... We had a good look around the trade stands first, John Hulme at TrialsMag was bearing gifts!! He has used some of my photos for the latest issue of the magazine so he handed over a copy to both Barry and myself, plus a few extras!! I have had pictures used in the T&MX before but there is something special seeing them in glossy print... cheers mate. Then along to Steve Saunders and his family at SXS. Just in time to catch the delivery of TopTrialTeam Beta graphics kits... well, I just had to have one!! Barry is already under the impression that I am Michael Browns official stalker so I thought I better not go for the Union Jack special that had been created for Michael to use... instead I now have the version you see to the left here.(pictures of mine when i get around to doing it!!) There are 3 sets to choose from and they are all lovely, contact Steve for details. And whilst you are at it ask about the new Carbonfibre tank cover and clutch case cover!!
Then it was time for the masters trial... this is the highlight for many of us. People of my age like to be nostalgic!! Colomer, Michaud, Gallach, Bilbao and of course our own Steve Saunders rode 5 of the youth world round sections. Cheating and having a laugh was the name of the game. Steve cleaned the first section with ease as did Bilbao and Colomer. As usual it was Amos who provided the smiles... he raced through the first and second sections like it was a time trial!!! There are many of us who think the world rounds are getting a bit stale, only 3 riders who have a chance and apart from here at hawkstone the entry is about 15 riders at the most... what someone whould do is pay Amos to do all the world rounds again!!! He would still finish in the top 10 easily and by christ would be all get entertainment!! It was nice to see Raga, Bou, Cabestany and other world riders following behind the masters and having a good laugh. Cabestany in particular was very vocal for his minder Gallach through the sections. Steve finished in 3rd and Colomer and Amos had their usual run off for the win... of course it had to be Amos who won. But I said it last year, and I will say it again... isn't it nice to see Marc Colomer laughing his way through the sections!!!

After seeing the launch of the 2008 Sherco's (not the best production i have ever seen!) we trundled around the team tents to get a view of the bikes and take some piccies. The TopTrialTeam where very friendly and not only allowed me to pop in and get pictures of Pascuets Rev4 but also moved Maurino's lovely rev3 around as they applied the new sticker kit so that I could take pictures from all angles. The new sherco looks nice. I prefer the colours of the 4t, white and red. Nice to see them go to white. The new Scorpa sy racing, released with no fanfair at all, is also largly white. Be nice if the new Rev3 is white with black and red bits.... mine will be soon anyway !!
Onto the nights entertainment... the Trials Central party. I found my little spot behind the bbq and basically stayed there. After an hour the rain started to come down so we moved ourselves and the BBQ under the little Gazebo that Andy had supplied... worked atreat other than trapping the smoke in. We made do but at around 1.30 am I had to get out for a while as I was suffering from smoke blindness! Almost all were well and truely drunk by then so I left the tongs in the hands of Kev. Bikespace (Gareth) was pissed as a newt by then but I emerged from the main tent to find him cooking himself a couple of burgers. They looked shiney to me... on closer inspection it was found that he had left the plastic seperator sheets on both burgers!!!! ....

... Kinell (Brian) was drinking what looked like 500ml bottles of water all night. This just could not be as he is a well known pisshead!! It turned out to be his own vodka based  mixture... he had to be helped to bed, much earlier than the rest of us. And you should have seen the state of him in the morning!!
With all the rain that we had in the evening I decided that the tent floor wasn't going to be the nicest place to sleep... even with the kind offer of some cheap blow up beds that Bigfoot had purchased!! So Barry took over the back seat of the car and I wedged myself across the front seats at about 2.30am. Having a slipped disc in my back does not make for a good nights sleep when in this position... but I managed a couple of hours sleep before getting up at 5.30 and starting to get the breakfast going. Then it was the clean up. The weather seemed to have kept many away this year so it wasn't as much of a bomb site as last. Empties and unused food all packed into bags and we were off to the trial. The overnight rain had given the rocks a nice damp feel, very slippery under the trees. Barry and I set up camera position by the tapes at the entrance step into section 7 and waited... and waited! Eventually the youth and junior riders appeared and we managed many shots with no one in the way... even the observer made sure he left us a clear view. Of all the riders i saw all day i have to pick out one for making the day brighter... Donna Fox. She was laughing and joking from the moment she walked into the section for a look until the moment she left the section on the bike, and a bloody good ride it was as well. Not many had managed the first step at that point let alone get all the way through the section. ... as an added bonus she is very cute.....

We watched all the riders through sections 7 and 9 and then moved on to the last section out in the sun. Bou was riding everything almost like it was a main road and it was obvious that he was going to win, but the main thing I wanted to keep an eye on was that Michael Brown was in a postion to get the points he needed to win the Junior world championship... turned out he wasn't just in the points, he was winning by a good margin. A nicer bloke you couldn't hope to meet and totaly deserves the championship crown.

Barry and I decided to make an early exit. We were both very tired and I think my ankles and knees were about to lock into the same angle as the hillside at hawkstone!! We managed to avoid the rush and most of the traffic to get Barry home in good time and a quick trip across the bridge back to England had me slumped into the bath, where I stayed for an hour....

Big thanks to all at the TC bash... and among others Steve Saunders, John at Trials magazine, Trialcast, Oset bikes, Ian and family and Mark and Wendy for making it a very good weekend. I'm pleased I came now!!

Photo gallery will be updated .... Heath's Saturday Pictures
... Heath's Sunday Pictures (to be added too as i do them!)

Barry has uploaded his pictures also ... Barry's pictures

All picture links work better with Broadband..!!!