John Hawthorne	Pete Haines
Alex Taylor	Pete Tombling
Aaron Watson	Chris Page

 2022 Norton Trophy Report Ken O'Brien

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

Fine weather greeted a host of riders from many different Centres to contest the Norton Trophy for best Pre 65 machine on the White Route. Despite being a Pre 65 and Twinshock event all classes were catered for.

 
Four laps of ten sections were plotted with hazards ranging from ditch crossings long climbs to muddy slots and cambers. Time was of the essence though as an amber flood weather warning had been issued by the Met office and heavy rain was due at 1 o'clock.

Best Pre 65 and Norton Trophy went to Triumph Tigercub mounted and Aldermaston Nomads raider John Hawthorne with a loss of 3. Section nine ' Axfords Gorse Bank ' was harder than it looked but John's many years of Trials experience shone though with four excellent rides and the only rider to clean every visit.

A gentle but boggy drop to a turn over a log then a steep climb before dropping into a fallen oak bomb-hole with an awkward left handed camber to the end cards though the Gorse.

Wayne Hutton also Cub mounted took the runner-up spot with a loss of 11 section two proving the bug-bear with a couple of short sharp climbs and a rooted end to take in. Alan 'Smokey' Halford made it a 1-2-3 for the Triumph Cub Marque with a most cleans tie-break over serial silverware specialist Nick James 250 DOT.

Best Twinshock rider Mark Davidson steered the little 200 Fantic around to great effect losing 25 caused mainly by Sat-Nav malfunction at section seven. Hot on his heels was new to Ixion events Kenny Presly with an immaculately turned out TLR 200 his tally for the day was 28. Trevor Thomas on a very tidy Fantic 200 took third spot in this competitive class.

Pete Haines Beta 250 over from the Farnham Royal club posted a score of 10 also on the easy route and was the best Sportsman out of eight contenders. Pete had four great cleans at 'Hurworths Hazards' an old fashioned type section comprising a series of slippy turns on a slight gradient before descending over an awkwardly growing low branch clutch and throttle control were of the essence to produce a clean.

The yellow middle route best Clubman went to Michael Maslin Montesa with a loss of 2 albeit a furthest clean verdict over Alex Taylor Vertigo back riding after a lengthy break though injury. Section seven was the ideal going for the four stroke power of the Maslin Mont a 200 plus yard 4th gear climb needing a run-up of 20yard to get on line before the starts. Four great cleans were always on the cards and the big Mont could be heard echoing though the the woods from afar.

Jason Clifford Beta took the 50/50 class win with Swindon club rider Jez Dance in second spot.

Best Expert Peter Tombling Vertigo was having a good ride as was Aaron Watson Youth B taking the BVM Vertigo to top spot.

Section nine proved difficult for the harder route brigade with several large fallen trees to hop over before a soft long climb if you were able to get grip.

Many thanks to all who helped on the day.