With everyone looking forward
to a new start to the 2009 Championship and
some new teams entering the series the day
arrived with much anticipation. Rob & Andy
were allocated start number 4 so got off to
an early 10.04am start. The course was set
out over approximately 35 miles including a
lot of highway/road distance & involved 34
sections (special tests). The day started
cold but dry, later though all the teams
endured every angle of weather the Dartmoor
area could throw at them (one spell
including snow!).
With a competitive entry Rob & Andy had a
tall order and did make some mistakes (silly
ones at that, but this was the first
round!), they made up for these throughout
the rest of the trial though with some
outstanding precision teamwork riding
skills. Rob had made some subtle alterations
over the winter to improve the sidecar even
more from 2008 spec but one of these meant
that the teams engine did not perform to
it’s best. Both knew that the minor valve
timing alteration would be somewhat of an
“experiment” so this will be put back to
2008 spec for the teams next outing, both
thought this engine mod was worth doing for
the first round and really had to be tested
under competition pressure rather than a
practice session.
After nearly 5 hours of riding Rob & Andy
ended the day with just 46 marks lost from
the 34 sections and a creditable 2nd
place finish in their class so were both
pleased with this as a solid start to build
on for the 2009 season.
Rob & Andy would like to thank everyone
involved for their support for 2009, it is
greatly appreciated. The teams next outing
will be 29th March at “The
Cotswold Cup” in Gloucester then 2nd
round of Sammy Miller British Championship
18th April run by the South
Birmingham Motorcycle Club.
