New Clerk of the Course Bill Rosten got Class 0 on the Lands End about right.

The night time sections were very dry and and straightforward and with lots of grip didn't cause most competitors too much trouble. Come the daylight a combination of tricky restarts and artificial turns spiced things up and increased the failure rate, leaving 17 of the 61 starters clean for a Tin and 20 with one fail for a new Copper award. Some had an issue with timing, picking up penalties for being late at the finish.

David bache on the Class 0 section at Bishops Wood (Picture by Dave Cook)

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All the Class 0 competitors started at Bridgwater, the accumulation point for the main trial. Catsash was the first observed section, about 20 miles from the start and formally used on the main trial. Regular triallers from Stroud and DMC were in charge here but didn't see much action as it was very dry and there was a lot of grip.

Diversion on the way to Minehead

There was a long diversion because of roadworks on the way to Minehead. After passing through the town the route turned off to the left before Porlock, merging with the main trial where everyone attempted the Crook Hill Special Test. Falcons Mike Pearson was on the finish line here and was surprised that a number of competitors didn't realise there was a flying finish.

The other sections during the night and dawn were reasonably straightforward with plenty of grip in the dry conditions. The breakfast halt at Wilsey Down was welcome and gave competitors an opportunity to relax for a while before tackling the final six sections which were to prove somewhat challenging.

Cardinham Woods

After the gentle Petherwin Old Hill the route entered Cardinham Woods where it merged with the main trial to tackle Lady Vale. This is a smooth forest track which wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for a narrow chicane with a restart at the top. The restart was a problem and around a quarter of the entry couldn't get away. There would have been more fails if competitors had been penalised for hitting the restart boards as quite a few demolished them as they slid sideways while trying to get away.

Back to its unique route Class 0 had two more sections in the Cardinham Complex, Mays and Silver Lead Mine. They were both nice sections. Silver lead Mine was spiced up by an artificial chicane and this caught out a few, including John Guy who lost his Blue Hills Tin Medal here.

Bishops Wood

The Bishops Wood complex saw Class 0 merge with the main trial again for the Bishops Path Special Test where most of the Class 0 motorcycles picked up fails, including the experienced Roy Warren who lost his Blue Hills Tin.

Old Bishops Wood started alongside the main trials restart area for their Bishops Wood section. It started with a sharp turn before a steepish bank leading to a long gully, turning on to a well surfaced track, before deviating up a slippery steep bank. This needed a fair amount of momentum which caught out eight of the entry, including Ryan Norman (Suzuki X90) who incurred his only failure of the event.

Blue Hills

All that remained was the tarmac section at Old Blue Hills, with no option to tackle the main trials Blue Hills section this year. It wasn't going to be easy as there was a fearsome restart right on the hairpin. A couple of competitors decided not to stop, of those that did around a quarter couldn't get away, and seven car competitors lost their Blue Hills Tins here, including John Turner in his Dellow Mk2. This was very disappointing for John who had overcome a series of electrical problems earlier in the trial.

Penalties at the Finish

This wasn't the end of the trial though, there was still the 19 mile run to the finish, back North East up the A30, to the joys of the Premier Inn and Brewers Fayre at Fraddon. As usual the MCC had threatened dire consequences for taking excessive time to get here from Blue Hills and three Class 0 competitors were penalised, costing Colin Biles his Blue Hills Tin.

All in all it was a well thought out Class 0 from new Clerk of the Course Bill Rosten. None of the sections were too rough for older or less well prepared cars. Probably the biggest issue would have been the strain on the transmissions attempting the steep tarmac restarts. Considering the dry conditions there were surprising few clean sheets and although some considered the night time sections a bit tame they would have been a different proposition with different weather.

Published 24 March 2015

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