Adrian Steele	Andrew Earnshaw
Wayne Hutton	Kai Morris
Steff Tombling	Chris Wickham

 2021 Ivan Davis Trial

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 Ivan Davis Cup a Novice event with the best adult performance on the standard yellow route taking the pot. 20 months had passed since our last event due the C word so many weeks of clearing was required at the excellent Cox's Farm venue. Four laps of ten sections were plotted with hazards ranging from ditch crossings long climbs and muddy slots. Time was of the essence though as an amber flood weather warning had been issued by the met office and was due at 2 o'clock.
Adrian Steele 250 Beta took the main award with a loss of three.
Section five Axfords Gully was harder than it looked a timber bridge raft to cross the bog then an awkward root crossing before a steep sandy climb to the end cards but Adrians 40 odd years of Trials experience shone though needing only a steadying prod on lap 3.
Alan Taylor Beta 250 multi winner of this Trophy missed out by the odd mark this time Alan won the Ivan Davis for the first time 41 years ago. Alan making light work of section 9 a long climb to a deep soft turn before dropping over low growing boughs.
Mark 'Woody' Woodburn had a cracking ride on the 315R Mont losing 8 losing half his marks at section 10 a tricky three foot fallen tree and several angled roots to navigate.
Best Twinshock went to Andrew Earnshaw Piloting the Beamish 250 Suzuki around for a miserly 14 and a fourth overall on the Clubman route. Andrew was spot-on at number 8 a fast approach was needed to traverse a water splash then a loamy uphill turn before a hop over a log then a lattice of roots to the finish cards.
Kai Morris and dad Jim finished one two in the Novice class parting with 47 and 51 respectively with the hundred yard steep slick Hill Climb of section 2 taking a fair few marks.
On the White eased Sportsman route Wayne Hutton 230 Tigercub aced them up with single dab ride this took place at section 7 on lap three with a momentary lack of concentration meant a soft prod ensued it was a tricky section a short sharp bottom gear flick around an aging Elderberry then a slippy drop before selecting a higher gear for the cambered grassy climb out.
Stephanie Tombling was in great form today with the little 125 Beta zipping up and down the assorted terrain for a 2 mark deficit a great ride in the deteriorating conditions.
A hard route and a 50/50 were available with Chris Wickham Beta 300 best Expert on 6 marks lost and Mark Elms best 50/50 on 3 just ahead of Ian Watts also 300 Beta on 4. These bigger capacity machines were pulling fourth gear up the long sandy climbs of sections 3 and 4 and could heard from afar in the woods.

Where was the mud most riders asked me it was a bit dry.

Many thanks to all that observed.