Sammy Miller Trial goes to Graham Jarvis!

An expectant group of riders arrived at Dunmore Mountain, Spa Ballynahinch on the weekend to tackle what has become known as a very challenging Round of the British Outdoor Trials Championship. Many of the riders are familiar with this part of the Northern Irish countryside having competed here at previous British Rounds. The familiar favourites were present as always, current Sammy Miller holder Graham, the tenacious Steve Colley, the rising star Alex Wigg, and Championship contenders Shaun Morris and Michael Brown were all present. Steve Colley having to tackle the course without previous examination as due to travel arrangements was only able to arrive on Sunday morning.

It became apparent very early on that this was going to be a tough day of trials for riders in all classes, as retirement happened before the first lap was completed. Most notable among these were Championship Challenger Steve Colley. Apparently Steve suffered a mishap on Section 4 when trying to dismount his bike, with his foot becoming caught between the mudguard and the tyre, causing him to fall and badly damage his ankle. Paramedics were quickly on the scene as always and were able to remove Steve's boot and bandage the ankle. However, Steve was unable to put his boot back on due to the excruciating pain and elected to go back to his van to try and put it on. Unfortunately this never happened and one of the most entertaining and hard working riders was forced to retire from the field. I am sure we will see Steve back next year, and hope his injury will be fully healed before the next round.

Other riders also suffered from the tough conditions on what was a very dry and dusty course with grip at a premium. These included Alexz Wigg who had a tumble at an early section and hit his face. This developed into a nasty looking black eye. This did not hold Alexz back for long and showed his determinated by not even complaining about it. Alexz fought on to finish a very respectable Fourth Place just narrowly missing a podium position.

Graham Jarvis quickly stamped his authority on the day by taking the lead after the first lap, only picking up 11 marks when many Championship riders were struggling to break 30. His famous consistency continued with a terrific Second Round only dropping 5 marks.

His only real competition all day were Shaun Morris and Michael Brown who both fought hard over difficult conditions. Going into the final lap it looked like Graham had it all wrapped, but Shaun Morris pulled off an amazing final round by only picking up 3 marks. This brought him within 2 marks overall but Jarvis' consistency took the day. The final Championship result was first Graham Jarvis 32 marks, Shaun Morris 34 marks and Michael Brown 57 marks.

The Expert Section was also a very hard fought affair with Joe Baker finishing in first with a great score of 44 marks, but the second and third place was where it got interesting, with both Dan Thorpe and Ross Danby, on a 125 Gas Gass, finishing on 68 marks. Dan eventually finishing ahead of Ross after count back, but once again proves how close trials can be, even after 36 very difficult sections.

The Youth Section was less complicated with only Jonathan Richardson competing, but finishing with a very respectable 99 marks dropped.

Tough conditions made the course difficult for all riders, with a few retirements testament to this. However as Graham Jarvis commented, he thoroughly enjoyed the trial and as always enjoyed the tough challenge laid out by the Lightweight Course Makers.

Once again many thanks to all those who gave their time in order to make this trial happen, particularly all the observers, and all those who helped organise the event. Same time next year?

Click for Results

Gallery of Images from the Day