AFTER an absence of four months, the Isle of Wight Motorcycle Club held its first trial event of the season.
Round one of the Pat Death Summer Series, held at Newbarn Farm, Calbourne, was packed with the usual thrills and spills.
The venue, used by the club for the second time this year, featured six technical sections to test the riders' skills — post lockdown.
The event attracted 29 riders in warm, dry and sunny conditions.
Rob Howard was the solo rider on the A route, in the expert class. He completed his five laps, dropping a measly marks.
Section 5 proved to be the trickiest, where Rob dropped two of his five marks, but as the afternoon progressed, he went on to make light work of the section, clearing it three times consecutively.
There were six riders battling it out for top spot in the intermediate class, but it was experienced rider, Mark Coombes, who took first place with a score of just two points dropped —and impressive performance, which was the lowest score of the day — riding the B route.
Ben Brodie had an excellent ride on board his TRS machine to finish second on six marks, while Scout Gregory came third place on 16, after missing gates on sections three and six, which cost him ten marks.
In the over-50 class, alsi on the B route, Andy Scott-Jackson had a very good ride, claiming first place with a score of ten.
Stuart Gummer was hot on his heels with 12.
It will surely be a close battle for the championship between the two riders on that evidence, said trials organisers.
In the clubman class, riding a 50-50 split of both B and C route sections, Scott Milton rode his four-stroke machine to win — dropping just six marks.
John Coombes was hot on Scott's heels in second, dropping just eight, while Phil Chase dropped an unusually high 27 marks to come third.
Two riders competed in the novice class, which followed the C route.
Joe Taylor took first place with a score of 45, and Tristan Osborne finished second on 57.
Solo twin-shock rider, Nick Symes, made light work of the C route, dropping just ten marks on board his Honda — a score low enough to encourage him to move up to the clubman class.
Mike True and Sam Jurich followed the D route in the adult easy section.
Mike took the honours, losing just nine marks, while Sam finished on 16.
In the sportsman class, riding a mixture of C and D route sections, Steve Chase placed a low score of 11 to win comfortably.
The club has some very promising youth riders — three of which competed in the youth expert class.
Josh Morris had a superb ride, posting the second lowest score of the day to win with a miserly three markls dropped.
Alfie Haydon came second on board his brand new Beta machine, dropping just 13, ahead of Dan Locke, third, on 19.
Alfie Gaskin was the solo rider in the youth intermediate Class, riding a 50-50 split of both B and C route sections.
He posted a respectable 41 — looking comfortable on his GasGas.
Two riders competed in the youth easy class, taking the D route.
Freddie Death is looking more and more confident on his TRS, finishing first in the youth easy class after dropping just 18 marks on the D route — 45 marks clear of his nearest challenger.
Rider, Scout Gregory, said: "The return to trials has, without doubt, been a long and laborious period."
- The club's next trial will be at Godshill Park Farm on Sunday, starting at noon. Entries are open online until 8pm this coming Saturday via www.iowmcc.co.uk
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