THIRSK and District Motor Club hit a wet, windy day for their trial at Low Kilburn Grange, Kilburn, on Sunday, but they forged ahead with four laps of eight sections, receiving a respectable entry in the circumstances.

The old disused quarries make a fantastic venue for trials and conditions made for a good old-fashioned trial, with grip difficult to find. The slippery camber of the third hazard caught out early runners Rob Hutton and Mark Whelan, as both had front wheels slip away for a five, but eventual expert winner Gary Collinson read the steep, rocky climb and drop down well, with by far the best ride on just two lost.

He also proved best on the rocky climb of four and son Zac had a great ride there to match him.

Keith Ellis had a real stopper, a greasy run-in over a 3ft rock step, followed by a wicked jumble of rocks. Collinson and Roman Kyrnyckyj collected a maximum here, only Kevin Tate escaping with less.

Alan Carr, clubman A winner and now Scorpa-mounted, produced a super smooth ride for two on his second lap. Runner-up Chris Jewell almost matched him, but then lost ground on the awkward twisting turn through trees on the seventh hazard.

Dave Wardell again mastered the clubman B class, holding off the duelling pair of Mark Jewell and Mark Hardy with his consistent rides on the last two hazards.

IN what can only be described as atrocious weather, Castleside Trials Club held their last trial of the year on Sunday at Lambshields, high above the village of Edmundbyers, in County Durham.

With gale force winds and heavy rain most of the day, riders were struggling to keep upright in places and a good number were blown off altogether. But this was nothing compared to the experiences of the observers, many of whom were mightily exposed to the elements, but all stuck it out to the finish.

Despite the conditions, a massive 108 riders turned up, so popular is this nine-mile, two-ap event, taking in rock outcrops, streams and hill climbs.

On the expert route, the locals were faced with stiff competition from world event campaigner Jack Price, but it was Billy Bolt, on five, who took the win ahead of John Crinson on 14 and John Battensby on 24.

All Bolt's marks went in single dabs, two of which were in Bill McKeown's second sub in the stream towards the reservoir, where only Battensby stayed clean. But the biggest mark-taker of the day was the fourth section, a tight left-hand turn up and over rocks, where Bolt had the only feet-up ride all day.

The clubmen faced much the same sections as the experts without the tight turns and big steps, so it was quite a challenge, but James Black wasn't put off and took the win on five, three of which surprisingly went in the third sub, where the rest of the top runners went clean. But, undeterred by this, Black went on to push Eddie Aitkin and Trevor Willans into second and third places respectively with just two more marks dropped in the very tricky last group of sections in the quarry.

Finally, the sportsman route was marked accordingly, but the lengthy ride round and the conditions took its toll on a number of riders. But not David Lambert, who took the win with yet another five-mark loss, putting him two ahead of Andrew Back, with Paul Martin a distant third.

PICKERING Motor Club celebrated another great season of motocross, grass tracks and trials at the Feathers Hotel, Helmlsey, on Saturday evening, when more than 80 members, guests and competitors enjoyed a relaxed evening.

The club, under the guidance of David Brown, staged four grass track events, eight trials, four motocross meetings and one hill climb event. Hornsea motocross expert Ryan Voase was the guest speaker.

Motocross winners included Mike Dowson, Joff Gill, Mark Franklin, Alistair Clark, Stephen Hind, Ben Thompson and Sean Robinson, as well as Voase. Jack Darrell was the trials starlet in attendance, along with Patrick Jackson, who is a progressive motocross newcomer.

Former British grass track sidecar champion Rob Bradley also joined the end-of-season function.

A special award was presented to David Brown to mark his 50 years of organising the club's events. The 2016 season is already planned with hopes of more support for grass track racing events.

THE Wetherby Motor Club organisers had no option but to cancel the annual president's trial at Fellbeck at the 11th hour early on Sunday morning.

Land conditions at Kingston Farm were impossible after several days of torrential rain. Organisers Margaret Myers and Jill Harker contacted many competitors by email at 7.30am on Sunday morning.

Results

Thirsk & District MC trial, Low Kilburn Grange, Kilburn. – Experts: 1 Gary Collinson (Gas Gas) 50; 2 Roman Kyrnyckyj (Sherco) 58; 3 Kevin Tate (Beta) 101.

Intermediate: Paul Dennis (Beta) 80.

Clubman A: 1 Alan Carr (Scorpa) 67; 2 Chris Jewell (Gas Gas) 77; 3 Stephen Dennis (Montesa) 108.

Clubman B: 1 Dave Wardell (Beta) 10; 2 Mark Jewell (Beta) 15; 3 Mark Hardy (Beta) 17.

Youth B: Zac Collinson (Gas Gas) 69.

Youth B (yellow course): Chris Barnett (Yamaha) 64.

Castleside Trials Club trial, Lambshields, Edmundbyers. – Expert route: 1 Billy Bolt (Scorpa) 5; 2 John Crinson (Sherco) 14; 3 John Battensby (Sherco) 24; 4 Rob Waite (Beta) 25; 5 Michael Phillipson (Scorpa) 22.

Clubman route: 1 James Black (Sherco) 5; 2 Eddie Aitkin (Sherco) 12; 3 Trevor Willans (Montesa) 14; 4 Richard Pettler (Montesa) 22; 5 Stephen Pettler (Beta) 22.

Sportsman route: 1 David Lambert (Montesa) 5; 2 Andrew Black (Montesa) 7; 3 Paul Martin (Montesa) 16; 4 Carl Peart (Montesa) 18; 5 Paul Lowther (Yamaha) 21.

Fixtures

Saturday. – Richmond DMC awards evening, The Garden Rooms, Tennants, Harmby Road, Leyburn, 7pm (by ticket only).

Sunday. – Bradford DMC West Yorkshire Group Championship Eric S Myers Trial, Skyrakes, Skipton, 10am; Bedlington DMC trial, Canada Farm, Long Framlington, 10.30am; Scarborough & DMC Jackie Baxter Memorial Trial, Low North Park, Harwood Dale, 10.30am; Darlington & DMC trial, Underbanks, Reeth, 11am.