for Results please see attached. (sorry they’re late)

Ashford EKTC Nov 14 results 012

Thanks

Dave

MEMORIES OF MURRAY BRUSH by Tony Rout, typed by Sandra Francis.

Attending the Murray Brush Memorial Trial recently reminded me of an article I wrote for the Owls Club magazine some years ago

I recall an epic journey Murray and I took in January 1963, the year of the big freeze.

It all started one evening in Brenchley Working Men’s Club, when Murray asked me if I would like to accompany him to the Allan Jefferies National trial in Worcestershire on January 10^th. Of course I said yes, being young and up for anything.

Now, the snows started on Boxing Day 1962 and by New Year were four or five foot deep all over the country and still coming down. Having driven with Murray to a lot of local trials in the past, I had every faith in his driving ability to get there and didn’t give it a second thought.

7am on Saturday 9^th January and we were off in his nearly new Morris Minor 1000 pickup, J.A.H. Triumph Cub in the back with about 20 gallons of petrol, riding gear, spades etc. I had an overnight bag, wellies and a thermos flask with coffee and brandy in it and £1 in my pocket.

We set off in a blizzard with about 200 miles to go, but you must remember there were no motorways, bypasses, mobile phones, or salt on the road back then. Many telephone lines were down, so you were pretty much on your own. We made good progress through Tonbridge and Sevenoaks to the A25, but remember we were heading to a little hamlet in the wilds of Worcester and the Duck Inn. I was on the map which was useless as most road signs were buried under the snow! By about 10am we had made it to a transport café somewhere near Newlands Corner for breakfast. Some lorry drivers advised us not to continue beyond Guildford as the roads were impassable. Not to Murray in his “ Morry Thou”. Pressing on to the A40 it became apparent how bad it was, on one stretch it resembled the whoops section of an area motocross, 8ft high snowdrifts, telephone poles and power lines down etc. The only good thing was that there was absolutely no other traffic on the roads to block our path, so “Mo” could “give her the get on” as he used to say.

Around 1.30pm we arrived in Swindon and stopped a pub for a pint or two and a bite to eat. The landlord was a keen motorcyclist and showed us his Manx Norton racer. He wished us well and we drove on to Cheltenham, it was almost dark by now and still snowing old boots! Two young hitch-hikers asked if we would give them a lift to Gloucester. Murray thought this a good idea as we moved the “Road Closed” signs out of the way! He told them to hop in the back of the pickup. They would be able to push if we got stuck! We made it ok, just, and they knocked on the back window and jumped out somewhere in the town.

Pushing on past Bewdley we were on a very minor road and came to steep hill after a tight right-hander over a bridge and this was the only time there or back that I had to get out and push. Soon after we arrived at our destination, The Duck Inn. It was 9pm, the bar was almost empty, and so we ordered a pint and said we had driven up from Kent for the Trial next day.

Sorry the landlord said it’s CANCELLED.

After nearly choking on our beer our next question was” can you put us up for the night?” NO! Try back in Bewdley. As it was well past 9pm and 10 degrees below zero we did not fancy sleeping in the motor, so back to Bewdley where we were lucky to find a good coaching inn. I think it was the Kings Head. The only room available had a double bed and as I had never slept away from home before it was a bit strange to me.

We woke the next morning, Sunday to find the sun shining and the snow clouds gone, though it was extremely cold. After a good full English breakfast we set off for home at about 10am. Trundling along we were still about the only vehicle on the road but conditions were much better. At about 12noon we arrived at the The Air Balloon, Birdlip in Gloucestershire, where there was a warm welcome from the Davies family. Bill Davies, the landlord had been a star sidecar trials rider and his 2 sons, Mike and Tony were National Works supported riders at the time and well known to Murray. So after a good ploughman’s, several pints and much merriment we set off for home again at kickout time, about 2.30pm on a Sunday those days.

So, on the way back we came, stopping only to fill up the Morris from Mo’s “supply” in the back. It was dark by 4pm, but luckily I spotted a fish and chip shop open in one of the towns, it helped to soak up the beer! We still had a long way to go, but the faithful pickup never missed a beat, and we arrived home in Brenchley around 10pm., just in time for a quick one in the Bull. All that way and I still had change from my pound.

Sadly Murray has gone now, but we never forgot that journey, also a big thank you to Mr Dunlop for his town and country tyres!

Tony Rout

Last Sunday Sittingbourne held their annual charity trial. 56 riders started and although no experts started they set a good test for the remaining routes.

We had 10 riders present including 2 debutants in Mark Smith and Wayne Baas. Mark, who has ridden in the past but not for some time decided to ride the Inter route and on a bike he has not ridden before he went round in a very credible score. Wayne who has recently taken up the sport rode the easy route. From looking at the scores in this class this route wasnt that easy and he finished very well.  The rumble in the jungle between messrs Haynes vs Inskip seem to go down to the last section and Craig took a narrow victory but it appears that Glyn may have had some engine gremlins so watch our back next time Craig.

Pete Southcott continues to improve weekly and is showing that he will be a good prospect for the future, it helps having a low centre of gravity so this must help but sometimes this can be a disadvantage. Section 10 was a tricky section with a ditch jump follwed by a steep bank. It was a tricky section especially on the first couple of rounds with lots of riders failng to make it up the bank. A few weeks ago Pete would not have attempted this kind of section but as his confidence grows he took it on. Having failed on the first lap he then went on to master it on laps 2&3. The low centre of gravity was his downfall on the last lap when he got stuck on the top of the bank, one can only liken this to an upside down tortoise watching him trying to escape. However, its really great to see so much improvement and someone so keen.

Huge thanks to the Sittingbourne Team for a great trial and to all the observers.

Results attached

Sittingbourne Charity Trial 004

The final scores have been calculated for the 2013/14 club championships, please see the aggregates page on this website.

Well done to all the class winners, the prizes will be handed out at the annual presentation night early next year.

The observers trophy scores are shown below.

Observer – Maureen Buttle 6, Roy Francis 6, Stan Luck 3, Tony Piles 3, Phil Turner 2, Robbie Whorlow 2, Sandra Francis 1, Michael Nutbrown 1, Dave Luck 1, Keith Francis 1, Henry Dowling 1

Please see attached results from last weekends trial. These results will count towards the EKTC aggregates and the club championships.

We would like to say a big thank you to the Barham Club, all the observers and to Mark Ridge and Adam Bell for setting out an excellent trial.

Barham Cup Trial; Oct 12th 2014

EKTC Combine Trial – Sunday 14^th September

A lovely sunny day for trialling at the Wormshill venue. Good turnout of 37 riders, the lads at Sittingbourne did a good job cutting out various new areas of the wood. The trial was set quite tight due to the conditions and overall the scoring appeared to be quite low.

It was good to see Connor tackling the white route, its the right time for him to push on, especially as he is too much competition for some in the inter class. We were all hoping that the start of the 2014/15 club championship would see Pot Hunter Pete move up but he says he not quite ready for those heady heights and needs a growth spurt first.

The ground here is very similar to Stowting last week, after a few dry weeks the ground was very lose and became easier as the day went on but with a few sections on the flinty hills there were many chances to lose a few marks.

Overall it seemed everyone had a good day apart from Steve Haselden who decided to use his right foot to stop the back wheel instead of the kill switch. The accident could have been much worse but thankfully he was ok, just a damaged boot and new brake hose needed and he will be back to his best next time.

Results to be posted here soon

Big thanks to our friends at Sittingbourne for an excellent days trialling.

Sittingbourne EKTC results Sept 14