Nant Ucha Farm always pleases the regulars. As well as being the venue with a great range of sections (especially when the wet stuff is flowing), it is a practice venue where a number of the riders hone their skills. April saw a great morning with the sun breaking through and allowed 70 riders to have a cracking days sport.

16 Pre 65’s, turned out with 18 Twinshocks. The AC Mono added another 14 bikes with the balance of 22 making up the Modern Mono class.

Due to the growing popularity of the club over the last few years, at present we are closing the regs at around the 70 bike mark in order to reduce queuing and to ensure that where parking is tight, the venue is not compromised.

Priority is given to those riders who have entered and are active within the club championship which means that classes resulted in 13 Experts, 32 Inters, 24 Clubman and 1 Novice route rider.

Rob Sloggett – Twinshock / Intermediate

After a few months out of it, it was great to get back out on the Bultaco at one of my favourite venues and jump back into the inter route after a bit of a sabbatical riding Clubman. One of the great things about the club is how the sections are marked out, challenging but not dangerous. Enough to make you think but not enough to make you not want to ride.

Russ and Mark had really gone to town this month, resurrecting a number of sections and obstacles that had not been used for quite a while and boy did it make great riding.

Section 2 was the first one of note. Russ had given me a insight at signing on how the Inters route had two options (steeper dryer rock step to the left, waterfall with running water step to the right). Experts were forced to the right but inters had the choice. Russ suggested to go left on the bigger step and after watching a number of the Experts getting caught up on some craggy aspects of their route, the left hand side seemed the obvious choice. At this stage I knew it was on the border line of my comfort zone. I had ridden harder but I had never ridden this and therefore the variables of approach speed, when to raise the front wheel and when to roll off become the new calculations. Any experienced rider will tell you that once you approach it becomes second nature and those inputs just happen but when you are on the edge of your comfort zone the 4th variable is mental attitude and commitment and that can fail you at any time! There is nothing sweeter when approaching something like this to get to the crest and know you have did it and even better, for a clean. I dropped 3 marks on this section and all of the dabs were away from that step and in the normal run of the stream…. its a funny sport!

The next section (4) freaked me out and riding up to it and seeing the flags just filled me with dread. About 8 years ago, I was riding a Montesa 348 but unbeknown to me it had a fault. A crack in the outer casing allowed water to flick into the electronics side and before I had diagnosed this I was practicing the exact obstacle. Basically a wall to the side of the stream, about 3 to 4 ft high (in those days it was a bit higher and less eroding at the top). You had a small kicker to help you up and it tapered off at the top. On the practice day in question, I attempted the wall and half way up the bike lost all power at a critical point. Dabbing into thin air, the bike came down on me and I luckily avoided a nasty injury but the legacy of that wall was stuck in my mind and I had not ridden it since on a twinshock. So faced with it in the section my first attempt saw me take a dab to line up and then a good dab at the top and I was happy just to get up for a 2. Next lap it all went wrong, at the critical point my brain just would not let me get on the power, my line was wrong, I half committed, filled with the memory from 8 years ago and almost repeated my tumble. Knowing I could not come away with this brain freeze, the 3rd lap once again saw a steadying dab to make sure I had the right line and then a steady climb for no more losses. Last lap it all came together. Perfect line in the approach, exactly the right level of commitment to the attack and confidence in the execution for a well deserved clean. Regardless of my result for the day, that single 30 seconds on the last lap made me a winner! Ghost put to rest…..

Finally sections 6 and 7 both had something a bit different. In section 6, Russ had us riding over the concrete slab. Have not used that in years! great to have it added back in. Funny how the inconsequential stream after just kept taking single dabs. Section 7 on the other hand was the usual mender around the stream with a great root and rock combination to navigate in the last third. A silly lap off line resulted in a 3 on the roots but nice to clean it on the last lap.

The usual thanks to all of the observers. Hopefully you heard my thank you to each of you on the last lap. To the “management and support teams” for putting everything in place, another great event and thank you to Dave and the family for the continued use of the venue.

Kev Williams – Pre 65 / Intermediate

Pulling up at Nant Ucha to the sun shining and the usual smiling faces off we went to sign on and get a bite to eat then back to the van for a chat with fellow riders and admire some bikes before getting ready for the off
It was a quick briefing by Russ and a congratulations by all to him and Suzanne getting married then we were off.

My favourite sections were:

Section 1: It started with a good 1 foot hop on to a rock being careful not to end up in the fence then dropping straight down to the left turning back right and up again following the fence line to then drop down to the left again turning right back up the bank for a second time then it was through the out gate over some roots.

Section 3: Starting this section with going over a little log then heading over to the right to then turn to the left and line your bike up and shoot up a steep tricky  climb with ruts and roots to knock you off line when at the top you then dropped down and out to the left over a off cambered slope covered in roots.

Section 6: A little drop off a wall into the stream with a instant turn right through some deep water to a slippery moss covered concrete slope being careful not to go off line then it was out the stream on to the opposite bank around a tree stump then back in to the river following it out to the out gate.

It was a great day and thanks to everyone who makes it possible

Steve Harding – Modern Mono / Clubman

First of all a big thanks to everyone involved and especially all the observer’s for giving up their Sunday without whom it wouldn’t be possible for us all to ride a trial comp, also a big thanks  to the land owner for the use of the venue and Chris Deburger for keeping us fed and watered. So here is my event report for Sunday. 

I arrived early to help set up (many hands make light work) and then was given an orange Marshall vest and and a walkie talkie to help direct the arriving riders to there parking place, and then had a bacon butty off Chris and a good brew before getting myself and the bike ready for the start. At the start, Russ put us into groups and we were told where our start sections were.
So here are a few of my favourite sections of the day. 

Section 4: As you start from the bank of the stream you drop in and cross a bit of a rock and shale stream and then out of the water on to a bit of a climb up the opposite bank. Then a bit of a tight left back down into the stream and try and navigate a bit of a tight right through some good sized slippery rocks and back out of the water up the bank again. Then a bit of a left and keep climbing up over a bit of a root and then dropped down over another root and climb up a bit trying to avoid the rock on the exit.

Section 7: Again you start off from the bank of the stream and drop down into the water across the loose rocks and then out of the other side. Then you had to climb the bank on the opposite side and take a bit of a tight right round some rocks and then drop back down through some very slippery off camber clay, drop back down into the stream and then take a bit of a left over the slippery rocks. Turn right and up a bit of a step and climb the bank before another bit of a right between two more rocks trying not to catch the foot pegs before a bit of an off camber bank up over tree roots and out of the section.

Section 9: Down at the bottom of the field. You start off from the bank of the stream and straight away you had to keep left down an off camber bank. Tight between two trees and then drop into the stream and straight away your onto some slippy rocks. You follow the stream down though a bit of a left and right then keep tight right against the bank as you navigate left past a good sized tree and then head up out of the stream and back up the slippery bank and out of the section. 

I managed to do the last lap with no front brake at all but was determined to not get a DNF. I had a great day even if my result wasn’t {haha}. Once again a big thanks to everyone involved and the aqueduct team for putting on another great trial. Cheers. 

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 – Jim Hough, Triumph (7); Danny Littlehales, Francis Barnett (35)
• Intermediate – Peter Edwards, Drayton Bantam (2); Kev Williams, Triuph (6); Paul Owens, BSA (13)
• Clubman – Steve Walker, Francis Barnett (10); Paul Brimelow, Cotton (16); Keith Lloyd, Drayton Bantam (20)
• Novice – No riders

Twinshock

• Expert – Kev Ellis, SWM (39); Steve Williams, Honda (54)
• Intermediate – Dave Pengilley, Kawasaki (8); Tim Cuffin, Honda (8); David Matthews, Bultaco (12)
• Clubman – William Leigh, Yamaha (3); Graham Pennington, Ossa (14); Elwyn Beedles, Honda (18)
• Novice – Oliver Barker, Bultaco (24)

Air Cooled Mono

• Expert – Chris Garlick, Gas Gas (3); Tony Gush, Beta (5); Ben Butterworth, Honda (9)
• Intermediate – Mike Jones, Gas Gas (5); Robin Foulkes, Yamaha (6); Paul Cartwright, Gas Gas (21)
• Clubman – Alan Hotchkiss, Yamaha (67)
• Novice – No riders

Modern Mono

• Expert – Paul Jones, Montesa (12); Shaun Mountford, Gas Gas (26); Julian Price, Beta (37)
• Intermediate – Paul Hornsby, Vertigo (8); Gary Jones, Beta (14); Michael Warburton, Vertigo (16); Zain Pughe- Hutchinson, TRS (16)
• Clubman – Phil Clarkson Beta (3); Joel Isherwood, Beta (10); Stephnen Hall, Beta (27)
• Novice – No riders

Observer List

1 – Michael Griffiths

2 – Ian Jones

3 – Jeff Hughes

4 – Suz

5 – Gordon

6 – Russ

7 – John Flower

8 – Chris

9 – Mark

10 – Geoff

Stats

Bikes Classes

• Pre 65 – 16
• Twinshock – 18
• Air Cooled Mono – 14
• Modern Mono – 22

Route Classes

• Expert – 13
• Intermediate – 32
• Clubman – 24
• Novice – 1

Bikes

Pre 65

• BSA – 8
• Cotton – 2
• Francis Barnett – 2
• Triumph – 3
• Villiers – 1

Twinshock

• Bultaco – 3
• Fantic – 5
• Honda – 4
• Kawasaki – 1
• Montesa – 1
• Ossa – 1
• SWM – 1
• Yamaha – 2

Air Cooled Mono

• Aprilia –
• Beta – 1
• Fantic – 2
• Gas Gas – 5
• Honda – 3
• Yamaha – 2

Modern Mono

• Beta – 8
• Gas Gas – 4
• Montesa – 4
• Sherco – 1
• TRS – 4
• Vertigo – 3