The Simmons Trial

On Sunday 12th January, the Sidcup and District MCC ran the Simmons Cup Trial, which was the first round of the North Kent Trials Combine seris. With a cold wind all day and a mixture of snow and ice still covering most of venue (a very rare sight) everyone had some different conditions to deal with. Alan Clarke's section, a graded hill proved very popular with the spectators, although grip was noticeable absent. Next week will be the Sidcup Sixty Trial which will be a South Eastern Centre Championship round for Experts, Intermediates, Novices, Sidecar, Pre-67, Twin Shock and Youth A and B. The Sidcup Club would like to thanks everyone who helped out; setting the sections out, signing on, observeing, and clearing up.

Report 2

From the Bexleyheath club website (motorbiketrials.com) - please have a good look round its great. They also have more photos.

From here by by ROB FLEET

It was a very cold and frosty january morning.I mananged to drag my fat arse from my bed at about 7am,Rushed down stairs to get all of my gear ready and make some scoff. I went out to the car only to find all the locks had iced up and the only door i could open was the boot.Swearing under my breath i loaded everything including myself through the boot of the car,i could swear i heard all the neighbours laughing to themselves opposite.

When i arrived at canada heights i still could`nt get out of the bloody car and made the major mistake of parking behind the "ROBERTS" clan which much to there amusement gave me some stick when finally escaping the clutches of the vw.

When i had managed to defrost my scorpa i found Cliff hanging around at section one like a pimp on a streetcorner,we both took a quick look at the section and decided after seeing Roy Purvis falling flat on his face we would go to section two.All the sections where very icy and had to be treated with ut most respect,most riders seemed to be doing ok.Cliff came a cropper on the icy path between section 1 and 2 which was jolly funny,just wished someone had got it on camera.Both Dave and Jamie burroughs seemed to be having a good ride what i saw of them and also that old codger Dave Plumb was avin it large on his gas gas.Go on dave it wont be long before your killing yourself on the white route....

Section 3 was quiet tricky with a tight turn left as soon as you got through the start gate, i tried hopping the back round but that just made things worse for the slipery camber across some roots,everyone seemed to be having trouble with that section.Sections 4 5 and 6 where quite easy but still dropped a couple of silly marks,i did see Gary Roberts have some good rides,I think he has been getting some secret lessons from dougie lampkin.AS i was writing this article Gary did text me to tell me he had won the intermidiates class and i had come 4th,i just don`nt have the heart to tell him im letting him win at the moment,i should try to make an effort HA HA.I managed to ride most of the course with the MBT posse as cliff likes to call it taking our time to do the course and study the sections together,at one point i was waiting for the ice to thaw out...IT seemed that my plan was working and the sections where definatley getting easier but buy then it did`nt make any difference to my score Bugger!!.Never mind.We went on to the next few sections which also took marks from most of the riders including myself,section nine was very tricky over some dodgy rocks which caught me out every lap dropping marks all over the place,Even the white boys had some barny ruble,jamie burroughs on his first lap got it all Pete tong

The last section was the graded hill which seemed to be catching almost everyone out this consisted of a long wet slipery slope which still was iced up.The novices had a straight run all the way to the top,but even this caused a lot of carnage with bikes and riders flipping and slidding all the way back down to the bottom.Micheal Sega flew straight up and out the top but i don`nt think Donna had as much luck..The Blues(inter)had to approach the hill from the side halfway up,i did manage to clean the first two laps but the last lap i ran out of grip on the top of the hill and slid all the way back down "ouch".Cliff bless him stacked it big style i think he`s trying to get a job as a crash test dummy for scorpa so he can get free bikes.Ed also had a minger of a time getting out the top so as did a lot of good riders.The white route i thought was easier then the blues but still there was not many riders able to reach the end cards.Nicky dowland and also local trials dealer Dave shave could`nt reach the summit...

All in all we had a brilliant time and enjoyed the trial-which is getting better and better year after year.A big thankyou to Dick Dickenson lou roberts Gary roberts for laying out some testing sections....and everyone else at the Sidcup club for all there hard work in organising this event.

Thank You's

from Peter Burrell

Many thanks from the Sidcup Club and all riders in the trial to all who observed and otherwise officiated. Your Observers were:. Your observers were Eric Dadd, Alan Brook, Mike Sturdey, Lou Roberts, Ken Bearman, Peter Burrell, Ken Davis, Tony Bedwell, Ian Watkins, Jamie Clarke, Nicola Clarke, Matt Sheppard, Kevin Thompson, Roger Brown, Alan Clarke. Many of these will be doing it all over again on Sunday at the Sidcup Sixty Trial!

Intro / Background

Normally the 2nd Sunday of January. The Simmons Trial is a group trial (for Sidcup its North Kent Trials Combine), and is therefore only open to members of the North Kent Trials Combine, while Sidcup members observe. It is for Solos and Sidecars

Admission is Free