DYTC Summer Youth Championships.
Round 1 2023
Seymours Arena.
16/4/2023
Huge thankyou to our sponsors Woodrobes, Central Scanning, OSET Bikes and of course on going support from Stu at Trials Day, and Danny at TrialTube.
Also a big thankyou to all at North Berks Mcc and the landowners at Seymour’s Arena. Stu Robinson as always for all his support and help. Please support North Berks Mcc going forward with their brilliant events.
Thankyou to our observers! Section 1 Sarah Cumberland. 2 Caz/Kayleigh/Andy Rich. 3 Barry Craig. 4 Ali Wareing. 5 Shaunna Rogers. 6 Bev Cumberland. 7 Gary Stewart. And section 8 Julia Watson.
After a house move into storage, an almost forced 2 week holiday in the camper van followed by a move out of storage, we had 2 days to head down to Seymour’s Arena at start setting up for round one of our championship. An event at Newbury Showground just off the M4 meant our journey down took over 2 hours and we started setting up at around 11:30am. A pause for some lunch after 4 (and a bit) sections went down, and several cars began to pull into the arena. After a chat with one of the gentlemen, it turns out today was their shooting day! This actually worked out really well. We had a rest for a few hours, sat in the sun watching them shoot, and it gave us some time to regroup before we would finish setting up, which was completed around 7pm (thanks to Matt Turner for helping us finish off)
Our largest ever entry turned up Sunday morning. A wonderful thing is happening where people are now telling their friends and riding buddies. We try and run these in a simple way so everyone understands the format, with no nonsense and this has helped create a really friendly, family atmosphere. We had some riders compete in their first ever trial, some as young as 4 years old. But we also had riders like Daisy Craig, George Wareing & Mason Tidd to name a few, at the sharp end of their respective classes in the British Championships.
Before I talk about the results;- get well soon to Josh Wood who had a pretty painful crash practicing the week before. Kayleigh Rich was also in attendance and tried a couple of sections only to retire. Kayleigh has a very sore thumb that had the blood drained out of it on Thursday plus a nasty cold. Nick Godfrey was also due to attend with daughter Amelie but wasn’t feeling so great Sunday morning. Sam Lefevre was also missed with some bike issues. Hope to see you all soon.
Also worth adding, the weather forecast was dry! We had a fair bit of rain. It then stopped and started to dry up, and then rained again. Some sections would have been eased if I’d known! But it’s worth noting that the scores may look higher than usual for our trials, this is because we decided to run an extra lap. Seymour’s is a short lap round and previously we had some riders finish in little over an hour. I hope this wasn’t too much for the kids. It was my idea so blame me, but hopefully it worked out ok.
The white route was won by newcomer Rudi Belton, dropping only 3 marks. Rudi looked to be having fun but might find the yellow route more of a challenge next time! Well done Rudi. Winter champion Arlo Phipps was next up, also having a fairy steady ride round. 3rd place was well earned by Ruby Wareing. Ruby improving all the time now. Ruby lost most of her marks on section 5. Molly Hassall from Bristol looked to be having a good day out, she was next up and not far back was Joey Sturgess. I believe 4 year old Joey rode his first trial the week previous. He will soon be pushing older brother Tommy on! Jessica Herbert got round the 40 section trial fantastically, and hopefully picked up some more valuable experience going forward. Barnes Hales was the sole petrol rider and riding his first trial on his Beta 80. Barnes did his best and dug in, hopefully now catching the trials bug!
The yellow route also had one petrol rider, and another new rider with us. Oliver Nichols took the overall win with 24 dropped. On the OSET cup route, Tommy Tidd’s first ride with DYTC saw him just take the win on most cleans from Harry Brookes. Both boys I believe are the same age and tied on 38 marks, so they had to work for it! Thomas Herbert was only 4 points back and finished 3rd overall. Harper Oliver is really pushing on now after her 3rd place in our winter series. Harper securing a solid 4th place on the day behind the boys. Krystian Pekala – Dayment was 5th, having to bike share with older sister Kasia. Louis Wood had his Dad Les’s full attention with Josh unable to ride due to his unfortunate accident mentioned above. I saw Louis myself 4 or 5 times and his improvement is massive in a short space of time. Once Louis has ironed a couple of mistakes out he will be pushing the top 3 of the class I think. Braeden Podesta was next, and like Louis will soon be up there. Braeden and his Dad Martin always look to be having an awesome day out as a team. Local lad Jonathan Brett made a return with us on his OSET 24 and gained confidence throughout the trial.
The yellow/blue 50/50 OSET cup had 3 superstars. Daisy Brookes took the win on 53. It was good to see Daisy have to work for it! Daisy is a great rider, she currently leads the British championships in the girl’s D class, and has won lots of trials with a low score so hopefully she can use the experience now and carry it forward. South Wales’s Freddie Green was next. Freddie had a couple of crashes and had to dig in to finish, but he never gave up and his Dad told me even improved once the rain came! Oliver Edmunds takes a well earned 3rd place. Oliver improving all the time, and recently had a day with the guys at Trials Day. A few less dabs here and there and Oliver will be right there.
The blue route had one petrol rider, George Turner who dropped down from the 50/50. George was at the end of a holiday and competed in the British championships the week before, so a confidence boost was needed. George did well and hopefully had fun.
On the OSET cup championships Oliver Bird again took the win. Oliver won the summer series last year & the winter series too. Young Harvey Reynolds is catching him up though! Harvey had some brilliant riders on his OSET 20. Really pushing the bike on the slippery sections and mastering some fairly large rocks too. Kasia Pekala – Dayment, sharing her brother’s bike made her blue route debut after deciding to skip the 50/50. Kasia was just 13 points back from Harvey but a 3rd place is a good starting point. Another rider from South Wales, Harlo Chapman was also making his debut on the blues; Harlo finished just one point ahead of Harry Craig. Both young boys digging deep to get through a long days riding.
Harry’s sister Daisy, who leads the Girls British C class championship, had a great win on the 50/50 blue/red’s. After trialling the class over winter we decided to keep it going through the summer. It was great to see it working well, and supported by 4 very good riders (& Jack Rich!) The route allowed these 5 to ride 4 of the harder blue sections, and 4 of the easier reds. This in turn allowed me to create 4 much harder red sections to test the boys & Kayleigh. And 4 easier ones so they can get a breather and the younger kids can have a test. That has a knock on effect on the blue route too. In theory this should then give them 4 more testing sections, and 4 easier ones. And so on to the yellow/blue 50/50 and so on etc etc.
Daisy Craig, George Wareing and Jack Rich were 3 riders who found the blue’s too easy, but would maybe find the reds a little to frustrating. They finished in that order with Daisy winning quite comfortably. George just piped his mate Jack. George was much better on sections 6 & 7 which is where the difference was. Alfie Shaw has been riding lots of peddle bike trials and it was really nice to see him and his family back riding with us. Alfie had a typical ‘Alfie’ performance, fully of grit, determination, effort, but smiles and laughter too. Billy Guilford was next up having recently made the change from an OSET 20 to a medium wheel Beta 80. Billy did well and dug in, and I’m sure he will soon be with the others score wise.
The red route had the most talented blend of riders we have ever had. It’s a shame Sam Lefevre’s bike failed as it would have been great to add his name to the list. Our daughter Kayleigh also rode similar sections to these taking a win in the Girls British B class around a month before. Although the form the boys were on, Kayleigh would have had her work cut out to get any kind of a result!
Rowan Stewart put in a performance of skill and flair and took the win. A few slack dabs could have cost him though because Mason Tidd wasn’t too far behind come the end of the day! Mason’s riding on section 2 was fantastic and he made the rock at the end look easy. Section 3 was really a decider here, the rain made it almost impossible to ride. This section rode great at the recent girl’s national on route 2, with Kayleigh getting 3 1’s in drier conditions. Id hoped to test the boys but it became like ice and got worse with mud being dragged up (sorry lads). William Sparks was 3rd place. We have known William & his Dad, seen them around trials for years so it was nice to see them ride with us. William got to work on the day and earned his 3rd place. Aaron Watson had some great rides on his Vertigo Busto 125. Aaron was joint best rider on the tricky section 8. Luke Batten was only 6 points behind Aaron, finishing on 68. And not far behind again was Zach Reynolds on his Gasgas 80. Zach did manage to get up the rock on section 3 for a 3 on his last lap. Howard Mumford was next up on his Beta 80. Yet another new rider with us, Howard went round with his group of friends all helping each other out. Howard is a very skilful rider like all of the boys, and we were really happy to see such a talented entry on the red route. Joesph Baker has very recently made the switch from a big wheel 80 to a lovely TRS 125. Joseph is putting in the hours practicing and has a good group around him and a very supportive Dad, so will soon be pushing higher up the table come the warmer months.
Thankyou all so much for coming! We hope to see you again soon.
Andy, Caz, Kayleigh & Jack x
GALLERY
