A BITTERLY cold day and snow flurries added spice to Guisborough and District MC's trial at Charltons, near Guisborough, last Sunday.

Tom Affleck, riding his MRS Sherco, won the expert class ahead of Tom Hick, while Dan Ferguson eased the inter win away from Chris Brown by just one mark and an outstanding ride from Mark Smith on his Ariel won the newly-introduced twin shock award.

A good entry of 75 riders included a group of 13 in the conducted trial run by George McGee. The class B, C and D youth honours went to Zac Collinson, Richard Pulman and Connor Watson respectively.

It was a poor entry in the experts class, but there was no taking away the consistency of Affleck, who made only one mistake all day when he fived the series of rock steps of the second section on the first lap. Hick also had a shaky first lap before settling.

Bishop Auckland's Dale Whittaker nailed the clubman A class with a solid ride, with Alan Carr, Adrian Harrison and Mike Noble next.

Section one grabbed the only two marks off clubman B victor Gary Bloodworth, Kian Dawson losing his chance to win on six lost. On the B route, there were superb cleans on their second lap from Shaun Dougall and Martin Dennis, plus young Richard Pulman, but only the beefy Ariel of Mark Smith dug a rut deep enough to find grip to stay clean every lap.

TWEED Valley MC had a tremendous turnout for their trial at Doddington, in Northumberland, last Sunday, with some of the 92 entries coming from as far afield as Kinlochleven and many others from north of the border.

Horrendous gale-force winds forced two sections on the hillside to be abandoned for health and safety reasons.

On the expert route, Colin Ward lost nine to steal the win from Michael Phillipson by one, with Callum Murphy finishing third on 26.

Gareth Martin struggled on section nine, but was consistent on the rest to give him a two-mark advantage over Richard Hawes on the clubman route. Scott Mayhew was steady all day to finish third, a mark behind Hawes.

Eric McMeekin is never far away when he takes to the easy course aboard his BSA and, with just a couple of marks to his name, took another win ahead of Perth's Simon Mycock and Adrian Gallon.

Finally, the conducted route was won by J Younghusband ahead of Ella Hodgson.

ROGERLEY Quarry, near Stanhope, played host to the North-East trials fraternity last weekend, but this time under the control of the Castleside Club, who put on four laps of 10 sections with expert, clubman and easy Routes.

Michael Phillipson was expected to take the expert win, but a couple of fives on his third lap almost let in Anthony Stephen, who finished just four marks adrift after he had a steadier ride throughout the day, the bulk of his marks going in ones and threes in sections one and six.

On the clubman course, Eddie Aitkin got back to winning ways with a single dab in section four being his lot for the day. Gareth Martin cleaned section four on each visit, but needed a couple of separate prods in the sixth, which cost him any chance of the win, while Zac Hubbery was another in with a shout, finishing in third place on four.

Mark Jewell made sure of an easy course win by keeping his feet firmly on the pegs for the whole day, but Gary Daykin and Elliott Laws almost matched him until they both took single dabs in section three. Paul Pulman made a nervy start with a mark in the very first section, but went on to finish fourth after a further mark lost in the third hazard.

THE Bradford club won the battle with the weather forecasters last Sunday when it staged the annual Davy Cup Trial on the bleak moors above Pateley Bridge.

As the 96 competitors completed the second of two laps, the snow flurries arrived with an Arctic breeze that chilled riders and the 20 hardy observers out on the moors.

The Davy Cup was the second event in the Yorkshire Centre ACU Championship series, so the big names in county trialling were in action.

At the sharp end, Dan Thorpe was right on form after his laser eye treatment, although the brilliant sunshine was testing the Birstall motorcycle instructor. Leyburn joiner Richard Sadler had no such worries and was at his brilliant best.

Battered and bruised former centre champion Sam Yeadon was back in action, riding with a right wrist support and sticking plasters on his gashed forehead, the legacy of his Keighley Gate crash quite obvious.

Even so, he posted third expert, deprived of overall third by Oliver Sharp.

West Leeds member Nigel Crowther excelled on his Vertigo to beat Buxton's Paul Turner by a single mark. James Moorhouse made a mockery of clubman B by planting his 1982 Bultaco on pole position ahead of Falcon's Chris Tolson and Ian Myers.

Results

Guisborough & DMC trial, Charltons, Guisborough. – Experts: 1 Tom Affleck (Sherco) 5; 2 Tom Hick (Beta) 12.

Intermediates: 1 Dan Ferguson (Gas Gas) 19; 2 Chris Brown (Scorpa) 20; 3 Shane Monkman (Beta) 40.

Clubman A: 1 Dale Whittaker (Gas Gas) 7; 2 Alan Carr (Scorpa) 17; 3 Adrian Harrison (Sherco) 17.

Clubman B: 1 Gary Bloodworth (Beta) 2; 2 Kian Dawson (Gas Gas) 6; 3 Paul Pulman (Scorpa) 7.

Twin Shock: 1 Mark Smith (Ariel) 10; 2 Chris Barnett (Yamaha) 21; 3 John Pattinson (Mfield) 50.

Youth B: Zac Collinson 44.

Youth C: Richard Pulman (Gas Gas) 23.

Youth D: 1 Connor Watson (Oset) 6; 2 William Lishman (Oset) 31; 3 Matilda Arbon (Mecatecno) 58.

Lucky observers draw: Pam Lees, Peter Simpson, Barry Overy.

Tweed Valley MCC trial, Doddington. – Expert course: 1 Colin Ward (Beta) 9; 2 Michael Phillipson (Scorpa) 10; 3 Callum Murphy (Gas Gas) 26.

Clubman course: 1 Gareth Martin (Montesa) 13; 2 Richard Hawes (Yamaha) 15; 3 Scott Mayhew (Beta) 16.

Easy course: 1 Eric McMeekin (BSA) 2; 2 S Mycock (Honda) 6; 3 Adrian Gallon (Yamaha) 7.

Conducted course: 1 J Younghusband (Yamaha) 0; Ella Hodgson (Oset) 15.

Castleside MCC trial, Rogerley Quarry, Stanhope. – Expert course: 1 Michael Phillipson (Scorpa) 14; 2 Anthony Stephen (Gas Gas) 18; 3 Ryan Dalton (Beta) 29.

Clubman course: 1 Eddie Aitkin (Gas Gas) 1; 2 Gareth Martin (Montesa) 2; 3 Zac Hubery (Sherco) 4.

Easy course: 1 Mark Jewell (Beta) 0; 2 Gary Daykin (Ossa) 1; 3 Elliott Laws (Beta) 1.

Bradford DMC Davy Cup trial, Yarnbury. – Championship course, experts: 1 Richard Sadler (Beta) 8; 2 Dan Thorpe (Gas

Gas) 11; 3 Sam Yeadon (Beta) 19.

Inters: 1 Oliver Sharp (Sherco) 17; 2 Thomas Housecroft (Beta) 21; 3 Sam Boocock (Beta) 38.

Novices: 1 Harry Lampkin (Vertigo) 25; 2 Boyd Webster (Montesa) 48; 3 Tom Middleton (Beta) 50.

Youth Class A: 1 Joe Faunthorpe (Beta) 43; 2 Jacob Snowdon (Beta) 74.

Clubman A: 1 Nigel Crowther (Vertigo) 12; 2 Paul Turner (Gas Gas) 13; 3 Sam Jennings (Montesa) 17.

Youth Class B: 1 Aaron Carter (Beta) 41; 2 Adam Juffs (Gas Gas) 81; 3 Sam Lampkin (Beta) 92.

Clubman B: 1 James Moorhouse (Bultaco) 16; 2 Chris Tolson (Beta) 16; 3 Ian Myers (Sherco) 18.

Fixtures

Sunday. – Richmond MC Harold Graham Trophy Trial, Cogden Hall, Grinton, 10.30am; Eboracum MC, Kay Trophy Trial, Moor Farm, Ouseburn, 11am; Yeadon-Guiseley MC second club championship trial, Dob Park, Otley, 11am.