ACU Trial GB starts here
By Team TMX on 19th Apr 24
The revamped Trial GB: ACU British Trials Championship gets underway this weekend (April 21) with the Black Coombe Trial at Fell Green, near Bootle in Cumbria following a last-minute venue change from Po House due to a waterlogged parking field. Fell Green is no stranger to hosting British Championship-standard trials and is promised to be in fine fettle ahead of Sunday’s event.
Current British Trial GB champion Jack Peace leads a 52-strong entry for the event which is made up of three classes – Trial GB, Trial 2 and Trial Expert. Jack Savage, the first Expert class rider away, kickstarts the action at 9:30 and the rest of the entry follows at 90-second intervals. With a five-and-half-hour time limit to complete all three laps, the riders can’t afford to hang around too long.
37 Expert riders have entered the event and the ballot to decide running order has thrown up a surprise or two with some of the fancied runners – including TrialGP Women world champion Emma Bristow MBE – setting off quite early in the order. Defending champion Dan Thorpe meanwhile, starts at the tail end of the Expert group which should be an advantage. Riders to look out for are #53 Emma Bristow, #52 Bradley Bullock, #55 Samuel Beecroft-Penny, #93 Tyler Rendall, #95 Tom Affleck, #89 Danny Butler, #81 Alice Minta, #51 Dan Thorpe and local lad #62 Cameron Brice. Picking a winner from that lot is hard but our money is on the delectable Dan Thorpe.
A slightly smaller (12 to be exact) line up of Trial 2 riders is led away by Scorpa new boy Oliver Smith. Former Trial 2 champ Andrew Chilton follows in his wheel tracks ahead of 10 more absolute trials badasses – Duncan MacColl, Trial GB series Sporting Manager Sam Connor, Thomas Hawthorne, Connor Hogan, Alexz Wigg, Jamie Galloway, Hugo Jervis, Alfie Lampkin, Sam Yeomans and Ulsterman Josh Hanlon. With it being round one all scores are even and it’ll be intriguing to see how this one pans out.
The premier class is the Trial GB division and champion Jack Peace leads the way with a 10:43:30 start time on his Sherco. Hot on his heels will be Beta UK’s Trial GB rookie George Hemingway who took the 2023 Trial 2 title with ease and steps up to the top class this year. Scorpa’s Billy Green is the current Trial2 world champion and has to start as one of the favourites – especially since Fell Green is home territory for long-term sponsor Nigel Birkett. JSM GASGAS star Jack Dance will set off behind Green and just ahead of Harry Turner who turns out in Sherco colours for 2024 after a few seasons in Scorpa orange. Last man away is Beta’s Harry Hemingway who won a Trial GB round in 2023 and is well up for challenging for the title. Will 2024 be his year? Time will tell on that one…
With all the action over, the Award Ceremony takes place at 4:45pm.
The Fell Green venue can be found at LA19 5HU which is just off the A595 on the west coast of Cumbria. Entrance for spectators is free, dogs on leads are welcome and bicycles are allowed. Former TMX team member Mike Rapley warns ‘bring cash – as the butty van’s card reader won’t work due to a lack of mobile phone signal’ and also ‘turn off data roaming’ as many phones pick up signal from the Isle of Man and nobody needs exorbitant mobile roaming charges.
More information, including the full entry and start list, is available on the series official website – acutrialgb.org.uk.
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