BILLY GREEN – LATEST UPDATE – FEBRUARY 2020

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By Dee Keedwell

**Keedwell Update Feb 2020** Well it’s 2020 and February already! It’s been a little quiet on the trials front since I last wrote. There have been some local events but World and Nationals don’t run between October and March. I have been out practising on my bike as much as possible. Rain or shine, whatever the weather I will be out there riding my bike! I passed my driving test last October which gives me a bit more flexibility to go practising during the week when Dad’s at work and go with friends instead. Although this hasn’t happened as much as I’d like as my A-Level study is full on at the moment. I have just had my mock exams and the real things are 3 months away! It is hard finding the time to study, ride, keep up my fitness and have a social life! Especially as I am doing maths, physics and geography A-Levels which are all pretty heavy going! I know it will be worth it though. A couple of weeks ago I had a break from my studies to go to a trial in Germany. I was invited to ride an indoor event. I have never ridden an indoor trial before so it was something a bit different for me. We drove down, me, Dad and my new minder for 2020, Richard. A minder is really important, they help prepare the bike, make sure I have drink and food during an event but most importantly they are there to help on the actual sections at an event, ready to catch the bike if all goes wrong! This is especially important now I ride the adult classes as the obstacles are pretty high! There are only 10 riders invited to this German indoor trial. 5 of Germany’s top riders and 5 from the rest of the Europe. I was the only Brit. There was a 10,000 crowd in the Saturn Arena at Ingolstadt, Germany who had all paid good money to come and watch us! The obstacles were huge! It was a great experience, cameras, photographers and commentary! Really professional! It is different to the outdoor trials I normally do as you are allowed to stop in the sections but you still get penalised for putting your feet down, and there is a time limit so you have to really concentrate and not hang about! I had a couple of really good rides, and Richard and I worked really well together. Unfortunately though, early on in the event I really suffered with arm pump even though I had had lots to drink, warmed up and eaten. I am looking at ways to improve this. Because of the arm pump I messed up and didn’t make the final, but it was still a great experience. If you fancy seeing the action in Germany you can watch it at https://www.jitsie.com/en/content/31-ingolstadt-2020 I am number 5. Next big thing for me is a trip with Richard to Spain to get some time practising on the bike, hopefully in a bit of Spanish sun! I am really looking forward to it. I will have to study and revise in the evenings but the practise is really important if I want to be competitive in the Worlds and British this year. The first British Championship trial is at Hookwoods in March. The first World round is in May in the Czech Republic, a new place for me. In addition to my new minder, I also have a new personal sponsor this year, Tim King of Kingsteignton based Seymour Horwell, a local Independent Specialists for Volvo Cars and Audi servicing. He is joining RT Keedwell and Southern Filters in supporting me this year. As you can imagine it is tough for Mum and Dad to keep funding me to do all the trials, especially as I am still not earning money myself, so all sponsorship and support is really important and much appreciated! I will work really hard this year to get the best results in my exams and in both the World and British Champs, but I know it’s going to be a tough year… bring it on!

Billy update October 2019 I know it hasn’t been long since my last update, however on the 12th of October I had my last big event of the year. This was the ‘Scott’ trial which is a massive event of typically 200 riders of all abilities in north Yorkshire. The idea is you complete 76 sections over an 80 mile loop off-road, you are scored on your time and observation and the person with the lowest combined score at the end of the day is the winner. Over the trial there are 6 petrol stops where you get to stop and refuel the bike before you get going again, everyone is going as fast as they can over the 80 mile loop as the fastest man sets the ‘standard time’. For every minute you are over this time you get awarded a penalty point, this is how the time element works. Leading up to the event I had lots of people giving me tips, advice and stories from previous years. This just fired me up for it even more and got me excited for the day of the event, I had trained hard and felt I was ready for the event. I started the event relatively steady as I didn’t want to crash or get lost having never seen the course before, after a few sections I passed a few people and had a good rhythm going. Until I got a puncture! However, I quickly managed to fix it and was on my way again, this time going a little slower and taking a few less risks than I had been doing. Over the day I felt fit and good on the bike, most of the sections rode well and I was making good time, however about an hour from the end I hit the wall. Starting to feel tired and struggling to concentrate as I had been riding the bike for almost 5 hours non-stop! The end was a welcome sight and came at the right time. Once I had stopped, had a drink and something to eat I felt better and much better than what people had been describing how I’d feel. After all the scores had been worked out I eventually finished 14th position and won the best newcomer award which I was very happy with, in such a prestigious event where experience counts for a lot. It was a very tough event but I enjoyed my 5 hours 40 minutes and 2 seconds of riding around and north Yorkshire moors and will definitely be back for another bash next year! At this point I would like to say a massive thank you to all my sponsors who back me especially all at R.T.Keedwell for their continued support as without them it wouldn’t be happening. That’s it for this year, see you soon. Billy

BILLY GREEN – LATEST JUNE 2019

Billy Green Update June 2019 What a few weeks I have had! Since April and my last trials update I have been to Wales, Tynemouth near Newcastle, Italy and Japan! This is as well as going to college and trying to fit in going to the gym, running and trials practice! Let alone having a social life! The first event since my last update was in Neath, South Wales. This was round 2 of the ACU RT Keedwell British Trials Championship. This is my second year riding in the adult class at national level. I have won the Youth classes for the previous 8 years but moving to adult is a steep learning curve. Last year was my first year riding as an adult, having upgraded early at 16 years old. I finished 7th in the class in 2018 and desperately want to improve on this for 2019. I changed from a 2 stroke 250cc bike to a Montesa 300cc 4 stroke for this year and I feel I get on really well with the bike but it is very different to riding the 2 stroke so I am learning all the time. It rides and grips very differently. I have ridden events at Neath before and it is the second closest National event to home. But it is still a 3 hour drive so we drove up the day before and camped at the venue. I found the event tough. There were some big climbs and tough sections, but I felt I did ok. I managed to finish 5th and was really pleased with this. I know I need to be consistent throughout the championship though to finish in a good place at the end of the season. On to the next event, the first event of the FIM World Trial Championship. This was held in Pietramurata in North Italy. This would be the first event I would be riding as part of team RG Trials. This is managed and owned by Rudi Geiser who is based in Switzerland. Being part of the team is an amazing opportunity, it gives me support and help at events and support with some of the expenses, though not all. My dad has always been my riding assistant, but we made the decision this year to have someone else do this. This is because I have moved up to the Trial 2 adult class and the sections are much bigger. We decided it would be better to work with someone who has ridden at that level themselves and has more experience in World events. Even though I now have Luke as my minder, Dad still came to Italy with us. It being the first World round I wanted to have dad there too. The World trial events start with signing on and tech control on The Friday, section walking is on Friday/ Saturday, practice and qualification on Saturday and then the trial itself on Sunday. It is a full on weekend! I did ok in qualification in Italy, there are 2 qualy rounds and I finished 13th and 10th. Qualification is a single section that you have to ride as quick as you can without putting your feet down (dabs), stopping or going backwards. The quickest time and least dabs wins and the starting order for the actual trial event is given by your best of the 2 qualification results. The winner starting last as this is supposedly better in trials. My best result in qualy was 10th so I was 10th from last away on Sunday, not too bad out of 28 riders. The event itself went ok. This was my 4th time riding at this venue. It is mainly man-made, with big rocks and steep muddy banks. You have to be confident riding here! I held my own and finished 12th, Luke and I working really well together. Frustratingly I was on joint marks with 11th place but he had more cleans. I’ll take 12th though! Not bad in my adult World debut in a class of 28 experienced riders all older than me! Next stop was Newcastle a 2 day event for rounds 3 and 4 of the British Champs. This venue is way up North and it took 8 hours to drive there. I had a cold, and was very tired so I felt I didn’t do that well on the Saturday, finishing 8th. I was really disappointed as I wanted to maintain my 5th place that I had in Neath, or at least 7th like the first round, but there was always the next day. The Sunday was slightly better and I worked hard to finish 6th. I know I am still learning and I this is how I see these events. I have to learn from each one. I am currently 5th in the British championship. There are 5 rounds left, so I need to work hard and find some consistency for the rest of the season. We returned from Tynemouth at about midnight on the Sunday night, Mum and Dad had work and I had college on Monday and then Mum and I left for Japan on the Monday night! What a whirl wind! We picked up Luke and left from Birmingham airport for our 16 hour flight! Wow it’s a long trip! It was my and Luke’s 3rd time but it was mum’s 1st time going to Japan. When we arrived in Japan it’s a 2 hour drive to Motegi which is the venue for the World trial. This event is unique in the World Trials calendar. It is the only 2 day event and our paddock is in the garages used by all the other top motor sports who compete at Motegi. It really is something special to be part of. The Japanese are passionate about trials riding and there are always large crowds and a real excitement about the event. It rained nearly every day we were there except the 1st and last day, so the sections were changed to allow for this. Because it was so wet the Saturday was really tough and I had a lot of 5’s. This put me way down the results in 14th and I was disappointed as I wanted to improve on my 12th Italy. Trial 2 class that I ride is the largest class in World trials. There are some really good and very experienced riders. There were 32 riders in Japan in Trial 2. 14th is ok I suppose but I knew I could do better. On Sunday it was dry which helped but I also tried to relax and this helped too. I managed to finish 8th! It felt amazing. My 3rd ride in the adult class and I finished in 8th place. A great result for championship points and I felt I rode well. Although I always feel I can do better. So here’s looking forward to the next round in 2 weeks in the Netherlands! Bring it on!

Billy Green Update February 2019

So it’s February and yet again the time has gone by so quickly!

2019 is really exciting for me as I have joined RG Trials team! This is an amazing opportunity for me. I am riding a Montesa 4RT 300RR. A 4 stroke bike with a completely different power and riding style to my previous bikes. I really enjoyed my time with Beta. I have ridden a Beta since I was about 9 years old and achieved so much with them so this is a big change! I am really grateful for this opportunity.

I am also really pleased that RT Keedwell and my other personal sponsors will continue to support me through 2019. This all makes it so much easier for Mum and Dad to allow me to continue to compete at British and World level.

From the moment I first tried the Mont I felt comfortable on it and although it was a difficult decision to leave Beta, I feel happy with my decision and I am feeling good about the bike and the support I have from RG Montesa Trials team. Bring on 2019!

Over the winter there are no British or World Trial’s events but I have ridden a couple of local trials and there have been two South West Championship events so far this year.

December was pretty quiet trials wise. Bike practice every Saturday and Sunday when there are no events on. It’s rare to have a weekend without a local event but they are club events which are at a different level to what I need to be practising so I don’t usually ride them. I need to be challenging myself.

I miss local trials though because over the years I have made a lot of good friends through the local trials scene and now I don’t ride the local events I miss seeing them! When I go to the SW championship events I can catch up with them though and that’s always good. But there are 10 SW Championship trials throughout the year, so I don’t get to see them that much!

My first trial of the year was Round 1 of the SW Champs. This is run by West of England trials club and is always a popular event. It was at a venue called Ruby Rocks on Dartmoor. As you’d think the trial is full of massive granite rocks and the sections use these and the streams and huge muddy, rooty, banks. It’s a tough event. This would be my first event on my new bike.

Joe Baker ex British Champion and many times South West Champion is still my biggest challenge at these events. With his talent and experience I know it’s going to be tough to beat him but that is my challenge for the SW Championship events.

Ruby Rocks was not going to be where this happened though. I couple of silly mistakes on my part and another awesome ride by Joe put me behind Joe. There was one section in particular that day that I was given 2 maximum marks for. But I knew I could do it. I had cleaned it on the 1^st lap but the observer gave me 5’s on the second and third laps. Anyway I went back after the trial had finished to have another go at this section. I had to prove to myself it wasn’t a fluke on the 1^st lap! And guess what! I did it just fine! Frustrating to say the least! Had I got that right in the event I could have beat Joe, but that’s trials!

The next event for me was Round 2 of the SW Champs. This was at Beam Quarry and run by Torridge trials club. I was focussed for this and getting used to my new Mont so I felt good for this event. It went really well. With good sections that suited me and the Mont, I only dropped 6 marks. Joe dropped 15 so I won! I feel like I am adjusting to riding the 4 stroke and my result showed that.

Throughout all this I am studying for my A-levels at sixth form. It was half term week just recently so we arranged with RG Trials to travel to Spain to practice with some of the top riders. Some BrItish riders were also there. This was an amazing chance to practise with riders who all compete in the World Championship too. I travelled to several different Spanish training venues and rode with some great riders, learning loads and feel this has helped my riding progress loads.

It was a tiring but amazing few days, with me and Dad driving nearly 3000 miles in the van over 10 days, riding every day, doing A-level homework at night, and even doing my own washing at the end of every day to have fresh riding kit for the next day… as Mum had to work so didn’t come with us this time! J

We returned from Spain to a weekend of practice and Round 3 of the SW Championship. More about that next month…

I am looking really forward to what 2019 brings. The ACU Keedwell Trials Championship starts in March and the FIM World Trials Championship in May. Bring it on!

Billy Green Update November 2018

Billy Green Trials Update 19.9 2018