Not sure why to be honest, but a beautiful day at Pen Y Graig Quarry only resulted in 62 bikes rolling up for Round 5 of the Aqueduct Classics 2024 Championship season. This is a great venue with a real range of section but for those who did make the journey it was well worth while.

18 Pre 65’s and a lower showing of only 9 Twinshocks filled the traditional classes and the mid evolution changeover bikes was 10 Pre 96 AC Monos and 5 Pre 2000 WC Monos. Up in the Modern Monos, 20 shinny hoppy machines graced the start briefing.

Experts were well represented with 5 riders ands those enjoying the lighter life of trials was 8 Novices. In the middle ranks, 22 Inters and 27 clubman gave the 10 king observers something to work with.

Nick – Observer / Section 10

Arrived at the paddock in glorious sunshine armed with bike, camera and pen ready to see where I fitted in for the day.

As it turned out it was observing Section 10 – solo, no Mentor keeping me on the path today then. Oh shoot……well something along those lines.

Early down to my section to familiarise myself with the routes, sat with a bit of shade and a little wren’s nest in the cliff behind for company.

A steady flow of riders appeared after a quiet start with the clubman and intermediate routes proving to be the most popular, yet held up well to the traffic. The last gate on the intermediate did seem to be catching a few out coming over the hump – whether the camber caught them out or were mis-sighting it. Overall, people seemed to be scoring well and enjoying themselves on all the routes. No major incidents or disasters which is just the way I like it!!!

Glad to get the first solo observing ticked off!

As always, a pleasure getting the opportunity to chat to you guys on your way through and learn a bit by watching ( how to and also how not to 😂)

The rumours regarding cake were strong again but no confirmed sightings around here🍰

Trevor Bennett – Twinshock / Novice

Been a while since I did an Acky as I could tell by the results things don’t move on too fast when you are getting things right or not as the case maybe. Jan/Geoff had me down as riding a Beta tr240 but I sold that after the Costa trial in 2021…..
I came to play on a Dalesman Puch, a long term project that has had me pulling my hair out with a misfiring motor. I really thought I had cured it and loaded it into my van to go ride a Red Rose trial on bank holiday Monday. Sadly my mother passed away on the Sunday night and it’s sat in there all week whist I attended to mothers needs. Anyway with everything in place for mum I needed some time to go and relax and saw on FB Acky are putting a trial on at my favourite hole. I think this will be my 4th visit to PEN Y GRAIG , first time probably back in 2016 I think.
Anyway the trial.

First face I meet in the field is Geoff, never changes, doesn’t need to. Greetings shared and parked up. Next up Russ. “Bloody L Trev what brings you here”. Condolences given and so it continues, Mark, Christine, Jan, Suz all making me feel welcomed back and even an offer of a dog sitter for RosieB my little Border Terrier. (cheers Russ)
As always Chris de Burger in attendance but I must say I preferred The Bappers when I first came to this place, they had a little more ‘added attraction’ to them but his food as always is excellent, thankyou.

Gear on, bike out of the van, go find the boys I was wanting to ride round with being Dave, Damien and Keith. It starts second kick which is a relief after forgetting to try it before I set off from home (remember it’s been in the van a week and ‘The meddle with it fairy’ can strike at any time).
Rider briefing done with a well honoured minutes silence for a member who’s passed away RIP fella (brought another lump to my throat) you will be missed by many it seems.

Then we are off, follow my leader out of the paddock, through the farm and tick over down the hill through the tunnel to trials playground heaven. So many sections can be made in the place it’s untrue. Park up, find the start of section 1 and do the walk, all fairly simple straight forward, what a good way to get back into the swing of things as the couple of previous trials I have attended this year haven’t gone to plan with an unreliable bike. But this time we are sorted (or so I thought) and off back to the bike. Starts first kick (nice) wait my turn, click into gear and off we go onto the bars as it jumps out of first, click back in and it jumps out again. Now my mind shoots right back to the 60s when my mum and dad bought me a Dalesman as a schoolboy scrambler and after a few months of using it that one did the same thing, jumped out of 1st. Dad said then ‘put it into 2nd and back into 1st’ well it worked then and it worked on Sunday, when I remembered.

So second attempt here we go, up a little bank along through the section turn left up hill, wack the throttle for a step to the left BUUUUH misfire, nothing in midrange but I manage to get up and out through the end cards.

Quick change of plan now, I didn’t want to marr the guys trial with my misfiring bike so I tottled off on my own so they could concentrate on their own event (after riding with them in the past I knew half their focus would be on getting me round). And so my day went, feathering the throttle in every section of every lap, having to dab on two occasions when it didn’t have the guts to get me up the banks.
I was relieved to finish I must say and was amazed at how little queueing there was ( I rode 8 sections on the trot with no queue) and was happy to sit in one for a while on the 9th.

So by 1.30 my trial was done, excellent sections, just what I needed as a confidence booster after losing my bottle after a serious injury to my shoulders a few years back. Many many thanks to Jan/Geoff, Russ/Suz, Mark/Chris and all the observers and helpers that go to make Acky trials what they are, Top Notch.

Not so much of a trials report, more of a ‘day in the life of TB’ who was so glad to get back on his bike and enjoy his time amongst friends. And to top it off I won my class, albeit the easy route, but I was concerned about riding that to begin with. Back for the next? All being well with a sorted bike after finding the points had closed up.

Thanks again guys and gals, much appreciated.
Oh but one downside I’m afraid. My little dog was dirty up to the eyeballs after running back through the tunnel chasing me back up that hill and had to go for an involuntary swim in the river before I got her home

Mike Griffiths – Observer / Section 8

Once again the quarry beconed us and yes I had a cracking section. A
tad on the long side but I made a fortune from hiring sat navs. The
sort of section easy to clean but easier to drop a mark or three.
Started a bit slippy , then grippy but reverting to slippery by the
end. The Cheshire set were in a determined mood but alas the ring
leader, Bert White had quite a spectacular dismount when the front of
his bike slid off some moss and dumped Bert un-ceremoniously by a tree.
Didn’t look too good to begin with but the gods were watching and a
battered Mr White continued. Alan Thomas’s Fantic sounded in grand form and he was steaming round. We also have a star in the making as Rian Garlic , riding a twin-shock Honda performed really well . Look out
Chris as he will be soon beating you.

Also there were some nice twin-shock bikes riding round and giving a grand display. Yes I far prefer the older bikes . Must be an age thing. There were very many smiling faces but I think it was the weather that helped there. It was also nice to hear riders complimenting the whole trial. The course plotters certainly got this one right with some grand sections and yes the sunshine certainly helped . Mind you they had all
the lemon drizzle cake and left my whistle silent in shock.

A rare occurrence for my section was a queue. Nowt to do with me it was the section length and blighters falling off in the last bit caused the
delay. Just a thought lads and if you all have 10 minutes walking,
talking and watching a section before riding , it adds one and a half
hours to the time the poor observer is standing. Just remember that
for the next trial and there is a shortage of observers.

Just a quick PS, Bert was OK, it was the carb rubbers that had a hole in and caused the bike to miss , thus locking the front wheel against a rock.. Good job the manufacturer does not make contraceptive devices…

Before we move into the usual stats, we have to close by once again say a huge thankyou to the club team for all of the effort they put in over the preceding months to make this happen, the observers for still taking the time to support and the land owner as always.

Top Places

Pre 65

• Expert – Richard Beddoes, BSA (108)
• Intermediate – Robin Foulkes, Francis Barnett (36); Sam Alderman, BSA (41); Phil Alderman, Triumph (53)
• Clubman – Steve Walker, Francis Barnett (1); David Chapman, Triumph (1); Jon Flower, BSA (6)
• Novice – Roger SMith, BSA (6); Terry Lloyd, Triumph (21)

Twinshock

• Expert – No riders
• Intermediate – Mike Smith, Honda (31)
• Clubman – Phil Cottiga, Honda (4); Oliver Barker, Bultaco (5); Graham Pennington, Bultaco (6)
• Novice – Trevor Bennett, Beta (2); Allan Thomas, Fantic (10); Paul Beswick, Ossa (20)

Pre 1996 Air Cooled Mono

• Expert – Kev Ellis, Yamaha (43)
• Intermediate -David Matthews,Yamaha (38); Ian Tracey, Ossa (53); Paul Cartwright, Gas Gas (67)
• Clubman – Ian Emery, Gas Gas (6); Andy Steele, Yamaha (21); Paul Corfield, Yamaha (23)
• Novice – No riders

Pre 2000 Water Cooled Mono

• Expert – Richard Webster, Montesa (8); Chris Garlick, Honda (14); Mike Jones, Gas Gas (47)
• Intermediate – Alec Roberts, Montesa (39)
• Clubman – Marcus Greer, Beta (46)
• Novice – No riders

Modern Mono

• Expert – No riders
• Intermediate – Michael Warburton, Vertigo (23); Jason Trumble, Vertigo (35); David Ellis, Beta (46)
• Clubman – Martin Howard, Montesa (6); Kev Williams, Beta (15); Joe Price, Beta (15)
• Novice – Tony Williams, Gas Gas (9); Graham Seager, Beta (27); Gordon Evans, Tenaci Wong (52)

Observer List

1 – Russ

2 – Wendy

3 – Dave

4 – Ian

5 – Gordon

6 – Jeff Jughes

7 – Brian

8 – Mike

9 – Mark

10 – Nick Shenson

Stats

Bikes Classes

• Pre 65 – 18
• Twinshock – 9
• Pre 1996 Air Cooled Mono – 10
• Pre 2000 Water Cooled Mono – 5
• Modern Mono – 20

Route Classes

• Expert – 5
• Intermediate – 22
• Clubman – 27
• Novice – 8

Bikes

Pre 65

• Ariel – 0
• BSA – 6
• Drayton – 2
• Francis Barnett – 3
• James – 1
• Triumph – 6

Twinshock

• Beta – 1
• Bultaco – 2
• Fantic – 2
• Honda – 3
• Majesty – 0
• Ossa – 1
• SWM – 0
• Yamaha – 0

Pre 1996 Air Cooled Mono

• Aprilia – 0
• Beta – 0
• Fantic – 1
• Gas Gas – 3
• Honda – 0
• Ossa – 1
• Yamaha – 5

Pre 2000 Water Cooled Mono

• Beta – 1
• Gas Gas – 1
• Honda – 1
• Montesa – 2

Modern Mono

• Beta – 8
• Gas Gas – 3
• Meccatechno – 1
• Montesa – 1
• Scorpa
• Sherco – 1
• Tenachi Wong – 1
• TRS – 1
• Vertigo – 4