11 o’clock on Sunday morning and round 8 of the Isle of Skye’s trials championship was getting under way.

Due to the bad weather, over night, section 1 was put of till the second lap. Hopefully the water level would drop a few inches to let the riders into the river without drowning there bikes.

Section 2 and 3 turned out to be good warm up sections and did not cause any major problems, unlike sections 4 and 5. These two sections were back through the deeper than usual river. Both Allen Cowe jr. [250 Sherco] and Dveed Eckl, A class school boy [125 Beta], had little problems in section no 4 as all the riders had to: cross the river, then ride up the banking, round two tight turns, one to the right and then one to the left, then up over a large lump of soil, back down and through the river again then through the ends cards. [250 Montesa rider] Mat Wakeford was first into this section. He needed to use 2 steadying dabs to help him through to the end cards. A few more dabs were dropped here, but best of all was on lap 2 as Allen Cowe sr. [250 Beta] had a trip over the handle-bars as he crossed the river. Allen hit the large bolder right in the middle of the river. His bike stopped and wee Allen kept saying, Allen doesn’t need a shower after the trial now. Yes the water was a wee touch cold I think.

Section no. 5 was only cleaned by Mike Lee [250 beta] and young Dveed on the first lap. The route for this section was back through the deep river, then turn left up into a small fast running stream for 5 meters and then a wee right turn, up over some boulders and out the end cards. By the time the last lap came round the river had dropped in depth and lots of cleans were being scored. At this point on the second lap the competition was pretty close between Granddad Kenny Finlayson [250 GasGas] and Mike Lee, as there was very little points separating them.

Section 6 in the B class turned out to be very loose in this very long twisty burn. This section took some points early on due to the deep and fast flowing river. It was going to be the same route for all the riders until the second lap when A.C. jr. and Dveed got there heads together and decided to ride the 25 foot water fall that had not been used since the days of the club being part of the Scottish championship. Only 1 clean was scored here, that was on the last lap by A.C.jr. [Well done. You’ve got to see this water fall]

Long and tedious was the nattier of section 7. This section was not very hard but it was about 120 meters long. Many cleans were scored but if you did not concentrate you would put a foot out unnecessarily. On lap 3 Mat Wakford ridding his old Montesa [still going] scored a well earned clean to the amazement of all the other riders watching.

 Back in the river for sections 8, 9 and 10. No. 8 was the trickiest section of the day for the A class. Both A.C. jr and Dveed Scored 3s on the first lap and as the day wore, both riders were getting through for lower scores.

Section  9, this section was run back to front for the first time ever. Martyn Macdonald [125 Sherco] managed a clean on his second lap, and then mirrored that on his last lap as he was rapidly improving after lap no. 1.

Section 10, this was the CLARK of the Course’s old favourite. By this time on lap 3 Granddad Finlayson had put a small margin of points between himself and Mike Lee. Mat and his Mont were not far behind and after his wee soaking on lap 2 Big A.C. was catching up fast.

   Back to section 1 at the beginning of lap 2. The water had dropped 4 or 5 inches. This section was changed slightly due to the river being about 3 feet deep. Ross “the rocket” Nicholson [280 Gas Gas] was first up as he rode his bike threw at about 30 mph for a 3 point score. [Someone told me that trials was a slow sport]. On the Rocket’s second attempt, he tried an even higher gear. Well this is how the Rocket road the section:

 Down the banking into the river, front wheel first, then over to the other side, over the jumble of rocks that were hiding just under the serifs of the fast flowing river, then picking up speed the Rocket charged over to the other side of the river. There was a huge splash as a 280cc motor cycle was entering the deepest part of the river then climbed up onto the river bank.

For the other riders, the next part was easy; you just ride along the river bank. After the banking all the other riders were dropping back in to the water and then right back out and in again. All the other riders rode around the 5tone’ish sized bolder then out the ends cards.  Not the Rocket. Up on to the river banking came the Rocket [accelerating all the time] and instead of dropping into the river this GAS GAS and its rider jumped over the gap and nose dived straight into the 5tone bolder and on this occasion for the first time ever the huge bolder did not move [?] out of the way. The Rocket had to retire after the front bucket on his jcb broke of. Good attempt. That was the trial over for Ross on this occation.  Have a good holiday Ross.

This was a great event and I think every one had a good day. I will see you all on the 23rd of this month up in Kilmuir at Allen Cowe’s .

 

class	names	Score Lap 1	Score Lap 2	Score Lap3	Total Score
A adult	Allen Cowe jr	3	4	2	9
A s/b	Dveed Eckl	7	12	7	26
B adult	Kenny Finlyson	15	8	9	32
B adult	Mike Lee	13	11	17	41
B adult	Mat Wakeford	20	21	11	52
B adult	Allen Cowe snr	25	22	11	58
B s/b	Martyn MacDonald	47	25	25	97
B adult	Ross Nicholson	24	Dnf	Dnf	Dnf