Alan Taylor	Andrew Earnshaw
Brian Ayres	Steve Chandler
Paul Mealyer	Bret "Clean" Harbud

2014 James Cup Trial

Report Ken O'Brien

Pictures by Gary Dowzall, others can be found at sliders.photography

Note Pictures and links still to be updated.

A lovely piece of silverware was up for grabs last weekend at the Norton Trophy Trial where promoters Oxford Ixion MCC put on a traditional muddy muddy muddy trial with a handful of big hill climbs thrown in for good measure.
A full lap of Cox's farm made for ten testing sections that were ridden three times with this event also being a round of the South Midland Classic Championship for Pre 65 and Twinshock machines.
Two routes were on offer today and the hard route victor and winner of the Norton pot was Tiger Cub mounted Alan Taylor
Alan put in a faultless first lap but on his second visit to sub ten the mud had dragged up the bottom turn over roots and three steadying prods were delivered at the precise moment to ensure he stayed on-line to the end cards.
Andrew Earnshaw 325 Suzuki had a good day taking the best in class Twinshock, nine was his tally with section ten doing the damage once again.
Paul Casling rolled back the years to put the best performance in on his 250 DOT losing fourteen, one of which went astray on the sandy climbs of section six where the last steep sector became surprisingly grippy late on.
The second route on offer today was not that easy and experience shone through with Ex classic Scrambler Brian Ayres out on his recently restored BSA 250, he made best Pre 65 on this eased course.
Scramble expertise came in very handy today as most sections were third and fourth gear blasts especially section eight a boggy start then a 70 yard flat out blast up a slick and steep bank shutting-off at just the right moment before turning to make the equally steep drop.
Paul Mealyer was revving the little 185cc Bantam to the limit in order to conquer the big climbs of section seven as the rain came down late-on to spoil the grip that was available earlier in the day.
A couple of threes on the last lap were not enough to rob him of the win and went on take best Two Stroke.
John Eckhart 500 Pre Unit Triumph was in his element with enough power on hand to clean the steepest and slickest of hills burning though the mud to get maximum grip.
A few club members came along with modern machinery for an easy day with Darren Wheeler going clean on the hard route as did Brett Harbud  and Mark Anderson in their respective classes on the eased option.

Many thanks to all the observers who braved the cold and rain.