You pays your money and...
By TMX Archives on 21st Jan 11
This week we take a look on the Sheffield Indoor trial and at a group of riders still tackling the Trispen trial after 50 years...
A COUPLE of weeks down the line from the Sheffield Indoor trial and maybe we can take a clear and objective view of what I thought turned into an amazing event. Objective at least from the point of view of someone on the outside, it might not quite look the same from an insider's point of view!
This ‘debate' has been triggered by the letter from Bob Tyas (T+MX last week) which listed some points as seen by a paying punter and a knowledgeable trials man at that. Bob made the point that the event wasn't a sell-out and sited the price of a ticket as one of the main reasons. We all know that Bob isn't on his own with this view, I hear the same one every year, as indeed does Neil Crosswaite and no doubt Martin Lampkin does too. It certainly doesn't help when the arena charges an extra £5 booking fee on top.
As I said last week, given the economic climate I feel that the 6,000 crowd was quite frankly a terrific turnout. Easy for me to say, and I did just that to Neil. Crosser Sr informed me that yes it was, but he then informed me that his costs are based on a full house. If he doesn't get a full house then if the event is to continue in future years – and we all hope it does – costs should really rise next year. Now, you don't need to be an economist or a genius to work out that that can easily result in losing a few more hundred spectators – it is called diminishing returns.
Neil counters that if he was guaranteed a full house he could then reduce the ticket price. But as we all know, there are few guarantees in life!
I concede that it is easy for me and you to pontificate and say what the organisers should and shouldn't do. It is a totally different story when it your hard-earned brass on the line.
Surely the real question is, do you think the event offers good value for money? The answer to that is surely a resounding YES. Who else in Britain offers us all the chance to see the very best rider in the world – and prove to us that is exactly what he is. Thanks to Martin Lampkin's uncanny section plotting ability, we truly saw Bou achieve what no-one else could even get close to. And the supporting cast was a class one with Adam Raga doing his best and Fujinami and James Dabill riding to incredibly high standards. And Sheffield really gave the best of the Brits a real crack of the Indoor whip. And they well and truly earned their money proving they were worth their chance.
How else can we judge the event? Some didn't particularly enjoy Katy Bullock's band (maybe the sound system to blame, don't know, it sounded fine from where I was standing) or Steve Colley as lots of us have seen Steve perform many times.
But there were plenty of kids in the stands who loved Steve's antics, and Mr Showman was brought-on exactly to cater for that audience.
If you want to compare Sheffield to any other form of entertainment, having given it plenty of thought I still think it offers good value for money.
Look at the cost of attending any major sporting event. Many of you will know exactly what I mean. If you haven't checked-out ticket prices lately you just might be in for a shock. Three-figure sums are by no means a rarity. Having said that, to me, in one way a comparison doesn't really stand-up anyway. I am not in the market to watch basketball, or the London Philharmonic or even F1 or whatever.
If I want to watch Toni Bou, Dougie Lampkin and co at full stretch all that matters is, do I think that the price – whatever it is – is worth paying? At the moment, at least 6,000 people do. If things improved even slightly on the economic front I think the full house is easily achieveable – but again, easy for me to say.
MEANWHILE, back in the land of real trials, there's a story in Trials Torque this week that celebrates the 50th running of a south west event named the Trispen Trial.
The story is that there were four riders competing who actually all rode in the very first such event back in 1960. And all four – Colin Dommett, Melroy Youlton, Stuart Dymond and David Prowse are regular riders, they haven't just turned-out for a one-off comeback. This reinforces once again that once a motorcyclist always a motorcylist and many, many riders are now competing into their 60s, 70s and even 80s. Tony Ford has a story for us coming-up about one of his members who rides at his motocross events in his eighties.
How amazing is that? If you know of any 80-year-olds still competing regularly I'd love to know. Who is Britain's oldest off-road competitor? Let's find out!
FOOTNOTE: The late news this week (page 2) is that Matt Bates' Events 22 company has taken over the running of the Weston Beach Race. Not commenting on that this week (mainly because the ink is still wet on the contract) but there's plenty of time and plenty of comment to come on this one. Truth is, Weston is the biggest off-road event in the country for both riders and for spectators and it is big news whatever happens.
Off-road sport NEEDS events like Weston for all manner of reasons.