Sky' high for Jarvis
By TMX Archives on 9th Oct 08
IN one of the most dramatic final Colin Appleyard British Trials Championship rounds for years, Sherco's Graham Jarvis snatched his fifth British crown in a last-gasp grab that saw him head the points list for the first time this year the only time it really matters! Graham had trailed Beta's Michael Brown throughout the opening six rounds of the series and went into the final round, Bradford and DMCC's Autowbars event at the spectacular Skyrakes venue, near Skipton, trailing Browny by just a single point.
And in a nutshell, both riders did their best to hand the title to the other, trading fives as plentiful as cleans, with Graham eventually just shading the verdict by two marks on the day – earning him the Championship by a single point. It was a bitter blow for Brown who had set the pace all season but who just failed at the final hurdle.
The overall win on the day, though, actually went to Dougie Lampkin, riding in only his second British Championship event of the year and, despite riding in pain, a legacy of his big crash at the TdN in Andorra the previous weekend, Doug lost less than half the marks of runner-up Jarvis, despite actually retiring after three sections of the second lap due to the pain he was in. But brother Harry had other ideas and
convinced Doug that Lampkins don't retire and so Dougie was virtually forced back onto his bike! His last lap was incredible, costing him just seven marks and including the sole clean of the very difficult second section that featured a cambered rock slab for starters, which claimed 50% of the entry, and a vertical climb out that stopped virtually everyone else! Doug went 1-5-0 for his three laps, Jarvis 5-1-5 and Brown 3-5-5. Everyone else collected a hat-trick of maximums.
The Bradford club had again done a brilliant job on the course, making the most of the exposed rock outcrops with a good variation on the 12 sections which were lapped three times. There were some big rock step sections but the slabs were used cleverly and there were also some good, long climbing variations and twisting, muddy climbs for variety.
Saturday's practise day was held in atrocious conditions, with heavy rain battering the venue. Yet Sunday dawned to a beautiful day of blue skies, if cold winds. Strangely, Jarvis reported that the sections actually rode easier during the practise lap as the rain kept the sections clean!
Doug, under no pressure apart from that which he applies to himself, once again delivered a riding lesson to the young guns – as indeed did 33-year-old Jarvis – and his win on the day was never in doubt.
COLIN APPLEYARD BRITISH SOLO TRIALS CHAMPS
Rd 7 – Bradford & DMC (Autowbars Trial)
CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS
1 Dougie Lampkin (Beta) 10 + 13 + 7 + 3 = 33
2 Graham Jarvis (Sherco 4T) 16 + 23 + 26 + 6 = 71
3 Michael Brown (270 Beta) 18 + 24 + 27 + 4 = 73
4 Alexz Wigg (Montesa 4RT) 37 + 28 + 30 + - = 95
5 Shaun Morris (300 Gas Gas) 36 + 34 + 27 + 2 = 99
6 Sam Haslam (300 Gas Gas) 32 + 43 + 35 + 6 = 116
7 Ross Danby (250 Gas Gas) 34 + 38 + 49 + 11 = 132
8 George Morton (270 Beta) 52 + 51 + 52 + - = 155
9 Craig Robinson (280 Gas Gas) 54 + 49 + 53 + - = 156
10 Ian Austermuhle (270 Beta) 44 + 58 + 51 + 11 = 164
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS after 7 rounds: 1 Graham Jarvis 118 points (CHAMPION), 2 Michael Brown 117, 3 Shaun Morris 103, 4 Wigg 82, 5 Haslam 72, 6 Danby 70, 7 Morton 51, 8 Robinson 43, 9 Lampkin 40, 10 Dabill 34, 11 Sampson 28, 12 MacDonald 26, 13 Austermuhle 19, 14 Phillipson 4.
Graham Jarvis reaches for the sky to take the championship by the narrowest margin, just one point.
JUST as it was in the Championship class, the battle for the Expert crown also went down to the last round but unlike the single point gap between Michael Brown and Graham Jarvis, the defending Expert champ Joe Baker did have the benefit of an eight point advantage between himself and closest challenger, 17-year-old Jack Challoner, going into the seventh and final encounter at Skyrakes.
Just as it was for the Championship class, a lot of thought had gone into the Expert sections and a tough but fair course was provided for the 20 contestants – plus the four Youth riders who were
tackling a non-championship outing.
There was a bit of extra spice in the Experts class with Scottish ace Gary MacDonald dropping a class as a taster for
next year, likewise Lee Sampson, while Martin Crosswaite turned-out for a one-off command performance.
The Championship could not have been between two quieter, more personable challengers with the experienced Baker easing and teasing his two-stroke Scorpa through the mud while the up-and-coming Challoner had to work hard on a challenging course mounted on a 125. The Beta is a cracking 125 with genuine torque and Challoner knows how to get the best out of it. But Jack is not a small lad and there is a limit to what a 125 can do and the mud and rock climbs were not kind to it!
Joe was in no mood to relinquish his Expert title and he set out as he meant to go on. On his first lap, Joe eased the Scorpa to eight cleans and arrived at the final climb on just five marks, a three and two ones. He was then pretty annoyed with himself when he went and fived it – yet still led the field by six marks from Challoner and Dan Thorpe on 16 with four-stroke Beta mounted Ben Hemingway right behind on 17.
COLIN APPLEYARD BRITISH SOLO TRIALS CHAMPS
Rd 7 – Bradford & DMC (Autowbars Trial)
EXPERT CLASS
1 Joe Baker (250 Scorpa) 10 + 7 + 9 + - = 26
2 Jack Challoner (125 Beta) 16 + 18 + 12 + - = 46
3 Ben Hemingway (Beta 4T) 17 + 12 + 22 + - = 51
4 Dan Thorpe (300 Gas Gas) 16 + 25 + 25 + 3 = 69
5 James Fry (290 Sherco) 21 + 18 + 35 + 4 = 78
6 Liam Walker (300 Gas Gas) 20 + 45 + 23 + - = 88
7 Andy Blackman (Beta) 39 + 22 + 33 + 3 = 97
8 Chris Pearson (290 Sherco) 28 + 29 + 23 + 18 = 98
9 Sam Ludgate (Beta) 31 + 42 + 28 + - = 101
10 Ben Wibberley (Gas Gas) 41 + 33 + 28 + - = 102
11 Dan Farrer (300 Gas Gas) 36 + 34 + 42 + - = 112
12 Jack Spencer (Beta) 40 + 40 + 48 + - = 128
13 Adam Jones (125 Sherco) 40 + 44 + 41 + - = 125
14 Gary Jenkins (Sherco) 34 + 40 + 42 + 14 = 130
15 Josh Law (280 Gas Gas) 42 + 45 + 49 + - = 136
FINAL EXPERT STANDINGS after 7 rounds: 1 Joe Baker 134 points (CHAMPION), 2 Jack Challoner 123, 3 Dan Thorpe 95, 4 Fry 84, 5 Ben Hemingway 82, 6 Walker 70, 7 Pearson 60, 8 Wibberley 47, 9 Jenkins 37, 10 Matthew Jones 26, 11 Blackman 19, 12 Farrer 19, 13 Miles Jones 17, 14 Vesterinen 16, 15 Ludgate 15, 16 Brice 15, 17 Adam Jones 13, 18 Nick Baker 7, 19 Crinson 6, 20 Kettlewell 5, 21 Law 5, 22 Spencer 4, 23 Hancock 3, 24 Bayliss 3, 25 Harris 2, 26 Dan Hemingway 2, 27 Lawer 2, 28 Woods 2, 29 Welch 2, 30 Huskinson 1.
FINAL EXPERT 125cc STANDINGS after 7 rounds: 1 Jack Challoner 140 points (CHAMPION), 2 Adam Jones 51, 3 James Graham 32, 4 Spencer 17.
YOUTH SUPPORT CLASS (Non-champs)
1 Jonathan Richardson (Sherco) 25 + 31 + 27 + 1 = 84
2 Jack Sheppard (Beta) 27 + 39 + 39 + - = 105
3 Jonny Walker (125 Sherco) 36 + 40 + 35 + - = 111
4 Ben Morphett (125 Gas Gas) 42 + 41 + 24 + 10 = 117
FOR FULL REPORT, SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2008