Torrential rain leaves trial at Dob Park and Brown's Wood treacherous under foot... and wheel

RICHARD SADLER switched from top level national trials down to a club championship event at Dob Park on Sunday morning where fifty nine riders and a further twenty very young children competed in the tenth and final Yeadon-Guiseley Motor Club’s pre-Christmas event.

After torrential rain both Dob Park and the adjacent Brown’s Wood were treacherous under foot and wheel. The contingent of small wheels class contenders certainly had a tough time in the dankness of Dob Park and spills and skids were the norm.

Cookridge girl Poppy Fletcher was showered with mud from a spinning rear wheel and her left eye required swift attention from her father Sean removed mud from her eyes and the girl went on to win the Inter class riding her Oset machine.Harrison Lightfoot won the hard route from local lad Jimmy Crabtree and Alfie Carney. Aiden Richardson just managed to foil Longwood blonde Alanna Eagleton who had quite a few slips and slides. The youngest and smallest girl was Isabella Addy who stuck to her task and got her Beta through all six observed sections. The main adult and youth trials course was in Browns Wood where ten very testing sections sorted the men from the boys. Ironically Sadler was tested by Dan Hemingway, Guy Kendrew and Sam Beecroft – Penny. That quartet were well clear of Bradford youth Charlie Smith who had Buxton’s Harry Turner and British Class Youth champion harry Hemingway right on his case. Only Sadler and Hemingway senior mastered the hard ‘Crosser’s Rocks’ where Kendrew and Beecroft-Penny dropped a mark.

Kendrew has shadowed, and beaten at times, Sadler who is British S3 Parts and British Expert class champion. But for dropping a third lap penalty in section four Hemingway would have won a tie-breaker for the top spot!

Fewston electrician James Noble missed his Sunday morning lie-in when a phone call from a farmer demanded his specialist services before dawn. Seems milking machines don’t work too well without electricity. However ‘Bobble’

(his national nickname) hurled his Beta home ahead of Paul Kettlewell and the unquestioned ‘king’ of his class Jamie Stephenson who was also minding his youngest son Freddie who contested Clubman B class. Ride of the trial came from Alice Minta who took a splendid fourth place in Clubman A. The Telford schoolgirl was a mere six penalties behind Jamie Stephenson. Note also that Miss Minta rode a nonstop trial with only dabs and threes on her scoresheet. The Scorpa suits her attacking style of riding. Tony Holmes won the latter category from Phillip Hammond and Karl Greaves. That class fielded a total of twenty seven starters. Full marks to the organising team on the day. The amount of rain overnight and the depth of fallen leaves concealed many from soft patches that could, and did, unseat a few competitors. Despite the conditions the score lines in all classes was respectable.

Pickering & D.M.C. Easy trial Yatts Farm, Newton on Rawcliffe, Sunday

THE Pickering club stage their final easy trial of the year on Sunday at Yatt’s Farm, Newton, on Sunday where despite the sunny but cool weather twenty one riders had a choice of three routes through the eleven sections. The bargain basement cost for riding six laps was a mere £13.00 and therefore good value. Overnight rain did mean some slight section tuning as the grass land was very slippery in places. Sections one to three were on the hilltop where the easterly breeze, straight from Siberia, meant ride them sharpish and then drop down the hillside to the fourth to sixth climbs. The fifth section dived into rabbit holes and in most cases back out. Sections seven and eleven dodged round small and large trees while the fallen wall at ten tested the field. As far as names Mark Franklin dropped in to give the Pickering trial a go and he won from usual winners Andy Thorpe and and Sam Southwell. The Club also tried a white route course for four riders which did seem a trifle hard judging by the winner’s seventy four penalties but four started and four finished. Pickering rest until January 20 when Yatt’s Farm hosts the 2019 opening trial –snow permitting.

FIXTURES

Saturday

No events.

Sunday

No events.

Boxing Day:

Bradford & D.M.C. Annual Boxing Day Trial, Howden Wood, Silsden, 10.30 am.

(Entries maximum 80).

Richmond Motor Club, Albert Shaw Trial, Reeth, all classes. 10.30am.

Friday, December 28:

Yeadon-Guiseley Motor Club, Renee Smith Memorial Trial, Dob Park, Otley,

10.30am.

Saturday, December 29:

Wetherby Motor Club, Kirkby Christmas Trial, Kirkby Malzeard, 10.00am.

(Entries maximum, 140).

Sunday, December 30:

Scarborough Motor Club, Yuletide Trial, Low North Park, Harwood Dale, 10.30am.

Wetherby Motor Club, John Smiths Trophy trial, Cockhill Mines, Greenhow, 10.30am.