Australia’s three member Ladies Trial des Nations team began their build up for next weekend’s Italian event by entering the second round of the individual Ladies World Championship at Isola 2000, France.
Our three riders, Michelle Coleman, Brooke Lonie and Kristie McKinnon began their journey in Barcelona, where they toured the Sherco and Xispa factories and collected brand new bikes for their European program, thanks to the support of Trialszone Australia ( Sherco) and The Hell Team (Xispa).
Isola 2000 would be the second round of the Ladies World Championship, held high in the French mountains 80km north of Nice. Our girls had just one day on their new bikes before the trial, but the aim was to get competition practice and adapt to the bike along the way.
Team Oz leading the field of 21 riders away because none of our riders had ridden the opening round would be an extra challenge, as the high mountain venue (2000 metres) had never been used for a trial before, and the sections were all new and unknown.
While our girls may have lacked practice, they did have the support of three Aussie minders in Phill Whittle, Ross Middleton and Dennis Fitzpatrick. Most of the girls sections were exactly the same as those for the mens world championship the following day, with pink splitter gates stretching up the steep rocky hillsides.
The opening lap saw all the nerves worked out, as each rider had good rides mixed with mistakes throughout the fifteen section course. Multiple world champion, Spaniard Laia Sainz was quick to follow the Aussies through the sections, as she pushed hard to beat the rain predicted for the second lap.
Rain did come for the second lap, and the sections got significantly harder. Michelle Coleman had a problem with her bike which refused to start at section 5, which would see her forced to face the wetter conditions for most of the lap. Switching to another bike allowed Michelle to finish the day, but the changed of machine would exclude her from the official results. The Sherco factory truck fitted a new magneto and the bike was back in business.
The end results would show Kristie McKinnon in 16th place in her first ride on the all new Xispa 280 machine, followed by Brooke Lonie in 19th on her 125cc Sherco which worked extra hard for power in the very high altitudes.
Moving on from Isola the team headed for Darfo, Italy for training with leading Italian rider Fabio Lenzi during the week leading up to the final round of the world championship, and the Ladies Trial des Nations the following day.
Kevin Z.