guest of Honour, Dave Thorpe, Inverness & District Club Chairman, Malcolm Smith and pressman, John Moffat, introduced the three Spanish riders; Javier Cruz, Juan-Pablo Moll and Luis Munoz with sole German, Kurt-Partick Beckmann prior to the address, Moffat introducing Dave Thorpe as ‘the rider to win the first World Championship round 39 years ago at The Hurst Cup in Ireland’.
Trials friendly Alvie Estate owner and Laird, Jamie Williamson, then warmly greeted all the riders and explained how the estate welcomes Inverness trials as it compliments the estates’ activities.
The club showed it’s appreciation by presenting Jamie with a nice bottle of malt whisky. Having ridden the previous year, Thorpe brought his Triumph Cub and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. He was best Unit Construction on the A route losing just six marks over the two days.
Rich Mixture
The sections were a mixture of stream-bed and rocky climbs with two routes per section in an attempt to suit both the older heavyweight machines and the more nimble twin-shocks.
A nice run out over the heights of Alvie which amounted to a lap of around six miles covered twice each day with eighteen sections per lap, giving a total of seventy two sections.
A brand new moorland loop was used high on the estate with commanding views over to the Cairngorm Mountains which several riders took a breather to savour in the summer sunshine. It was good to see event supporter John Hulme make the long climb with his Nikon camera.
Several class awards were up for grabs to ensure that the competition side of the ‘Friendliest Classic Trial in Scotland’ was maintained. There was a variation of both route and sections on the second day; the route only shortened by half a mile.
Overnight rain ensured that riders had to keep on their game as some of the rocks provided less grip than the first day.
Last year’s Guest of Honour, Yrjo Vesterinen, came back for more Highland action and rode his 272cc Bultaco Sherpa into seventh slot on six marks. Vesty’s machine, albeit much modified, is still very much a twin-shock in spirit. His daughter Hanna rode a very smart little 125cc Bultaco Sherpa, specially restored and prepared for her by Vesty himself. The other female rider was Janice Proctor on her Yamaha 175cc.
Worthy Winners
The hotly contested A Class route saw Cumbrian Stephen Dixon on a 175cc Whitehawk Yamaha take top honours having ridden clean all weekend. His machine was standard except for the cylinder barrel which had been ported by Nigel Birkett.
Fellow Cumbrian Nick Shield was runner-up losing two marks on his 340cc Bultaco, having beaten Dalmellington’s Chris Moiser into third place as the trial regulations stated that ties were settled by the older competitor winning through. The pre-Unit class on the B route was won by Huddersfield’s Chris Haigh on his 350cc Velocette MAC losing only two marks. Chris has ridden the event five times previously. Local Inverness & District rider Alan Gordon picked up the Best Two-Stroke award on his 250cc James and Best Pre-1977 twin-shock fell to Andy Hipwell on his Yamaha TY 175cc losing thirteen marks.
Former Scottish Champion Neil Dawson riding Willie Stewart’s Villiers powered 250cc Sprite took top honours in the Pre-65 A route losing five marks.
Best youth was Melville Clubman Stuart Mack riding a borrowed Fantic losing twenty nine marks. Having lent his second-string SWM to Spaniard Juan-Pablo Moll, Ross Thomson from Edinburgh on his 240cc SWM dropped seventeen marks taking the award for Best B route twin-shock. Ross has ridden every Highland Classic and just loves the event.
Gary Hawkins on his BSA B40 was victorious in the B route Unit class losing eight marks for his weekend.
A special meal was held on the Saturday evening at Cawdor to thank Dave Thorpe and his wife Carol for their patronage, culminating in Dave handing out the silverware at the trial finale on the Sunday.
As Classic Trial Magazine went to press they heard that planning for the 2015 Highland Classic event on 13th /14th June is already underway, so you had best pencil those dates in now, we have!