SHOULD I STAY,OR SHOULD I GO?
Twelve months ago the emerging off-road talent of Billy Bolt was very much on the Trial Magazine radar. I had personally witnessed Billy move through the youth system in trials before he moved into the adult sector. The problem was his frustration from a string of poor results, which has been reflected in his riding. Due to the problems at the Spanish Ossa brand his WTC year in 2015 would be rescued by Scorpa and Nigel Birkett. Small injuries interrupted the progress, as did his confidence, with the run of poor results continuing. The constant question in his mind was ‘Should I stay or should I go?’ Young or old you will all remember this song by the Clash. Billy’s head was in the same state as the lyrics to the record; it was decision time.
My 2015 season had a lot of ups and downs even though I had trained harder than ever in the winter and the Ossa I had underneath me at the start of the year was amazing. Unfortunately mid-season Ossa production stopped, making support at events almost impossible. Thankfully Scorpa came in with a lifeline, and I would like to say a huge thank you to them for providing support at the WTC which allowed me to continue to work closely with Nigel Birkett. It was a frustrating year, with some flashes of brilliance with BTC and WTC podiums but by the end of the year my head wasn’t in a good place. I would like to thank Nigel and June for sticking by me through a tough year and understanding the decision I took to start Enduro. We still have a very good relationship and the lessons I have learned from ‘Birks’ are priceless — Thank you.
To tell you the truth it is something that had been burning slightly at the back of my mind for a number of years.
Julian made contact with me at the midway stage of the 2015 season. I told him I was committed to finishing my trials commitments but I was very interested and would contact him at the end of the year. I got back in touch with him after the Scott Trial and we went from there.
Ha ha. I think lost isn’t quite accurate. I knew exactly where I was, but unable to go anywhere, so I think it would be classed as ‘stuck’. The incident you are referring to happened in the afternoon of the first off-road day. I made a small mistake on a fallen log which was placed across a mountain fire road and found myself about 10 feet down from the track in very deep shale. As I attempted to traverse back to the track the stones underneath me just