Clean Sheet For Reeves

By Bob Brown Photos by Richard Thomas

The Thames MCC held round five of their club championship at Kitsmead Lane where 12 scoring and two practice sections had been laid out by Dave Dale, Dave Renham and Tim Bird which were ridden 3 times at this old M3 construction compound.

The first two sections dipped into and out from a drainage ditch, sections three to six used the sandy banks and fallen trees by the motorway, seven to ten were set on the steeper banks alongside the main road, with the last two over the rubble and banks by the access road. The recent dry weather made riding conditions perfect and a good day's sport was had by the sixty entrants.

John Reeves rode the entire course feet up to win the Over 50 class followed home closely by Pete Haines and John Seward, Pete had an uncharacteristic three on section twelve swooping up and down the banks by the access road. Phil Wiffen had a narrow victory over Dean Heathfield in the Expert class with Elliott Tickner in third place, Phil had 3 perfect cleans at section ten jumping over a large fallen tree laying across the steep bank. It took a tie breaker to decide the winner of the well contested Inter class with Reynard Norris managing one extra clean than Darren Haines, Jon Yendell took a creditable third place after his hand injury. Feet up rides by all three at section six snaking amongst the trees alongside the M3 motorway. Just a dab separated Wayne Geary from course plotter Tim Bird in the Over 40 class, they were both troubled by the steep climbs and drops at section seven. Steve Brown and riding partner Colin Grist could not be separated so the Novice class had joint winners, Dan Campling took third place courtesy of more cleans from Neal Walsh. Dan's Achilles heal was the steep slopes of section eight. Peter Thatcher took a narrow victory over Paul Jay in the Twinshock class, Peter lost 2 of his marks jumping over the fallen tree at section three. John Johns took his trusty Greeves round for just eight marks to win thw Pre67 class on the red route, Nick James took second and Martin Kemp third, wheel perfect rides by John on the shallow gulley at section one. Len Hart took honours in the sportsman class but only by a dab from Steph Tombling and Andrew Cooper, all cleans by Steph on the steep slopes of Darren Haines section ten. Chris Bunce took the Pre67 class on the yellow route followed home by Rupert Kemp and Nigel Turner, feet up rides by Chris on the sandy banks of section five. Oliver Hill was out on his won in youth inter and Josh Brown just beat his riding buddy Joseph Baker to take the win in youth novice before he set fire to his rear brake and had to make a quick dismount before it burnt his backside. For further details of club trials please contact Bob Brown 01895638738.

Steve Brown