NORTH ISLAND TRIALS CHAMPS – ROUNDS 7 & 8. AUGUST 2008 

It seemed such a good idea way back in about March this year when, at a club trial down here in Christchuch a certain Mr.Derek Scott came up with the wonderful idea of going up to Wellington to ride a couple of North Island Champ rounds. Well, as the months past and some South Island rounds came and went, Kaiakoura 3 day came and went, things were looking quite promising. Right up until about a month prior to the event. It started raining. And quite frankly didn’t stop. So there we were last Friday morning heading north towards Picton, 6 of us in two vans, driving through torrential rain, roadworks with Stop/Go men and temporary traffic lights at all the major landslips along the way. The thought of 2 days riding in these conditions was not very appealing. Amazingly there were no major delays and we arrived in Picton with hours (literally) to spare. The crossing was as calm can be. After more torrential rain during the night we awoke to more rain, we headed out to the venue and missed it by about 20kms. Finally arriving at the right place the first challenge was to descend the steep farm track to the parking area. ‘This’ll be fun on the way out’ I thought, ‘wish I’d bought that 4WD Hiace now’. The trial got under way and all the sections were a reasonable ride away along narrow, muddy (funny that) farm tracks which, on the first lap were fine but very quickly turned to something akin to an ice rink only worse. Plus with a couple of steep climbs and descents thrown in made for very interesting travelling to and from the sections.  The sections themselves were mainly in and out of rocky streams, up and down greasy banks. Number 9 and 10 probably the most slick of them all. But, considering the weather in the weeks previous they were on the whole very rideable and still taking points. And the rain had stopped. Day 2. After more rain overnight we awoke to blue sky and sunshine. Arriving at the venue, early this time, we were told that the organisers had eased off some sections due to MORE rain. Music to my ears. They had been snowed on the previous evening whilst getting the sections ready for Sunday. After briefing we were off. No long muddy tracks today, just a short loop crammed with 10 mostly muddy sections. The first lap condions were pretty good but very soon about half of the sections became extremely slick. Full credit to those riders that seem to be able to find traction on such terrain. The sections had quite a variety. A steep hill climb, a rather large rock for Intermediates/ Experts and slippery logs. But, nothing dangerous AND the sun was still shining. Plus a few spectators had made their way out. All us South Islanders finished in one piece which is always a bonus in my books. A big thank you to the Ixion Club for putting on an excellent trial especially considering the weather they had to deal with in the weeks prior. I for one will be back for more........ Cheers  John Regan Quote of the Weekend:  ‘Too Much Throttle – Nink Um Poop’...........(you needed to be there....!)

Follow this link to the Ixion Website to veiw the final results.

Wellington August 2008 results