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 A very busy weekend for Team JST GAS GAS UK.
The first event was the superbly organised REETH 3 DAY TRIAL organised by the Richmond Motor Club... DAN THORPE (JSTGG) just missed out on the win after a couple of slack '5s' allowing Ben Hemo to win. Dan was dissapointed but is really happy with his new 2009 model PRO300. He commented that the bike feels even lighter than his 08 but more stable... Our chief spannerman here at the GGHQ 'FACTORY KEV' (left) won the very competitive clubman class on his awesome PRO225. He had a very good second day on Saturday which gave him a good lead going into the last day. He kept his cool on Sunday and got the WIN...Welldone! The British Experts Trial which was organised by Graham Jarvis in conjunction with Dirt Bike Trax on Saturday was won by Dougie Lampkin with Browny second and Dabil 3rd. Shaun Morris was the best GGUK rider finishing 4th. Some of the sections had some fearsome 'drop-offs' which affected the blood in Shauns injured eye which affected his vision. Shaun decided not to ride the next days Super Trial near Oxford. Sam Haslam (JSTGG) was 5th only 4 marks behind Shaun. Ross Danby was a fighting 6th. The North Berks Club organised 'Super Trial' near Oxford on Sunday was AWESOME! Stuart Robinson and crew put on a fantastic event at the Seymours Arena venue with a different format consisting of two qualifying laps and then a super final with best 4 riders from the two qualifying heats. Browny won the event and is simply 'onfire' at the moment with Dibs 2nd. Alexz Wigg was 3rd and was good to see he has recovered well after his knee operation. Jack Challoner was 4th and impressed me on the 125. Best GGUK rider was Sam Haslam in 5th place who failed to qualify for the final which was dissapointing. Ross Danby was 6th having a nightmare first heat but recovered well in the second heat but unfortuately the damage had been done in the first heat. It was a pity Shaun Morris was not there to compete with Browny and Dibs on the ultra grippy technical sections. I hope the swelling in his eye goes down before this coming weekend at the next round of the BTC at Pateley Bridge. Over the water at the Womens and Youth European Round BECKY COOK (JSTGG) was second in the Womens Class behind winner Laia Sanz with Iris Kramer 3rd. Emma Bristow (JSTGG) was 6th. In the Youth 125cc Class, the newly crowned A Class British Youth Champion BEN MORPHETT (JSTGG) was 3rd and in the Youth International Class Chris Short (JSTGG) was 4th, George Gosdon (JSTGG) 11th and Chris Stay (JSTGG) was 21st. Congrats to all... Shirty
2008 British A Class Trials Champion! Well done from all Gas Gas Motos Ltd Ben Morphett clinched the A Class British Trials Championship yesterday at Merhyr Tydfil where he finished 2nd on the day to Jonathan Richardson. Ben has won this Championship with one round remaining. This achievement is special because Ben is only 15 years old and has gone into the A Class Championship early with permission from the ACU. He now still has two mores years in A Class with 2009 being his first proper year. Pic thanks to Trial Mag. Regards Shirty
Shaun Morris (Team JST GG) finished second at yesterdays British Trials Championship Round 4 which was superbly organised by Anthony Rew and the West Of England Motor Club at 'Kellys Farm' near Exeter. With superb weather on the Saturday afternoon practice lap, it looked like the Trial would be on the easy side but with Anthony expecting showers for Sunday he left the sections as originally planned. His gamble paid off and we did have a fairly dull day with a few showers making the sections quite 'grezzy' at the end of the first lap and beginning of the second lap which made the sections perfect for the weather. Shaun lead after the first lap and was in confident form as he loves the venue and has won for the past two years. Even a soft '5' on the second section didnt worry him early on. He continued his form through the slippery second lap and equalled his first lap score of 14 to put him on 28 marks and now trailing Graham Jarvis by one mark after Grahams awesome second lap of 10. Going into the last lap the pressure was definately on and also all the riders were getting tired so it was going to go down to the wire. Shaun started the last lap very well until he got to section 7 which he 'fived' after trying a new (easier!) line. He kept his cool well as he knew graham had fived section 4 so it was still close. Shaun then had a 'scratty' three on the next which rattled him and i think he took this into section 9 where he had a very soft '5' which cost him the win. Graham kept his cool and beat Shaun by 2 marks at the finish. I was more than happy with Shaun yesterday because he gave 100% and only lost the win due to the pressure and maybe a bit of fitness. As i said all the riders were 'dead' on the last lap and fair play to Graham who is the oldest Champ rider by far but maybe his experience helped him under the pressure... Micheal Brown had a good first lap but three '5s' on the second lap spoilt his chances to challenge for the win. Micheal finished a comforable 3rd. Browny still leads the Championship but now only by 2 points from Graham who has won the last two rounds. Shaun is a very comfortable 3rd, eight points behind Graham. Wiggy had a good day in 4th with the Team JST GG riders Ross Danby and Sam Haslam finishing 5th and 6th respectively. Ross yet again started well but finished with a bad last lap maybe down to fitness and running out of time. Nevertheless he beat Sam 'again' and now is only one point behind his team mate in the Championship in 6th place. Sam Haslam had a disappointing day in 6th place and to be honest needs a polite 'kick up the ass' because he made some bad mistakes yesterday with a terrible last lap which was also possibly down to fitness. The conditions yesterday were perfectly suited to the Gassers because the sections were very physical with a lot of trick riding and positioning involved. We have the lightest bike by far so theres no excuses really.... Shaun, Sam and Ross now have three WTC events on the bounce over the next three consecutive weekends so i hope these hard events will improve their fitness. In the Expert Class Joe Baker won again with a convincing win. Dan Thorpe (JSTGG) was 2nd which was a good day for Dan beating young Jack Challoner and 'on form' James Fry. Dan is now a fairly solid 3rd in the Championship. Liam Walker (JSTGG) was 5th and is now 5th in the Championship, two point ahead of Ben Hemo. In the Youth Class i think the 'Best GG Rider of the day award' goes to 14 year old Ben Morphett who won his Class and also would have been 6th in the Expert Class! Ben is certainly onfire at the moment after winning the last three rounds of the A Class BTC series and now this win yesterday which is probably the best result of his career to date. WELL DONE! Things bode well for the "09 PRO125 with the raga frame... Congrats to Graham Jarvis and Sherco for the Champ win. Congrats to Joe Baker and Scorpa for the Expert win Thanks to TRIAL MAG for the pic of Shaun. Regards Shirty. Ben Morphett's third consecutive win in this years A Class British Youth Championship Results Yesterday No.1 Youth JST GAS GAS UK rider Ben Morphett took his third consecutive win in this years A Class British Youth Championship organised by the Cheadle Auto Club at Ipstones in Staffordshire. The weather was superb which made the sections on the relatively easy side for the top riders making it a very 'nervey' Trial. Jonathan Richardson had a narrow lead after the first lap on 3 marks, one ahead of Ben and Joshua Sprintall on 4 apiece. Ive said before that one of Bens biggest strengths is his 'coolness' and he kept his head on the second lap for a further 4 marks dropped whereas JR had two '5s' on sections 10 and 11. Section 10 was quite hard and a maximum attack on full revs was needed to clear the awkward jumble of rocks. Ben was simply awesome on this section and had three easy cleans where his bike sounded fantastic on full attack mode. Section 11 was very tricky and virtually impossible to clean especially with the 'stop for a one' rule (daft!) and 'to the book' observing. JR was brilliant to clean this on his last lap. I wish the A+B Class, as do probably all the youth riders were using FIM rules......! With JR having a nightmare second lap even his 'clean' last lap was not enough to beat Morph who kept his cool all day to get the deserved win on 11 marks with JR second on 14. Ben now leads the Championship by 16 points from Jack Sheppard who had a bad day finishing 8th. Ricky Wiggins on the RCM GAS GAS was 6th and is now 9th in Championship. Ricky has missed the last two rounds due to knee ligament damage and is waiting for a knee operation soon. This win for Ben was also a debut win for his new RAGA special. Ben has just had a new RAGA250 which his dad Phil has converted to a 125 and it really does perform well. Phil has simply fitted a 125cc crank, cylinder and piston to complete this special bike. The new "08 RAGA Replicas are not available in 125cc but will be available as a 2009 'PRO125 RACING' model which will be available later this year with the new frame and added 'bling'. The standard 2009 PRO125 will also have the new tubular frame but not all the added 'bling' to keep the price reasonable. Richard Sadler won the B Class again and the best GAS GAS rider was George Gosdon from the Isle of Wight on his JST GG in 4th place. George was actually leading after the first lap on 2 marks! However two '5s' on section 10 spoilt his chances for second place and had to settle for 4th. Still a VERY good result for George though... Chris Short (JSTGG) was 7th which he wont be happy with and Chris Stay (JSTGG) was 9th.. The C+D Championship round that was on Saturday up near Richmond was dominated by GAS GAS riders winning all 3 Classes. James Stones won the C Class, Samuel Yoemans won the Medium wheel D Class on his Kelcoat Gas Gas and Toby Martin won the Small wheel Ds on his RCM Gas Gas. WELL DONE TO ALL! Shirty Ben Morphett (Team JST GGUK) has just won Rounds 3 and 4 of the British A Class Trials Championship! Reports by Team Morph... The fourth round of the Youth British Trials Championship was held by the Emra Motorcycle Club on May 4th at the well known Bracken rocks venue. The top A class spot went to JST GASGASUK rider Ben Morphett after some fantastic riding ending the day on 16 with the next nearest rider Jack Sheppard ending up on 27 and Jonathan Richardson finishing third on 31. We are really happy with this result as we are finally showing some good form and it is bens first win of this season this year and it has boosted him to only 1 point off of the lead in the Championship behind Jack Sheppard. Round five of the Youth British Trials Championship went down to the Isle of White last Sunday May 18th. Again top place spot went to JST GASGASUK rider Ben Morphett on only 8 marks lost. Second place went to Jonny Walker on 13 then 3rd place was Jack Sheppard on 15. After the first lap Ben had a 3 point lead over Jonny with the scores being 4 and 7 then on the second lap Ben put in another lap of 4 with Jonny putting a good lap of just 1 so on the last lap Ben knew he had to do something special and went round absolutely clean on the last circuit to Jonny Walkers 5 what secured the win yet again! This second win of the series has now given Ben a 4 point lead over Jack Sheppard in the Championship standings. In the Bs, 3rd place went to IOW resident Chris Stay (JSTGG) and Chris Short and George Gosdon were 5th and 7th respectively....both JST GG Teamsters... GAS GAS 1st and 2nd for the GG Girls! Becky Cook (Team JST GGUK) has just won the 2nd Round of the Womens British Trials Championship organised by the Lincoln M.C.C. Emma Bristow (Team JST GGUK) was second to make it a GG 1,2 for the GG girls.... Emma will now prepair for next weeks Scottish Six Days Trial where she will compete for her for first time. Katy Sunter (Team JST GGUK) who finished 4th yesterday will be riding the Scottish again is really looking forward to riding some more traditional type of sections. Results Well done to all yesterday and all the best for the SSDT. Shirty
Shaun Morris (Team JSTGGUK) was 3rd again at yesterdays second round of the British Trials Championship organised by the Neath Motor Club at Aberdulais near Neath in South Wales and it didnt rain!! The severity and quality of the sections was overall good with maybe the length of the lap a slight issue. All of the Champ Class riders struggled with the first lap time limit and some had to ask for 5s in the last few sections... Micheal Brown won again and is certainly riding well at the moment and is obvious that he has worked hard through the winter. Congrats to him and Beta. Graham Jarvis improved from last weeks 4th place and finished 2nd. Both Graham and Shaun now have 30 points after the first two rounds and are joint second in the Championship. Browny has two wins so has 40 points, 10 clear...oh dear! Shaun is still off the pace to win a BTC round at the moment and we will see if the new RAGA bike brings him some enthusiasm after the Scottish Six Days Trial. Shaun was getting frustrated at times yesterday because he knows he can ride so much better.. Wiggy was 4th, beating Sam Haslam (JSTGGUK) into 5th. I think these two will have a season long battle together with only one point seperating them after two rounds. Ross Danby (JSTGGUK) improved two places from last weeks result and finished 6th. Ross is really making the PRO250 work now and im impressed with his determination at these first two BTC Rounds. This means we had 3 GG riders in the Top 6 so i was happy with that.... In the Expert Class Joe Baker won easily from Jack Challoner and Dan Thorpe (JSTGGUK) was better this week and finished 3rd. Liam Walker (JSTGGUK) had a nightmare and finished 9th ! Congrats to Joe and Scorpa. Jonathan Richardson won the Youth Class with JSTGGUK Teamster Ben Morphett off the pace finishing 4th. Next event for Sam and Ross is this coming weekend at WTC3 in the USA and Thorpey and co. will be at NOVOGAR5 at the Victory National in Mid Wales. Regards Shirty For full results checkout www.trialscentral.com BTC Round 1 Team JSTGGUK release Shaun Morris (Team JSTGGUK) is slowly returning to form with a 'confidence boosting' 3rd place at yesterdays 1st Round of the British Trials Championship. As always the event at Kinlochleven was superbly organised but with the sections being very technical and a bit too long for the allowed 1.5 minute time limit the event proved to be very high scoring. Even with the sections being tough, not one section was dangerous or unrideable so on the whole i personally think the Lochaber club did a very good job. Maybe in these circumstances giving the riders 2 minutes per section would have been easier than chamging the sections? But then the overall time limit is then affected etc... Anyway back to the GG boys... Shaun rode at the front of the entry (as normal) and had a 'shakey' start with running out of time on a few sections and a few 'dumb' mistakes. I was pleased to see he stayed positive and although tiring on the last lap he actually had his best lap with 21 marks lost. With this confidence boosting ride i think Shaun will go to Wales this weekend with a better frame of mind. Also when he is 'armed' with the new RAGA bike at Round 3 after the Scottish i'm confident we will see Shaun back where he was before his accident. Sam Haslam (JSTGGUK) had another good ride to follow on from his excellent weekend in Ireland and finished 5th some 17 marks infront of Alexz Wigg. (Alexz simply had a bad day obviously because i thrashed him at pool in the pub on Saturday night!) Sam rode with his head realising the time was tight and went for '3s' on the first lap to assess how the sections rode. In fact he had the least '5s' on the first lap than anyone with only fiving two sections... Sam is riding very well at the moment but still makes some 'lazy' mistakes where abit more aggression is needed. Ross Danby (JSTGGUK) finished 8th in his first Championship Class BTC, only 3 marks off 6th! In was certainly 'in at the deep end' for Ross with a VERY tough event losing 150 marks! Ross needs to treat this first year in the main class as a learning year where he will realise that the step up from the Expert Class is massive. Craig Robinson (JSTGGUK) was 13th also is his first Champ Class BTC and struggled but yet enjoyed the harder sections. Craig certainly has the technique for the 'big sections' and i think with a more accurate trick riding / lining up and less 'pi**ing' about his results will improve. I expect Craig to improve ALOT this year and will suprise a few people as the season progresses. As for the Expert Class i'm a bit dissapointed with the Gasser Boys. Liam Walker was the best JSTGGUK rider in 4th taking the step down from the Championship Class this year. Dan Thorpe was 5th who struggled with the very technical sections. We all know Dan is AWESOME in the more tradional sections and im sure he'll improve this weekend in sunny Wales. The Youth Class was won by Jonny Walker with the JSTGGUK A Class Ben Morphett rider battling on finishing 4th. CONGRATULATIONS to Michael Brown who won the Champ Class with an awesome last lap and also to Jack Challoner who won the the Expert Class on a 125! Cheers Shirty For full results checkout www.trialscentral.com Raga wins WTC2 in Ireland ADAM RAGA (Factory GG) aboard his new 'RAGA 300cc' has just won the 2nd Round of the World Outdoor Trials Championship in Bangor, N.Ireland! He beat Toni Bou by 2 marks in yet another close fight between these two superb riders. After the first two rounds Adam and Toni are level on points in what looks set to be a championship that will be a long hard fight. Marc Frexia (Team Non stop GG) was 7th again just missing out on 6th with Dougie in a most cleans tie break. Shaun Morris battled on and had a 'slightly improved' result from last weekend and finished 12th. Shaun has had two real hard weekends at the first two WTC Rounds struggling to get back to the level he was at before his accident which will take time and he just needs to keep plugging away with a 'positive attitude'. He is now looking forward to the first BTC Round this coming weekend... Without doubt the star of the JST GGUK Team this weekend was Sam Haslam. After a slightly disappointing result in Luxembourg Sam finished 3rd on Saturday which was the first round of the European Championship beating is ex GG Teamster Alexz Wigg who simply had an 'off day'. Sam was determined to perform and struggled with 'arm pump' on the last lap but still managed to get on that all important podium behind winner Micheal Brown and Italian veteran Fabio 'nearly as old as me' Lenzi ! Sam still wasnt happy and admitted to a few daft mistakes which costed him 2nd. Sunday in the Junior WTC Class he went one better and finished 2nd, this time behind the winner (Wiggy) and deserved to stand on the slightly higher podium for P2. This was a fantastic weekend for Sam who showed consistancy over the two days and i was impressed with his general attitude to the weekend. Well done mate! Ross Danby (Team JST GGUK) had a good ride yesterday finishing 7th again in the Junior WTC Class, the same position he finished at last weekends opening round in Luxembourg. Ross had a nightmare of a day on Saturday finishing 11th in the Euro round but im pleased that he knuckled down and improved for Sundays WTC. Also well done to Jack Challoner who won the Youth Class...the best GG rider was Francesc Moret (JT GG) who was 3rd. FOR FULL RESULTS CHECKOUT www.trialscentral.com Next Event for the lads is this coming weekend at the first round of the British Championship at Kinlochleven which is usually a mega event. See you there! Cheers Shirty Team JST GGUK had mixed results at the weekend in Luxembourg at the first Womens and Mens WTC. Saturday was a fantastic day for the GG Girls with a very strong 2nd place for Becky Cook who convincingly beat the World Champion Iris Karmer by 17 marks. Laia Sainz won the event who rode well but was certainly a little worried about the very focused Becky Cook. Emma Bristow (JST GGUK) also had an excellent ride finishing 6th place behind two more Brits Maria Conway 4th and Donna Fox 5th. Sasha Turkington finished 8th with a 'mega' 2nd lap which showed a gutsy performance expecially after blitzing the 'big step' on section 12 (i think?) both laps! Katy Sunter (JST GGUK) struggled in 14th where the conditions didn't suit her more traditional riding style. Nevertheless 6 x Brits in points and 4 of them JSTGG girls so WELL DONE to all ! Sunday was the 1st Round of World Trials Championship for the men and in the main Class ADAM RAGA (Factory GG) had a very good day finishing 2nd to Toni Bou who only just beat Adam by one mark! Adam looked very good on his new 'Raga bike' which performed VERY well outdoors. Marc Freixa (Nonstop GG) finished 7th. Team JSTGGUK No.1 rider Shaun Morris had a day that was expected (from me) to be honest. At this Top level having an injury that put Shaun out of action for 5 months is hard to come back from and with just the one event (The Cleveland) to get himself ready for the first round of the WTC is not ideal. Nevertheless Shaun did his best and where he struggled on the opening lap with the slippery conditions,he showed flashes of his former self on the drying second lap which pleased and encouraged me. I think after the 2nd Round this Weekend in Ireland we will see a fastly improved Shaun Morris for the1st Round of the BTC in two weeks time. Shaun just needs to stay 'positive' and im confident his level and condfidence will return. I'm also personally pleased to see Dougie having a good solid ride finishing 4th. In the Junior Class Alexz Wigg won easily so a 'genuine' conratulations you to mate! The Team JST GG Team mates Sam haslam and Ross Danby were 6th and 7th respectively which wasnt what i expected from Sam. He had a few 'observers decisions' that went against him and where most riders second lap scores improved Sams didnt which was a little disappointing. Expect a better result from Sam this weekend in Ireland. Ross was 7th in his first Junior Class WTC event which was very good. The Youth Class was won by Team Jordi Tarres GAS GAS rider Francesc Moret who beat Jack Challoner by one mark. Cheers Shirty Championship Results 1. Toni Bou - 43 2. Adam Raga - 44 3. Takahisa Fujinami - 53 4. Dougie Lampkin - 57 5. Albert Cabestany - 59 6. Jeroni Fajardo - 78 7. Marc Freixa - 82 8. James Dabill - 101 9. Michael Brown - 105 (5 cleans) 10. Daniel Oliveras - 105 (4 cleans) 11. Jerome Bethune - 108 12. Daniele Maurino - 111 13. Jordi Pascuet - 116 14. Shaun Morris - 126 15. Carsten Stranghoner - 138 Junior Championship 1. Alexz Wigg - 29 2. Alfredo Gomez - 39 3. Matteo Grattarola - 40 (16 cleans) 4. Jochen Schafer - 40 (14 cleans) 5. Loris Gubian - 41 6. Sam Halsam - 49 7. Ross Danby - 52 8. Emil Gyllenhammar - 70 (9 cleans) 9. Lee Sampson - 70 (7 cleans) 10. Guillaume Laniel - 74 (10 cleans) 11. Alexis Cervantes - 74 (9 cleans) 12. David Millan - 4 (5 cleans) 13. Laia Sanz - 78 14. Julien Arnaud - 85 15. Fredrik Johansson - 86 Youth Championship 1. Francesc Moret - 52 2. Jack Challoner - 53 3. Patrick Smage - 55 4. Adrian Pastoriza - 64 5. Pau Botella - 66 6. Tanguy Mottin - 68 7. Benoit Dagnicourt - 71 8. Alexandre Ferrer - 72 9. Maxime Warenghein - 75 10. Pere Borrellas - 80 11. Jonathan Richardson - 82 12. Adam Jones - 84 13. Jake Whitaker - 86 (6 cleans, 4 x 1) 14. Francesc Ciurana - 86 (6 cleans 3 x 1) 15. Simone Staltari - 8 Novogar Championship Ross Danby won the first two rounds of the Novogar Championship and was all set for a 3rd win at the Chris Carter Trial on Sunday but it was unfortunatley cancelled due to the snow which fell early Sunday morning. Round 4 was the ever popular LOMAX Trial on Easter Monday which was won by James Fry. Dan Thorpe (JST GGUK) won the Expert Class but lost out on a four way tie break for the overall win with James, Gary Jenkins and Chris Pearson. Ross Danby did not compete the Lomax because he had some 'PR' work to do for a sponsor and also get ready fotr his trip to the 1st round of the WTC this coming weekend in Luxembourg. The Novogar Championship is not Ross' priority this year and whereas it was nice for him to lead the Championship after the first two rounds with two wins he cannot compete all the rounds due to clashing with the WTC etc. Regards Shirty 2008 European Trials Championship for the Ladies and Youth Sunday was the 1st Round of the 2008 European Trials Championship for the Ladies and Youth. With four Classes and three routes it can get quite confusing.... Our No.1 JST GGUK Youth Rider Ben Morphett had an 'off day' and only managed 8th place in the main Youth 125 Class which ride the 'red route'. Ben was disappointed and judging by the results a few too may 'fives' spoilt his day. Chris Short (JST GGUK) was 4th in the 'International Class' which ride the 'blue route' and young Jack Stones (JST GGUK) finished 21st in his first International event. Becky Cook (JST GGUK) was 3rd in the main Ladies Class only one mark behind World Champion Iris Kramer. Laia Sainz won the event with no marks lost. Becky is now 'well fired up' for this weekends first round of the Ladies World Championship in Luxembourg. Emma Bristow had a mega ride finishing 6th, only one mark off 4th so well done Emma! Little Sasha Turk (JST GGUK) was 11th enjoying herself back in International competition after all her injuries... This main Ladies class ride the Blue route which is the same as the guys International Class. Emma Morphett (GG) finished 8th in the Ladies International Class which ride the 'green route'. Cheers Shirty Shaun Morris has just finished 3rd at The Cleveland Shaun Morris (Team JST GGUK) has just finished 3rd at The Cleveland National behind winner Graham Jarvis and runner up Micheal Brown. Although quite a few marks behind Graham and Micheal he was quite happy considering it was only his second event in nearly 6 months...His eye is improving slowly now and couldn't really blame his vision for his marks. Most of his marks were 'slack' because he's been out of action for so long and also not used to the 'stop for a one' rule which can make you rush sections and make you ride very nervously. Nevertheless Shaun was beaten fair and square by the British No.1 and No.3 and now looks forward to the first two World Rounds which will get him ready for the first British Champ Round on the 13th April. Shauns priority this year is the BTC and i think the first two WTCs will do him good... Cheers Shirty
Team JST GAS GAS UK riders filled the podium AGAIN yesterday with this time Sam Haslam as the deserved winner of the infamous Bemrose Trophy Trial held near the GGHQ in Buxton. The Trial was spot on severity wise and took 12 marks off Sam including a '5' at the nearly impossible first section at Churnet. Dan Thorpe was 2nd on 17 and admitted to having a 'soft 5' at the last section at Churnet where he under estimated a grassy climb. Third went to the ever improving Ross Danby who i am very happy with so far this year riding with maturity around these 'nervy' Nationals. Buxton Boy Craig Robinson (JST GGUK) also had a superb ride finishing 5th, just missing out on 4th with a tie break with Shercos James Fry. I must congratulate Craig because his riding style does not suit the Bemrose sections and also 'home pressure' was on his shoulders so well done Craig...a good day! Other GG riders that filled the 'hard route' results included; Liam Walker 7th, Ben Wibberley 8th, John Shirt 11th, Dan Farrer 13th The next National is this coming weekend..... 'The Cleveland' where we will see No1 GGUK Rider Shaun Morris return to National competition.. cheers Shirty Clean sheet for JST GasGas' Dan Thorpe in the Colmore Cup Results Yesterday was the 2nd Round of the Novogar National Trials Championship and Team JST GAS GAS UK riders filled the podium with Multi National winner DAN THORPE taking the win with NO marks lost. Sam Haslam was 2nd on 2, Then Ross Danby 3rd on 4. With Dan and Sam not eligible for Novogar points this makes two wins from two starts for Ross Danby who seems to be getting used to his 250 after the 125 nicely and with the first WTC in Luxembourg only 3 weeks away things are looking good for Ross. Dan Thorpe was dissappointed after his 1st Round Wallace Cup Trial performance and has bounced back to form with this win so good on ya pal. It looks like the event was quite easy again judging by the marks lost but as i said last week there will always be a winner and it's very good for the concentration when its on the easy side. The Novogar Rounds are based on the Clubman so i think the 1st two rounds have been good. With Alexz Wigg and Alfredo Gomez being the two favourites for the Junior WTC Class this year and both moving to Montesa, the first WTC Round could be VERY interesting... Both Sam Haslam and Ross Danby could be dark horses as they have stayed on GG power and im confident that these two will be up there...Sam Haslam in particular has ridden well ever since he returned to GG at Hawkstone last year and the way he goes about his riding is very similar to Graham Jarvis....very quiet,focused and very effective. Its fair to say that the main WTC Class is going to be between Bou, Raga and Cabestany but i think the Junior Class could be very interesting this year... The next National is the Bemrose this coming weekend where i hope you three can repeat this podium domination and im not fussed which order!.....just please dont laugh at my score when you get the Bemrose results! Regards and well done! Shirty Ross Danby wins the Wallace Cup. Ross Danby (Team JST GAS GAS UK) has has just won the 1st Round of the Novogar National Trials Championship, The Wallace Cup Trial. He did in fact share this win with MRS Sherco rider James Fry who had the same score as Ross on only one mark on the same section so the premier is shared. From what I can gather the event was a battle of nerves for the top riders as the sections were slightly easier than normal. It doesn't matter how easy the Trial is there will always be a winner and WELL DONE to Ross for keeping his concentration. The next Novogar Round is the Colmore Cup Trial this coming weekend.... Regards Shirty Morph leads A class championship Report by John Shirt Sunday saw the second round of the Youth A+B British Trials Championship held at the famous Dob Park venue. The conditions were very slippery and most of the ground was covered with a thick sheet of ice. Top A class spot went to Jack Sheppard and GGUK No.1 Youth rider Ben Morphett (JST GASGAS UK) was 2nd. Ben rode smooth in these icy conditions and knows that to win the championship he must be consistant in every round. He has had now had two 2nd places which has put him leading the championship by just one point from Jack Sheppard with JR in third. GASGAS rider Ricky Wiggins was a disappointing 6th but I'm sure will improve as the season develops. In the B class top spot went to Richard Sadler with the best GAS GAS rider was Keelan Hancock who finished 6th. JST GGUK supported riders George Gosden, Chris Short and Chris Stay all struggled with the icy and slippy conditions. The third Round is held by the Otter Vale Club in Devon on March 16th. Shaun Morris has just signed for Team JST GAS GAS UK and is now our No.1 Team Rider. 'Still' recovering from his eye injury which happened over 10 weesk ago, he is more than keen to get back on bike and return to the level he was at before the accident which was saw him win the 'Hook Woods' round in awesome form. Shauns priority will be the British Trials Championship together with the Scottish Six Days Trial and other major UK events. He will also complete as many World Championship events as he can 'possibly' missing out Japan. Shaun now completes our Team for next year and im pleased to offer my support to the following riders.... We have a 3 man Team in the Top BTC Class with Shaun, Sam Haslam and Ross Danby. Then we have the ever reliable Multi National Winner Dan Thorpe who will aiming to win the Expert Class in the BTC. Steve Colley is still a big member of the Team and will be flying the GG flag at various Shows around the Country. Liam Walker, Craig Robinson and Dan Farrer will also be riding the BTC, SSDT and most other major UK events. In the Youth im proud to be supporting Ben Morphett who has had a fantastic year finishing 2nd in the A Class BTC behind Jack Challoner. Next year Ben will continue to improve and his professionalism and attitude for such a young lad is very impressive. Ricky Wiggins will also have support from both myself and the popular GG Dealer RCM who has helped Ricky for a while now. In the B Class we are supporting various riders including Chris Stay, George Gosden and young Jack Stones who will move up from C Class where he finished 2nd this year. In the ladies we will continue to support the current British No.1 and World No.3 Becky Cook together with Katy Sunter and Emma Bristow. We're also supporting Sasha Turkington who i hope will make make a welcome return to the BTC. On the Enduro side Wayne Braybrook will compete in the Extreme events and Lincoln 'podium' Brewster will ride again for the GG Dealer Kenny Belfield. Lincolns commitment to his sport is second to none and i would say that he is now one of the best '3 hours racers' in the country. I say this because he rides nearly every weekend and nearly always finishes on the Podium which proves his solid and determined race attitude and also thanks to KB Racing for the hours preparing his bike etc. Our involvement with www.worevents.com continues and I'm pleased to be sponsoring one of his race series for next year. Steve Ireland is also running Training days where you can go along and test the new "08 Gassers... So yet again we have a packed Team which I believe is important to keep GAS GAS at the forefront of competition. Both myself and all my Team riders have one goal for next year......TO WIN! Good Luck Team! Cheers Shirty
I am pleased to anounce that today 'Sam Haslam' has signed for Team JST GAS GAS UK. Sam will ride the Junior Class in the WTC and the main Class at BTC. He will also ride the SSDT and other major UK Nationals and events. He will ride a 'Factory Kev' prepared "08 PRO300. Sam returned to GG at the Hawkstone WTC back in July and has had a fantastic return to form over the past months with some fantastic results. Regards Shirty
Sant Fruitós de Bages, Barcelona, 11 November 2007.– Adam Raga (GAS GAS) has achieved the title of Spanish Trial Champion today after finishing in the second place at the Trial Valls del Montcau, in Sant Fruitós del Bages, the last round of the series. Although the GAS GAS rider was the first of his group to start the trial, he managed to keep his rivals’ performances under control at all times, finishing 15 points behind Toni Bou. This is the third Spanish outdoor trial title that Adam has won, after the ones he added in 2004 and 2005. Adam Raga actually added two Spanish national titles in the event, in the Open and Senior A classes, in both cases before Bou and Cabestany. “Today it was very difficult to try and open a gap because winning the title was the most important. I am happy because my performance was good and after all, I have managed to win one of the many duels we have had with Toni Bou all through the season. He has won the two World Championship duels, and now I have done so with the first of the two Spanish titles. The next aim is clearly the Spanish indoor title, but with the Indoor World Championhship that is starting in Russia on December 22 in sight,” comments Adam, back at the top of the rostrum. In the Juniors, a new win for Francesc Moret (Spea Tarrés GAS GAS), before Ciurana, Molina and Horrach, the two latter also with GG. A spectacular GG rider trio on the final rostrum of the Spanish Junior Championship, with Francesc Moret, Héctor Molina and Marc Horrach, which proves their domination during the year. In Senior B, the best GAS GAS was Víctor Ares’s, in the third place, although the rider from Madrid Alfredo Gómez was already the champion before this event. Spanish Trial Championship – 7th round standings 1 - Toni Bou (Montesa) 24 points 2 - Adam Raga (GAS GAS) 39 points 3 - Albert Cabestany (Sherco) 47 points 4 - Takahisa Fujinami (Montesa) 50 points 5 - Jeroni Fajardo (Beta) 50 points Final standings of the 2007 Spanish Trial Championship (Open points Senior A points) 1 - Adam Raga (GAS GAS) 131 points 131 points 2 - Toni Bou (Montesa) 128 points 128 points 3 - Albert Cabestany (Sherco) 99 points 105 points 4 - Marc Freixa (Scorpa) 76 points 85 points 5 - Jeroni Fajardo (Beta) 67 points 72 points For further information: GAS GAS Prensa - www.jas.es - Tel. +0034.93.885.22.56 GGT35/07 Wigg signs for Future Trial Racing Team and Sandiford Montesa for 2008 The Future Trial Racing Team and Sandiford Montesa are delighted to announce the recent signing of Alexz Wigg for the 2008 season. The seventeen year old, who has already won the World Youth title along with many other national and international championships, will campaign a specially prepared 300cc four stroke, similar to that successfully used by James Dabill throughout this year. Wigg will join his British counterpart in the highly professional and respected Italian based team, but will follow a slightly different competition schedule to that of Dabill. Alexz will compete in all rounds of the World Junior Championship, the entire European Championship, all rounds of the British domestic series, plus the Scottish six-day trial, the Scott, and other selected British and Italian Nationals. Having finished runner up in the World Junior series this year, at his first attempt on a 125 due to his age, Wigg is one of the favourites to lift the title in 2008, as well as being tipped as a strong contender on the home front in the forthcoming twelve months. Making full use of the team's new head quarters in Bergamo, Alexz, along with James will be based in Italy for most of the season. Here the young British duo will enjoy the full benefits of the squad's intensive testing and training programmes, which are recognised as the most comprehensive in the sport. Quirino Tironi, Team Manager of the Future Trial Racing Team, recently made a special trip to the UK to sign Wigg and was obviously delighted with his new addition to the squad. " Alexz is a great young rider, and someone who we have been watching for a while. We had hoped to sign him last year, but we respected his decision to stay loyal to Gas Gas. He has had a good year, but he is now ready to go the next level. We are confident he can win the World Junior title and that he can be a real threat both at European and British events. " Reinforcing Quirino's comments, Caroline Sandiford of Montesa UK added. " We are really excited about Alexz joining the team next year and to have him available to compete in the entire British championship, plus the SSDT and the Scott. Alexz is not only a good rider, but he is also a great ambassador, and has already proved himself on both counts despite his young age. I think with James and Alexz, we have two of the best young prospects in the UK, if not in the World. " Wigg offered his personal view regarding his pending switch of machinery. " I am obviously very excited about the opportunity that lies ahead, but equally it is a sad moment in saying goodbye to Gas Gas and John Shirt after nine fantastic years. We have always had great bikes, and the best back up in the UK. Unfortunately whilst I knew that John would continue to do the same for me next year, the factory's offer for the World stuff just didn't give me the same confidence. The Montesa deal will not only give me a new challenge, but it will give me the right package both in the UK and on the World stage. " Alexz will fulfill all his commitments as a Gas Gas rider for the remainder of 2007, a point John Shirt of Gas Gas UK knows he can be sure of. " Obviously to lose Alexz is a big loss for Gas Gas. He has been a loyal rider for nine years and he has achieved a lot so far in his career. Whereas I know Alexz loves the GG Pro, I have to admit he needs more help from the factory at World level and right now the GG factory cannot offer the level of support that he wants. TRW have offered a deal too good to turn down and he has decided to go for this opportunity. I am naturally 'gutted' to lose Alexz because I have done all I can for him in the UK. I do however wish him all the best for next year. " A Spokesman on behalf of the Gas Gas Factory in Spain commented " We are very sorry to loose Alexz because we considered him as one of the top riders in our team who would bring us more positive results over the coming years, however we wish him the best because he is not only a good rider, but also has a fantastic personality. Hopefully we all can meet again in the future. Saturday was the infamous Scott Trial where we had a good run of results.... Congratulations first must go to Dougie Lampkin who absolutley blitzed everyone with a fine win. For Team JST GG we had a good presence even with two of our best riders not taking part... Shaun Morris is still recovering after a bad eye injury and Steve Colley was doing a 'show' in the Isle Of Man. The best GG rider (again) was 37 year old Wayne Braybrook who (as normal) embarrassed his younger team mates with a 100% effort and finished 7th. The Scott is Waynes favourite event so you can be assured of maximum commitment. A quick wheel change because of a puncture over Grouse Moor slowed him down slightly but he battled on with a good observation score 64 and finished 7th at the end. At the finish Wayne was dead which proved his efforts. Considering Wayne has probably had only 10 hours on a bike since the SSDT back in May his result was excellent and just shows the level of 'effort' from this 'old school' rider... Dan Thorpe was the next best GG rider in 8th place with a very good observation score of 41 which was 4th best. Dan is not known for his speed around the Scott but nevertheless settled at his own pace and finished a respectable 8th place and yet another spoon. Alexz Wigg was the 'Best Newcomer' finishing 9th.(same as my first time!) He was 3rd best on observation, only one mark behind Jarvis. Alexz was more then ready for his first attempt at the Scott and his result was spoilt with 4 rear punctures! Ok, punctures are part of the Scott and alot of people suffered with them this year because of the dry and fast conditions but with Alexz not being the best mechanic in the world these definately slowed him down. Now that he has ridden the course i think next year we will see a faster, fitter Wiggy and hopefully a bit more 'luck'... Sam Haslam was 13th with both steady time and observation scores. Sam also suffered a puncture which he fixed and then later changed wheels as he didnt trust the 3 bungs that were needed to repair the slit in the tyre wall. Ross Danby, out on a brand new "08 PRO250 was loving the power after the 125 and finished 18th which was a respectable result in only his second Scott. I think after a few months on the 250 we'll see Ross mature into a top rider next year. Harold Crawford (GG) was 19th! at the grand old age of i think 21!! Harold was well pleased to beat Philip Alderson. Liam Walker collected another Scott spoon finishing 21st just infront of Buxton Boy Craig Robinson who impressed many with his effort on the day and just proved that all those hours practicing are starting to pay off. Craig finished a very respectable 22nd, welldone pal. And finally a massive Congratulations must go to KATY SUNTER who AGAIN finished the Scott inside the allowed time limit! Well done! Shirty WIGGY GETS ON THE BTC PODIUM!! Yesterday was the final round of the 2007 British Trials Championship and Team JST GG rider Alexz Wigg finished his BTC season with a fantastic 3rd place to jump onto the Top Championship Class podium for the first time! In fact after two laps he was in a relatively safe 2nd place some 16 marks in front of Michael Brown who had an awesome last lap to snatch 2nd position from Alexz who had a bad last lap. Nevertheless this was a fantasic day for Alexz and nice to finish the BTC season on the podium and a solid 4th overall in the Championship. With the Top 3 overall Championship positions for the year already settled before this last round and with the absence of Team JST GG rider Shaun Morris who was gutted not to be riding and gunning for his first BTC Title, the event was not the finish to the season that we had hoped but FULL MARKS to the Bradford Club for organising a superb Trial and for running it etc. Congrats again to Graham Jarvis and Sherco for winning the title. Steve Colley finished 4th with an excellent opening lap only 2 marks behind Graham and we did actually think he could win this !! But after three 'fives' in a row early on the second lap, his confidence (and interest) took a dive and Steve crashed around the last two laps to finish 4th at the end. This was also Steves last BTC event and it was nice for Steve after 19 years of BTC competition to be presented with an award from the ACU to acknowledge this achievement. It was also nice to hear some kind words from Dave Willoughby and Rhoda Rathmell who has helped Dave with the results this year. I have been Steves 'Minder' for a good few years now and i can honestly say it has been an honour to work with someone so professional and dedicated to the Sport of Trials. If any young rider is looking for a role model to look up to then Steve Colley has got to be that rider. Steve will continue to be an important member of our Team riding GAS GAS at various Shows around the UK and in Europe and will probably appear 'unexpected' at a few events next year...for fun! I wish him all the very best for the future and THANK him for his entertainment and skills he has brought to the British Trials scene. Gary Macdonald had a good day finishing in 5th place beating Sam Haslam (Team JST GG) who was disappointed at the finish but has still finished 5th overall in the Championship standings. Liam Walker (JSTGG) finished 9th. In the Expert Class, Joe Baker won the event and won the Championship for himself and Scorpa, so congrats to Joe, Dad and Birks ! JST GG Teamsters Ross Danby and Dan Thorpe were second and third respectively on the day and also finished in that order in the Championship. Look out because Ross has finished with the 125cc and has just took delivery of a new "08 PRO250 for the Scott Trial ! Yeeeehahh! Results Championship Final Standings Next event for the Team is the infamous Scott Trial on Saturday 20th October.... Awesome win for Morris by John Shirt jr Shaun Morris (Team JST GGUK) has just won the 7th and penultimate round of this years British Trials Championship! Both Shaun and James Dabil were in awesome form yesterday with both riders finishing on 10 marks each, with the tiebreak going to Shaun who won on 'most cleans'. Graham Jarvis was 3rd and still leads the Championship overall but now only by a slim 2 points going into the last round which is three weeks away. We are in for a fantastic battle at Skyrakes and obviously i hope Shaun comes out on top. Steve Colley last won the BTC for GAS GAS in 2004 so its about time we won it again please Shaun! The event yesterday was held by the Thames MCC at Jim Connors 'Hook Woods' venue and i must say i was very impressed with the venue and congrats to the club who got the sections 'spot-on' and lets hope we return next year... James Dabil was the leader after two laps riding with confidence but a mistake on section 5 on the last lap where he failed on one of the steps saw Shauns chance to win.....we knew that if Shaun went clean on the last lap then it would be close. Shaun was very focused and determined to stay clean and he did to finish on 10 marks total.....same as Dibs but two more cleans saw the win going to Shaun...MEGA! Graham was 3rd, Sam Connor 4th riding his local event and GG 'Showman' Steve Colley in 5th who had some brilliant (and entertaining!) rides together with some major mistakes which is quite normal for Steve nowadays... Browny had a disaster in 6th but secures his 3rd overall for the Championship. Team JST GG Teamsters Sam Haslam and Alexz Wigg finished 7th and 8th respectively with both riders making mistakes and having too many costly fives which was easy done to be fair. They are both improving well and i expect big things from both these riders next year. BIG effort through the Winter i think! Liam Walker(JSTGG) 'crashed' his way round and finished 11th.... In the Expert Class GAS GAS won again!! Ross Danby riding his PRO125 won with an awesome 'clean' last lap (same as Shaun!) to clinch the win from 'nearly Champion' Joe Baker. Joe now has a 12 point lead with one round to go which is a heathy 'cushion' but its not over 'til its over and you can be sure that Ross will do his best at Bradford to win again... Mika Vesty was 3rd, James Fry 4th and Dan Thorpe (JSTGG) a disappointing 5th. Dan is now pretty safe in 3rd in the Championship but can get 2nd if he thrashes Ross who is 7 points ahead. Jack Challoner won the Youth Class by a mssive 48 marks from JST GG Team Rider Ben Morphett who had a bad day but still finished 2nd. People forget that Ben is still only 14! Best Regards and roll the final round.....WINNER TAKES ALL !! Morris closes in on Jarvis by John Shirt jr Yesterday was the 6th Round of the British Trials Championship held by the Yeadon & Guisely club at a fantastic new venue 'Brimham Rocks' near Pateley Bridge. Championship leader Graham Jarvis had an 'off-day' finishing 4th behind Shaun Morris (JST GAS GAS). This now brings Grahams lead in the Championship points race down to 7 points with two rounds to go! Shaun rode very well and was certainly well on the pace and finished the event in awesome form recording the best lap of the Trial with only 3 marks lost... James Dabil won the event in his only BTC appearance of the year with Micheal Brown finishing 2nd. Sam Haslam, now back on a GG had his best BTC result ever with a superb 5th place equalling the score of Graham Jarvis, just missing out on the tie-break. Alexz Wigg was not happy with his own performance but still finished 6th and still holds 4th overall in the Championship race with two rounds to go. He has a 10 point 'cushion' over Sam Haslam in 5th. Im sure at the next Round held at 'Hook Woods' should be interesting because both these riders know the venue very well... Im confident we will see a 'more focused' Wiggy at the next round. No.1 JST GAS GAS rider Steve Colley finished a lowly 7th place with a very 'unconfident' day. Steve is struggling with his confidence at the moment due to a season full of injuries. The awesome rock slab at section 6 had his name written all over it where everyone would normally see Steve blitz sections like this with ease....instead three '5s' and 15 marks lost for Steve.... Liam Walker (JST GG) struggled on in 12th finishing with a very good last lap of 29 marks lost. Dan Thorpe (JST GG) WON the Expert Class with Ross Danby (JST GG) finishing 2nd on the screeeeeeaming 125 !! Welldone guys! These two Team mates beat Championship leader 'Boe Jaker' who finished 3rd. Thorpy has narrowed the points gap slightly and now trails Joe by 13 points and Ross is only 1 point behind Thorpey with two rounds to go!......it's not over yet!! Definately worth a mention goes to JST GG rider Craig 'Raga' Robinson who finally proved himself with a fantasic 5th place just missing out on 4th with a tie-break with Mika Vesty. Dan Farrer (JST GG) had a disappointing day finishing 14th but ended the day with a very good last lap. Jack Challoner won the Youth Class with JST GG Team mates Ben Morphet and Jonathan Richardson finishing 2nd and 4th respectively. For full results checkout www.trialscentral.com and TMX on Friday...
Despite the best efforts of the British weather the 2007 TMX Grand Prix Great Britain at Hawkstone Park took place against a backdrop of sunshine and blue skies, and proved an event worthy of its 'third and final home coming' tag. Several thousand hardcore fans ignored the weather forecasters and braved the Shropshire hillside to witness what may be the last ever World trial at this famous venue. Their bravery was rewarded richly with two days of fantastic action, which was capped by British rider Michael Brown taking the World Junior title in front of a packed home crowd with a dominant victory on the day. Dougie Lampkin's last ever British Grand Prix failed to bring him his 100th World win, with the multi World champion having to settle for fifth place even after a spirited fight back during the last lap. Lampkin's day could have hardly got off to a worse start when he crashed heavily in the second section of the trial. Although uninjured Dougie looked shaken, and despite the best efforts of the crowd to urge him up every inch of every hazard, it was simply not to be his day. It was a similar story for James Dabill, who after a strong opening ride through the initial few sections, saw his day fall apart as he then endured a string of failures much to his disgust and disappointment. The expectant audience did their best to encourage a recovery from the young rider from Yorkshire, but the more he tried to respond the worse his day became. In the Youth class Ross Danby did his bit to restore British spirits as he fought a day long battle with Alfredo Gomez. Whilst the Spanish rider, who also claimed the title, took the victory on the day, it was only by a mere two marks after thirty difficult sections and five and a half hours of competition. Prior to Sunday's main event, another packed house had enjoyed Saturday's full programme of activities that included two stunning performances by World class British cyclo trials stars, two public test session supported by the five major manufacturers, an autograph opportunity with all the top riders and the now highly acclaimed 'Mini Masters' trial.
With no plans to run any further World events in the near future, L+M Events were proud to deliver an exceptional event to bring an end to their three year agreement with the FIM. The post trial Jury meeting brought praise from every delegate without exception, and with a clear message from all present, that they hope it will not be too long before L+M Events brings World trials back to the UK mainland once again. Speaking on behalf of L+M Events, Jake Miller stated. "I think we can be extremely proud of what we have achieved over the last three years, and this has been reinforced by the positive comments from the riders, public and the FIM delegates alike. Martin and Harry Lampkin produced yet another great course, and the support and help we received from Bradford and District Motor Club has been immense. On behalf of L+M Events I would like to thank everyone who has contributed over the last three years, as without them it simply would have not been possible. As for the future, that's another story, and that is a question that cannot be answered at this moment. All I can say is watch this space." Morris wins BTC rd5 Shaun Morris (Team JST GAS GAS UK) has just won the 5th Round of the British Trials Championship organised by the West of England Motor Club at their awesome 'Kellys Farm' venue. After a superb last lap at the previous weekends BTC in Ireland Shaun knew that a win was possible this weekend. A very confident approach to the weekend with Shaun riding all the sections at the front of entry Shaun displayed some of the best riding ive personally seen all year. With his superb technique and balance together with a confident mood, Shaun won easily this weekend to beat Championship leader Graham Jarvis by 18 marks. Yet again Micheal Brown was 3rd. Alexz Wigg was 4th again and got better during the day and had a real strong last lap of 20. Alexz now sits at 4th in the overall Championship and has an 11 point lead over Gary Mac in 5th. Not bad for 17 year old ! A non-starter was GG No;1 rider Steve Colley whos ankle is still very sore after his crash last weekend and not possible to ride yet. Steve stayed at home and has promised to be 100% fit for the next Round whenever and wherever that is ? Please will someone let us know.! Joe Baker won the Expert Class after a superb last lap to beat Dan Thorpe (GGUK) and Ross Danby (GGUK) who were again 2nd and 3rd respectively. Ross was actually leading after 2 laps with a two mark lead over Joe. However this all went wrong at section 7 where he 'apparently' ran out of time which annoyed Ross as his minder still had over 30 seconds left on his watch ! Difficult to know who to blame here and id rather not comment but nevertheless Ross had to accept a '5' which obviously reeeeeeally wound him up because he made a mess on the next section. Dan Farrer (GGUK) had a very good day finishing 7th with a mega last lap of 7! Welldone pal! Craig Robinson (GGUK) had a bad day finishing 9th.
In the Youth Class, Jack Challoner won easily from GGUK riders Ben Morphett and Jonathan Richardson. This was a very good result for Ben who is still actually a 'B' Class rider and is only 14 years old! Cheers Shirty Shaun Morris 2nd again 4th Round of the 2007 British Trials Championship held in N.Ireland organised by the Lightweight Motorcycle Club... For the 4th event in a row the Top 3 riders were the same with Jarvis 1st, Morris 2nd and Browny 3rd. Yet again Team Gas Gas UK rider Shaun Morris finished 2nd behind winner Graham Jarvis...Shaun had a simply awesome last lap of '3' to try and steal the win from Graham who led comfortably after two laps but Shauns late challenge was too late with the damage already been done on the second lap when he fived the second (again!) and 4th sections. It was fairly close in the end with Graham wining by 2 marks. 17 year old GG Teamster Alexz Wigg had his best BTC result of the year and finished 4th! After a nasty crash on the second section where his bike 'bit' him and gave him a nasty black eye he battled on to finish 4th with some awesome rides back on his 300... This result however was 'helped' by the retirement of GG No.1 rider Steve Colley due to yet another unfortunate crash resulting in another injury.....badly twisting his ankle when he crashed on only the 4th section if the day. Having spent the last 10 days hard at work in the Isle of Man at the TT Races with his shows etc..Steve travelled through the night on Saturday to arrive at the event 1 hour before his start time! With missing the practice lap a very tired Colley started the event with a 1,5,0 on the first three sections and then crashed on the 4th to end his day. I stayed with Steve at his van for a while whilst the St. Johns Ambulance guys strapped him up before going back out to help Shaun and his dad to try a get a GG winner... This is another bad fall for Steve and obviously is not a happy bunny with three fourth places and now a DNF in this years Championship.. I hope Steve bounces back and can ride this coming weekends Round 5 down in Devon...I guess a week of rest and physio on his ankle will see Steve fighting fit again? Joe Baker easily won the Expert Class infront of Team GGUK riders Dan thorpe and Ross Danby who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively.... Both Dan and Ross had one real bad lap each with Dan struggling on the opening lap and Ross having a nightmare second lap... Multi National Winner Thorpey is yet to win a round this year and really needs a win to get him back in chance of the title because he now trails Joe by 15 points and is also 3 points behind Ross who is ridng the 125cc Gasser very well indeed. Onform Robert Andrews (GGUK) once again produced a good result with a solid 5th place behind Mika Vesty. Craig 'Raga' Robinson was another GG rider to crash which shook him on the last lap which spoilt what was to be a good day. GGUK Top A Class rider Jonathan Richardson won the Youth Class again ! albeit he was the only Youth rider entered! Welldone pal. For full results checkout www.trialcentral.com Three Team GAS GAS UK riders in the Top 5 again....! The 3rd Round of the 2007 British Trials Championship was held near Abergavenny organised by the East South Wales Centre. In the Championship Class the Top 5 results were exactly the same as the previous two rounds with GG riders Shaun Morris 2nd, Steve Colley 4th and Alexz Wigg 5th. Graham Jarvis and Sherco won (congratulations) and young Browny (Beta) was 3rd. The day started early at 8.30am for the practice lap which proved necessary to 'scrub' the sections and also to allow the clerk of the course to make some changes. In the end i thought the Trial was really good considering the venue and the good weather. Although the venue is not the best, i thought the club did an excellent job. (Sorry to the club from Malc and i for forgetting the section tape) Liam Walker (GG) battled away again and finished 11th. Good to see Micheal Philipson back in action after his long knee injury... In the Expert Class Joe Baker won (congrats.) and GG Teamsters Ross Danby (125cc) and Dan Thorpe were 2nd and 3rd respectively.. Definitely worth a mention was GG Team rider 'wee Bert' Robert Andrews who finally proved himself with a fantastic 4th place also on a GG 125cc! Welldone Bert and keep it up! Buxton boy Craig 'Raga' Robinson was 7th with a really good second lap. Dan Farrer was 10th. In the Youth Class GGUK riders Jonathan Richardson and Ben morphett were 3rd and th respectively. Jack (Beta) won with Adam Jones (Sherco) 2nd...
James Dabill recorded the most important victory of his young sporting career, when he won the World famous and highly prestigious Scottish Six Day Trial (SSDT) yesterday afternoon. Reinforcing his recent World championship form, Dabill dominated all six days of this demanding event by leading from start to finish, and winning by a comfortable fourteen marks come the end. Having collected the yellow leader board after a difficult opening day, James then kept his Sandiford supported, Future TRW Montesa Cota 4RT out in front to become the first four stroke mounted rider in thirty one long years to win this classic trial. Alan Lampkin on board a 250 BSA was the last previous four stroke victor back in 1966. Despite Dabill's recent results at World level, five times previous SSDT winner Graham Jarvis arrived in Fort William as the favourite to lift the trophy once again. With Jarvis mounted on a Sherco four stroke, the 2007 SSDT was billed as the 'battle of the four bangers', but when James emerged a full ten marks clear of his main rival after a tough and wet first day, the war was almost won already. However the remainder of the event was anything but easy for the twenty one year old from Leeds, as he soaked up the immense pressure associated with this endurance trial to record the best performance on no less than four days of the competition. The riders cover over five hundred and thirty miles throughout the week as they make their way between the one hundred and eighty scheduled sections. This confirms both Dabill's pure resilience and the sheer reliability of the Montesa Cota 4RT. Absolutely overjoyed Dabill stated. "This is without doubt the biggest win of my life and one that I have dreamed about ever since I was a youth rider. What makes the victory even more special is that I managed to lead it from the start. The final day was always going to be tough with it being my early day, but despite that I can honestly say I have really enjoyed every moment of the trial, and never really felt the pressure at anytime." "This trial is a real team effort, so I want to say a massive thank you to the Future TRW team, everyone at Sandifords, Jack Lee, Andy Huddleston, my mum and dad, plus my girlfriend Emma all of who have supported me brilliantly, and without whom this victory would not have been possible." Results - Total 1: Dabill 21 2: Brown 35 3: Jarvis 35 4: Pascuet 43 5: MacDonald 43 6: Wigg 44 7: Colomer 48 8: Morris 48 9: Hemingway Ben 50 10: Thorpe 61 Full results available at www.ssdt.org
Results Championship Expert & Youth Standings Yesterday was the second round of the 2007 British Trials Championship organised by the Neath Motor Club at Aberdulais near Neath in South Wales. Team GGUK had an excellent day with Shaun Morris just missing out on the tie break with Graham Jarvis to win the Championship Class whilst GG riders Ross Danby and Jonathan Richardson win their respective Expert and Youth Classes. The event was a complete contrast to last years rain and wind swept event with superb sunny conditions which found the event relatively easy, but very 'nervey' for the top Championship riders. Graham Jarvis and GGUK rider Shaun Morris were in awesome form yesterday and tied for the win with only 8 marks lost each. Graham eventually won the tie break with most 3s in the end. Both riders had the same amount of 0s,1s and 2s...! I am very happy with Shaun who proved that he can worry Graham and hopefully go on and challenge Graham for this years title. Shaun will now hopefully take this current form up to the Scottish where he will ride a 'Factory Kev' preppared PRO300. Michael Brown was 3rd again and was duly desreved. Steve Colley had another day to forget having a nightmare second lap when he had three 5s which im afraid were all his fault, with no excuses...Steve is struggling at the moment, maybe due to lack of time on the bike through Febuary and March whilst recovering from two broken elbows but yesterday they were fine and his fitness and strength were also fine so no excuses but this has left Steve quite demoralised and this will probably be Steves last year competing the BTC. Steve could use some encouragement at the moment from you guys so if you want to email him please do on colleysteve@hotmail.com and tell him that the BTC sure would be dull without him! Alexz Wigg (above) was 5th, finishing one place higher than at the first Round so indeed this is progress for the 17 year old known as 'Reg'... Changing from 125cc to 300cc (and back again) all year really is a pain but he's dealing with it well and after 6 days in Scotland he should be well used to the 300 ready for the 3rd Round the weekend after, back down in sunny Wales. I will personally be kicking Alexz' ass for 6 days in Scotland hoping my 19 years of SSDT experience will help him... Liam Walker battled on finishing 12th. GGUK rider, Ross Danby won his first Expert Class British Championship event AND on a 125! VERY well deserved and WELLDONE pal! Ross now is looking forward to his first attempt at the SSDT on his trusty 125... Joe Baker was second and now leads the Championship by 4 points from Ross. GGUK rider Dan Thorpe was 3rd with two bad 5s, getting them out the way for the Scottish where he wont be having any, will ya Dan?! The ever consistant DT is now joint 3rd in the Championship and certainly improve things at Round 3... GGUK riders Craig Robinson and Robert Andrews were 8th and 9th respectively. GGUK Lil' Jonathan Richardson won the Youth Class beating 15 year old Ben Morphett by 19 marks. Welldone to all and see ya in sunny (pleeeeeeeeeease!) Fort William.. Cheers Shirty Alexz Wigg's Report Alexz Wigg (300 JST Gas Gas) continued his run of good results with a fifth place at the St. Davids trial round 2 of the British Championship. On a hot and dry day, his first lap started well but went off the rails at sections 8 and 9 were two slack five’s spoilt the card. This meant Alexz was a few behind the leaders a gap he couldn’t close with the usual top four dropping less every lap. Lap two was his worse, dropping 5 and 3 in the first two sections didn’t help, but only one dab in 8 and 9 proved what could have been. Alexz his own harshest critic said “ I am not that happy with my score today, four slack fives meant I was always a bit off the pace, I am still getting used to the 300 and haven’t spent enough time on it yet. The bike has been really, really good today I just need more time on it and hopefully after 6 days on it in Scotland that will do it!”. His third lap was his best dropping only 9 marks to finish on 41, 11 behind Colley in fourth but a bit in front of the other young lads Sampson and Haslam, and just pipping Gary Macdonald by 4 marks. Finishing 5th is a good solid result, it is a learning process this year for Alexz, and lets not forget he is the youngest rider on this course. Alexz sets off for Scotland on Thursday for his first ever SSDT on a JST Prepared 300 Gas Gas. alexzwigg.com
Reigning British Champions Becky Cook (left) and A Class champ Emma Bristow started the year off in good form, winning their classes in the first round of the British Ladies Trials Championship. A change in the format of the championship drew a record number of entries to Metheringham Quarry last Sunday, the addition of a C class championship boosted the numbers to 30 women and girls. Becky started the day smoothly despite a few nerves and remained clean up until section 10 where she had to have a quick prod to steer her GG back on line. Donna Fox (Sherco) was the only Adult Lady to clean this section on the first lap, along with A Class teamster Joanne Coles and Gas Gas’ Emma Bristow. The third member of the JST Gas Gas team Katy Sunter was unlucky to five this section on her second lap when the front wheel unexpectedly tucked under throwing her over the bars and out of the section! Katy recovered well and cleaned the next section, which proved to be the hardest of the day, despite being a relatively straight forward climb over loose rolling rocks (with a few big boulders thrown in). Katy’s clean was finally matched by teammate Becky on the last lap, when Becky also put in the best lap score of the trial loosing just a soft dab on the first section. This excellent ride of just 1 on the last lap guaranteed Becky the win by just a single point from Foxy Lady who put in consistent lap scores of 5, 3 and 5. In the A Class Gas Gas rider Emma Bristow was on home ground at Metheringham, however it’s not all that easy to ride well on home ground as Emma found out when she had two unlucky 5’s on the first lap. One of which was on section 9 where Emma took the natural line of the attack at the big rock slab and failed, however the other riders saw a new line very close to the blue flag that made the section a lot easier but unfortunately Emma was already at the next section. Emma managed to fly up on her other laps on her 125 GG with new minder Phil Marris on hand to help. After dropping 11 on her first lap Emma showed Joanne Coles that she would not be beaten and rode well on the remaining laps to win the A class by 3 marks. Emma Morphett rode her Pink JST Gas Gas in the A Intermediate Class and was 2nd. Emma was joint best on the middle route on section 8 where only Robyn Alderson (Sherco) and Emma cleaned it every lap showing their potential against the winners. Other Gas Gas stars promising to shine in the future were Sara Hatton who was 3rd in the B Class and is always smiling, as is 9 year old Hannah Richardson revving around on her brand new Gas Gas Cadet finishing 4th in C Class and taking tips from cousin and winner Chloe Richardson (Beta), who happens to be JST GG rider Jonathan Richardson’s little sister. The next round is on 13th May at Ipstones in Staffs. run by Cheadle Auto Club and also happens to be the day after the Scottish Six Days finishes so number 1 British SSDT rider Kay Sunter may be feeling a bit tired! Win for Jarvis Trials British Championship – Round 1 www.malcolmrathmellsport.com MRS Sherco rider Graham Jarvis stamped his authority in the first round of this year’s British Championship trial, taking a sensational win in the Lochaber Club event. It was a brave calculated risk for the reigning British Champion since he has only been riding the all new Sherco 3.20 4T for a mere five weeks. It was a risk that paid off with Jarvis posting the meagre score of 16 with his nearest rival, Shaun Morris, finishing on 23 marks. Jarvis’ score would have been even better if he had not unexpectedly taken a five on the second section on the last lap. He had managed it easily on laps one and two, only taking a one on the first lap but got it all wrong on the last lap and paid the penalty with the maximum five marks. All the riders were looking forward to this first round, which has been voted the best Championship event since its invention and the Scottish organisers did not disappoint. The twelve sections, laid out by Clerk of the Course Arthur Macdonald and his crew had been worked on for over three months which guaranteed, once again, a superb days ride for the forty four riders taking part. Having had six dry weeks in the Highlands there was the worry that it would be too easy. Although the ground was dry in the trees by the Loch-side it was still wet underneath and the mud carried up on to the sections, making the first lap pretty difficult for late numbers. MRS Sherco rider Gary Macdonald put in a fine performance finishing in fifth place following a leg injury, which had put him out of action for five weeks. The leg held out well on the day but his lack of fitness took its toll and this showed in his last lap score. Young rookie Lee Sampson took a very creditable eighth place in his very first outing in the main British Championship, having won the 125 Cup last year in the Expert Class. In the Expert Class eighteen- year -old James Fry took a brilliant fifth place after a three-way tie with his team mate Chris Pearson and Gas Gas rider Craig Robinson. MRS riders Darren Brice, Gary Jenkins and Matt Jones finished off a good weekend for MRS finishing in eighth, 10th and 11th RESULTS – Championship Class: - 1. G. JARVIS MRS SHERCO 16 2. S. Morris Gas Gas 25 3. M. Brown Beta 40 4. S. Colley Gas Gas 53 5. G. MACDONALD MRS SHERCO 66 6. A. Wigg Gas Gas 74 7. S. Haslam Scorpa 85 8. L. SAMPSON MRS SHERCO 102 Graham Jarvis is currently running Trials and Enduro training schools for all abilities, for more information please call him on 07843 556962 or e-mail info@malcolmrathmellsport.com . Prices vary depending on the amount of people attending, he is willing to travel to various places or practice land is available near Graham’s home. Prices range from £60 per person and maximum of 10 people.
GUATEMALA MARKS A SPECIAL MOMENT This coming weekend marks a special moment for the top level of the sport, as it visits South America for the first time since the series started back in 1975. The Grand Prix of Guatemala is the second stop on the 2007 FIM SPEA Trial World Championship, and will feature two important days of competition. The long trip South is an adventure into the unknown for all the riders and teams, with everyone hoping that the contents of their carefully packed flight cases will be at the heart of their success. Guatemala is one of two overseas rounds in the 2007 calendar, the other being the fourth event in the series to be held in Japan in early June, again this will feature a two day trial. Toni Bou - Repsol Montesa HRC will arrive in La Antigua with the championship lead, thanks to his victory at the first Grand Prix in Spain. Whilst Bou will be looking to increase his advantage in the overall standings, fierce rival Adam Raga - Gas Gas will be doing his best to record his first outdoor win of the season to keep in contact with Toni. The young Spanish duo can expect a strong challenge from a trio of chasing heavy weights, which is sure to include Dougie Lampkin - Repsol Montesa HRC, Takahisa Fujinami - Repsol Montesa HRC, and Albert Cabestany - Sherco, who filled the remainder of the top five positions at the opening GP. James Dabill - Montesa recorded his worst results of the season at the two fly away rounds in 2006, but after having placed sixth in Mancha Real, the reigning European champion will be expecting a better return from his long haul travel this year. In the Junior championship, it is British rider Michael Brown - Beta who will make the long journey with the pressure of being the man to beat resting on his shoulders. Brown was in a class of his own in Spain, and will be hoping to produce a similar performance in Guatemala to really reinforce his title assault. French competitor Nicolas Gontard - Gas Gas is Brown's nearest challenger having finished as runner up at round one, and could just prove to be the main threat to Michael as the series progresses. 2006 World Youth champion Alexz Wigg - Gas Gas confirmed his arrival in the Junior category, a year earlier than necessary with a fighting third spot at his initial attempt. Although restricted to a 125 due to his age, Wigg has the potential to be a round winner in the right conditions, and thus will be hoping that Guatemala will give him sections to suit his smaller capacity bike. Competition amongst the Youth riders is equally fierce, with no one in the paddock prepared to pick a champion elect at this early stage of the season. Alfredo Gomez - Gas Gas took first blood at the very wet Spanish round, and will be going all out to stretch his lead over his French rival Alexis Cervantes - Sherco who followed him home at the opening Grand Prix. Ross Danby - Gas Gas made a good start to his campaign by taking the final podium place at round one, a result he will want to better on his visit to South America. 2007 Riders Championship Current Standings: World 1: Bou 20 2: Raga 17 3: Lampkin 15 Junior 1: Brown 20 2: Gontard 17 3: Wigg 15 125cc 1: Gomez 20 2: Cervantes 17 3: Danby 15 2007 Manufacturers Championship Current Standings: 1: Montesa 35 2: Gas Gas 22 3: Beta 16 4: Sherco 14 5: Scorpa 8 Next round: 27th May Senez, France For more information: www.trialonline.org Round 3 British Youth A+B Championship Yesterday - 18th March - was the 3rd round of the "07 Youth A+B Class British Championship organised by the Otter Vale M.C.C. Jack Challoner won again and dominated the A Class as he did last weekend at the YMSA Trial. Team JST riders Ben Morphett and Jonathan Richardson had mixed results...... Ben was as steady as usual and finished 5th, only 7 marks off second. Ben is now 6th in the Championship after these first 3 rounds....Not bad considering he should still really be in B class! Jonathan had a real bad day finishing 7th which is not where he should be. No excuses, just a real bad day that he wants to forget as soon as possible. JR is now 5th in the Championship after 3 rounds. Dealer supported rider Ricky Wiggins on his RCM GG was the best GG rider who finished 3rd again as he did at the last round. Well done. Regards, Shirty GG Boys bounce back As predicted the Team JST GAS GAS UK Youth Teamsters bounced right back at Sundays 2nd round of the 2007 British Youth Chamnpionship at Ipstones organised by the Cheadle Club. GG Boys Jonathan Richardson was second and Ben Morphett was 4th...... Jack Challoner won again but not by a huge margin so it shows that although Jack is clear favourite for this years Championship, i hink the GG boys will hopefully push him all the way... Top 5 results in the A Class 1st Jack Challoner 33 2nd Jonathan Richardson 38 3rd Ricky Wiggins 43 4th Ben Morphet 44 5th Adam Jones 47 For more info. checkout www.trialscentral.com and TMX on Friday... Colley injured It is with regret that i have to inform you that yesterday Steve Colley crashed during a show and broke both elbows at the socket. Steve was at the Scottish Motorcycle Show all weekend and on his second show yesterday morning he spun on a rain soaked car roof and he instantly went down. He knew he was hurt and intially thought he'd broke both wrists. A visit to a local hospital confirmed after x-ray that in fact he had broke both elbows. After speaking with Steve several times last night and this morning he is on his now on his way back to the boat to go home to see his own Doctor and to decide what treatmant he needs.... .....more info to follow as and when i find out. Steves immediate concern is to be fit for the first round of thre British Trials Championship in 7 weeks time... Regards Shirty 2007 British A + B Class British Championship Rd1 Report by John Shirt Jr Yesterday was the first round of the 2007 British A + B Class British Championship held by the Yeadon & Guiseley MCC at the infamous 'Dob Park' venue. It looked a tough (as it should be) Trial with the A Class winner losing 51 marks...Welldone Jack. The 'Team JST GAS GAS UK' riders had an unlucky day with Ben Morphett finishing 6th and Jonathan Richardson finishing 8th. Ben is actually riding in A Class with permission off the ACU as he should still be in B Class, so with that in mind his first A Class National finishing 6th i am reasonably happy with. Some unlucky marks for stopping prevented Ben from taking 2nd place.. I wish the A+B riders had FIM rules....i bet the riders do aswell? Jonathan Richardson whose riding has come on bigtime recently was hit by back brake problems....The brake went during the first lap and Gerald set to repairing it at the end of the first lap where he found the fluid feed pipe from the reservoir bottle had got pinched by the shock spring and had split causing air to enter the system. After spending aaaages fixing the brake, which can be bas***ds to bleed it left Jonathan not much time to do two laps. Anyway he 'cracked on' regardless but wasted alot of marks. Anyway that enough excuses, I'm confident the GG Boys results will be better in two weeks time at Cheadle. Thanks Shirty For full results etc. checkout www.trialscentral.com Cabestany tastes finally his first victory of the season in Milano 18th Feb 2007 Italy After several attempts, Albert Cabestany enjoyed this night in Milano his first victory at Indoor Trial World Championship 2007 by defeating Toni Bou and Adam Raga in a very balanced final lap. Sherco rider took advantage after cleaning section 3, while his rivals added maximum penalty. From then Cabestany managed the lead with calm and intelligence till the end of the competition. This result let the Spanish to strenghten third place in standings and now threatening second classified Adam Raga by only two points. Although Toni Bou couldn’t clinch another win, his second place made him increase the gap from the top, with ten points ahead of current champion Raga, who closed podium places in third position. On qualification lap, Raga completed a superb ride with no marks. Defending champion was very consistant and even had the strenght to beat Bou on dual lane race. Before, the current leader and Cabestany imitated their performance on the sections. The Spanish stars suffered on first hazard and lost another penalty on the next. From this point, both completed brilliantly the rest of the circuit. As happened last weekend in Lisbon, Takahisa Fujinami run out from the final by just one penalty. Slight mistakes in last section gave adavantage to Albert Cabestany and Sherco rider could defend third place despite Japanese pressure. Jeroni Fajardo offered his best and worst version. Spanish rider cleaned tough opening hazards but received a severe punishment because of the time. Again Dougie Lampkin showed a very unconsistant performance and too early was very far from the fight for the rostrum. Polish Tadeusz Blazusiak suffered the lack of pace after losing last rounds due to an injured knee. Beta rider added too much failures and fell till penultimate place. Local Fabio Lenzi, guest rider in Milano, was overcome by GP level and finished eighth in a poor style. Next weekend FIM Indoor Trial Championship will visit Menorca, Balearic Island, where seventh round in calendar will be contested. Milano Results 2007 General Standings 2007 2007 Indoor Trial World Championship
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Congratulations
Ben Morphett!
Shaun
goes one place better
BTC
Round 2 Team JSTGGUK release
Sam
wins Bemrose Trophy Trial 
Dear
all;
After
the 7th and last round of the 2007 Spanish Trial Championship
TMX
Grand Prix Great Britain - Round 8 FIM SPEA Trial World Championship 2007
Hawkstone Park 28/29 July 2007
Amos
Bilbao was the victor once again in the event for the past masters and put
on an incredible display of extrovert skill to maintain his place amongst
the crowd's all time favourites. Bilbao's success did not come easy, and
was only secured after a last section run off against 1996 World champion
Marc Colomer, who showed that he has lost none of his magic. The
supporting cast of Steve Saunders, Thierry Michaud and Louis Gallach all
played their part in this unique competition, which captured the
imagination of the fans both old and young.
Dabill
wins SSDT
Round 2 British Trials Championship
JST
Gas Gas Girls Report
