Above:BuiltaroundanARMACframe,withREHforksandNJBsuspension,theThorpeCubis minimal,functional andsuccessful.Inset:Danaskedif thismemorial
plaquecouldbeincluded. HismateJulianwasamajorpart ofBumpyLtdandithit everyoneattheorganisationhardwhen hesuccumbedtocancer.
AnARMACclutchlightenerservesseveralpurposes,
obviouslyitmakes theclutchactionlighterandit
sealsthecasetokeep oilinthegearbox.
Inordertoallowthekick-start full movement a
hi-techrubberbandisfitted.ThisholdsuptheS
footrest andiseasilylowered.
12 |AUTUMN 2019
A
sthe suspense mounted in thehall
of theLevenCentreonSaturday
evening after the pre65 Scottish
wasover, thebig question on
everyone’slipswas whohadwon? There
were favourites, of course,and the previous
day’ sresultsoftengive aclue as to who is
in contention and therider sthemselves
have apretty good ideahow theyhave
done,but nothingiscertain until thevery
last moment.
The riders arecounted down, marks
arenoted andthen,finally, thewinne ris
announced and in this caseanew record
wasset. Yes, it is hardtobelie ve thatafter
nearly40years of classic trials action in
the Highlands thereare stil lrecords to be
set and the opportunity to do something
that has neverbeen done beforeand in
Dan Thorpe lifting the winner’strophyin
2019, his name joins another ‘D Thorpe’
Mickisolder than Dave and hewasona
bigger bike too.
Anyway,in2019 Dan Thorpewasthe
winner of the Pre65Scott ishonaTiger
Cub andIwanted to knowwhy aGasGas
rider,who is doingmore than‘abit good’
in the modernscene,ridesaCub in pre65.
The answerisdisarminglysimple.Dan
said: “I thought itwould be nice to ridein
thepre65 withmydad when hewas
as aone off... andI’ve kept coming back.”
Fair enoughDan, so what istheCub like to
ride afteryour GasGas?“It hasto be ridden,
whereas the GasGas is moreforgiving,”he
tell sme, adding,“ther eisactuallymore
ground clearance on the Cub and,of course,
I’ve onlyfour gears toworryabout and
beforeyou go anyfurther,” he grins, “my
role is as rider and tester, rather than
development engineer.Ifyou want the
technicalstuffthen you’ll have to askdad.”
on the silverware... that of his father Dave
Thorpe... and theyhavebecome the only
father and son riders to have wonthe
Pre65 Scottish. Even better from our point
of view, Thorpe theelder wasalso riding
in 2019.
This featurecould nearlyhavebeen
written lastyear,asDan went round the
whole trialfeet-up,but unfortunatelyso
did DanClark eand GaryMacdonald and
the tie-break rulescame into play. Thewin
goes to thebiggerbike ortheolder rider
and Dan Thorpe,beingafortnightyounger
than Dan Clarke and onasmallerbike
tha nGaryMacdonald,wasinthird place.
Thisyear though, therewas no doubt
whohadwon and ‘D Thorpe’is again on
the winner’strophy. Lookingthroughthe
list of trialwinners theother ‘D Thorpe’
also hadatie-break in1993 when he and
MickAndrews cleaned the whole course.
Eachyear,atscrutineering,the rider’s number
is markedontheheadstockofthebikeandthis
prevents replacementofthe bikeduringthetrial.
