The Riders Championship for 2022 finished with the last National Rally of the year at Southport.
Despite the first event at Whitby at Easter not counting (for various reasons), the male and female categories were hotly contested during the remaining 8 events, although sadly there were not enough entrants for a ‘Club of the Year’ category.
Due to the fact both LCGB (Belgium) and VCB (Portugal) world events also clashed with Nationals this year it meant that certain loyalties could be tested and familiar faces at the corresponding events (Kelso and Cleethorpes respectively) would be missing.
As this was the first full year of Nationals since the pandemic, things were potentially going to be a bit uncertain in many ways, and for me personally the whole year would prove a massive learning curve.
One of the main sponsors (Lexham Insurance) were only able to physically attend several rallies, so with the remainder it meant I had to call upon the good nature of a few other stall holders to accommodate myself and the signing on sheets (many thanks to ScooterNova, Crusader Promotions and Karen & Terror). Luckily my long suffering stripey jumper meant most people competing could see where I was, although at times I was also called away on custom show judging duties.
The year went quite quickly, and at the vast majority of events we definitely had the weather on our side. As the championship is based on miles ridden during the year (to get to the Nationals), there was already a potential clear winner known at Woolacombe for the males, however at that point second and third placings were only just 1 mile apart from each other!
The females would have to continue on until Southport itself to find out the overall winner, although it is worth noting their positions were looking like being reversed in the VCB championship that both were also competing in.
BSRA sponsors
After the BSRA Committee meeting it was on to the Market Hall (where the custom show was being held) to announce the winners and give out the prizes, which luckily came together at the last minute in some instances. Many thanks to the sponsors: Lexham Insurance (for winners insurance tokens), the BSRA (cash), LCGB (cash), Readspeed (gift vouchers), SWSC’s (trophies) and Ann for her help during the year.
The winners are…
Male winners: 1st place Iain Cleeve, 2nd place Jamie Jarvis and 3rd place Adam ‘Col’ Collier.
Female winners: 1st place Helen Rumsey, 2nd place Jo Jones and 3rd place Ann Murphy-Gillard.
A big well done to all the entrants and especially the winners. All top 3 males came from the north east whereas the female winner is from the south east and the runners-up both from the Midlands.
Hopefully next year brings a better sense of normality to the proceedings and with that more entrants competing. I was definitely surprised this year that more LCGB and VCB members didn’t enter, as the Nationals form a good part of their respective championships, so what’s to lose!
The championship for 2023 will kick off at Scarborough at Easter, we’ll bring you news about how to enter before the rallies start again and you can find out more about it here. See you there.
Scott, Medway SC.
