Veels Ter Ver
Trials is often very much a sport involving choices. The first choice for many riders was apparently whether to get out of bed or not as it had been raining most of the night. At Constantia this invariably means the sections are going to be slippery, and they were. The next choice for the experts was only a few metres into section one. You either went to the left of a large fallen tree and the immediately turned hard right to go over it, or you could ride along the fallen tree to a point and then turn right. The latter turned out to be the best choice as the section was only cleaned that way. The next section was consecutive and it’s main hazard was a steep and slippery climb up through the trees. The next four sections all involved logs at some point. These were not a problem where there was still bark on them, but those stripped of their bark were extremely slippery and accounted for many marks lost. Section seven we have used before. In the dry it’s no problem, but when it’s wet one part turns into a bottomless mud pool from which you have to climb up a slippery bank, the whole thing getting worse as each rider has his turn. Both classes tried their respective lines for the first lap with the clubmen’s line being changed from lap two. Tim and I persevered for another lap and then made some small changes to the section but the result was pretty much still the same. Three marks were being lost before even getting to the rest of the section and then it was a case of fighting to the end just to limit the damage.
Section eight was the inevitable stream winding up a narrow ravine. Both classes rode this section though it was a bit longer for the experts. The water level was much higher than we have seen it for a long time though this did not really cause too much trouble and several cleans were recorded.
The turn out for the day was not very good, but the clubman’s class was quite keenly contested between Jason Krause, Hans Klein and Jorge Cardosa. Robert Sandell was riding in this class again and now seems quite up to the challenge. He is improving with every meeting. Younger brother Thomas rode some sections all on his own to be the only novice rider. Ryan Altern had his usual band of followers in attendance but struggled a bit and took the final place in the class.
Although there were not too many riders, there were certainly a lot more spectators, which is always encouraging.
Results:
|
EXPERTS
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
Total
|
Position
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Brian Barson
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
12
|
10
|
2
|
11
|
2
|
41
|
1
|
|
Tim Jordan
|
5
|
8
|
6
|
12
|
16
|
2
|
16
|
12
|
77
|
2
|
|
Total marks on section
|
5
|
12
|
6
|
24
|
26
|
4
|
27
|
14
|
|
|
|
CLUBMEN
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jason Krause
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
11
|
10
|
8
|
37
|
1
|
|
Hans Klein
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
8
|
10
|
10
|
37
|
2
|
|
Jorge Cardosa
|
1
|
5
|
3
|
2
|
6
|
9
|
5
|
11
|
42
|
3
|
|
Robert Sandell
|
10
|
6
|
0
|
8
|
8
|
12
|
8
|
14
|
66
|
4
|
|
Ryan Altern
|
8
|
13
|
11
|
12
|
16
|
14
|
20
|
14
|
108
|
5
|
|
Total marks on section
|
21
|
25
|
17
|
28
|
35
|
54
|
53
|
57
|
|
|
|
NOVICE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomas Sandell
|
5
|
7
|
0
|
10
|
9
|
5
|
0
|
2
|
38
|
1
|
Thanks to the Ramsden family for the use of the venue. The next trial will be on Sunday 20th August, probably at Silvermist.
