Back Cowm Quarry, Tong Lane, Whitworth, nearest postcode is OL12 8BJ

12:00pm start, enter on the day, All solo classes for Adults and Youths:

Experts, Intermediates, Clubman, Beginners and separate conducted trial

Contact: Margaret Whitlow 01706 633977

Back Cowm Quarry, Tong Lane, Whitworth.

If using Sat Nav, the nearest postcode is OL12 8BJ
Start Time 6pm
Enter on the day £10 includes supper at The Cock & Magpie Pub after trial.

All solo classes for Adults and Youths:
Experts, Intermediates, Clubman, Beginners and Separate Conducted Trial.

Contact Margaret Whitlow 01706 633977

Next event: Dale Trial 23th Sept

Back Cowm Quarry, Tong Lane, Whitworth.

If using Sat Nav, the nearest postcode is OL12 8BJ
Start Time 6pm
Enter on the day £10 includes supper at The Cock & Magpie Pub after trial.

All solo classes for Adults and Youths:
Experts, Intermediates, Clubman, Beginners and Separate Conducted Trial.

Contact Margaret Whitlow 01706 633977

Next event: 18th July Evening Trial Rd 4

See club web site for map
Start Time 10.30am
Enter on the day £15
Solo classes for Adults and Youths:
Experts, Intermediates, Clubman etc

NO Beginners / conducted route.

Contact Margaret Whitlow 01706 633977

Next event: 27th June Evening Trial Rd 3

Back Cowm Quarry, Tong Lane, Whitworth.

If using Sat Nav, the nearest postcode is OL12 8BJ
Start Time 6pm
Enter on the day £10 includes supper at The Cock & Magpie Pub after trial.

All solo classes for Adults and Youths:
Experts, Intermediates, Clubman, Beginners and Separate Conducted Trial.

Contact Margaret Whitlow 01706 633977

Next event: Julian Bentley Trial 17th June

If using Sat Nav, the nearest postcode is OL13 0BB
Lee Quarry is located behind Future’s Park, follow the signs from there to the quarry.
Start Time 10.30am
Enter on the day £15, Solo classes for Adults and Youths:
Novice, Beginners and Separate Conducted Trial.

Contact Margaret Whitlow 01706 633977
Next event: 30th May Evening trial Rd 2

Glorious sunshine greeted the 60 riders to Shawforth, Lancs, where the Rochdale & DMC staged the Sid Humphries trial, a North West Centre Championship and Sandiford off road Championship round.

With clear blue skies and an almost Mediterranean climate, there was a relaxed ambience in the paddock – with the exception of Alan Lord, a previous winner of the “It worked OK last night” trophy – who was feverishly attempting to rectify the cooling system on his Gasser !

Four lengthy moorland laps of ten was the order of the day  and proceedings got under way at section one on the edge of Middle Hill, where observer Bill  Francis was basking in the sunshine, with a fabulous vista of the open Pennines. “Better than Benidorm  this !” Bill was herd to behold. Exactly what Bill meant I am not sure – but I’ll leave that to your imagination!

A short jaunt round Hades took riders to section 2, a narrow shale gulley which, to my recollection, was last used in the Red Rose trial in the days of Rathmell, Lampkin and Shepherd etc. The section itself proved straightforward enough, but whilst dropping down off Hades down the very steep fell side, Ross Law decided to go “off piste” on his own line, picked up speed and needless to say, his front wheel  located a large hole, nicely concealed beneath the heather. Ross had to be extrapolated from beneath his Gas Gas  by observer Brian Mills (when he could stop laughing !)

The river and rock step of Higher Slack proved less fearsome than previously, the double subber being totally dry and consequently the rocks far more grippy. The same applied to the isolated Cranberry Clough – another old Red Rose favourite- although the long steep rocky gully took marks aplenty , particularly on the hard route, where a sheer rock step proved troublesome. Here , steam was coming from more than just  Lordys engine, I can tell you – for as Alan failed to nail his approach to the step for the fourth consecutive lap there was an abundance of steam emanating from his helmet ! Russ Carter, clear winner of the intermediates, showed his class here with one of the few clean sheets, for all four visits on the hard route.

A moorland ride toward s Rough Hill, took riders to two subs at the quarry, and it was section 6, a climb over large awkwardly spaced quarry delights, that took overall winner Dec Bullock for his solitary mark of the day. A splendid effort!

Jack Spencer also cast his first dab here – a mark which was ultimately to prove his downfall on the furthest clean decider, as Crippsy went clean. Both riders were to finish on 5 marks.

For the middle route riders , lulled into a false sense of security on the earlier sections, there was to be a sting in the tail, with the final three sections all set to determine the various class winners. Number 9, manned by regular observer Harold Isherwood, utilised a water filled rock pool – usually unavailable due to the depth of water! Riders circumnavigated the water, crossing a loose rock banking , and a tight approach took them into the water, prior to  a difficult rock step out. The step was the major mark stealer, but there was still work to be done to exit over a jumble of tricky , rocky furniture ! Only Andy Cripps and Jack Spencer equalled Bullocks excellent clean ride over this hazard, and over 40 winner Mark Robertson hosted best performance of the middle route with two single dabs. However entertainment award went to Crippsy senior, who got off line and thrust out a hopeful limb into the depths of the lagoon, only to find his leg was a metre too short. He took an early bath !!

So to the final hazard where some intimidating looking Shawforth rockery actually proved more ride able than it looked, and indeed some fine cleans were recorded by Graham Williams (Over 40) Mick Whitlow (Over 50) and a brilliant clean sheet by Paul Hayes on his twin shock Tiger Cub, en route to what proved to be the second best ride overall on the middle route. Nice one Paul!

Riders were unanimous in their acclaim for another fine Rochdale & DMC production- so thanks to all concerned, organising team and observers.

Results rochdalemc220112

Back cowm quarry was the venue for the first trial of the year for the Rochdale club, with 80 riders it was a good turn out, with riders once again traveling considerable distances to ride. Section one observed by Neil Anderton was a tricky one for the hard route boys with only Andy Cripps and Jack Price Brad and Dec Bullock cleaning on the first lap Julian Ingham had a five here as did Richard Anderton. It was the youngsters who lead the way on the day with all three youth expert riders taking first second and third overall, Jack Price was in a league of his own dropping only 10 in total then it was the Bullock brothers with Brad on 20 and Dec on 22. In the adult class Andy Cripps got the win losing 27 in total a long way in front of second place man Julian Ingham who finished on a grand total of 66 marks lost third went to Paul Heyes on 76. In the inters Russell Carter is proving to be a hard man to beat and went around for a loss of just 22 marks second place was David Cocker 35, one ride to mention was Curtis Fitzsimmons who rode in the A class he dropped 31 in total this gave him second overall on the green route course with only Carter besting him. In the novice class Adam Mcanna was top dog on 30 with Ben Wright in second place on 43 in total, Ben had Machine problems early on he was helped out by Dave Ketteringham  and was soon back on track, Joe Hiley was top  B class rider losing 89 in total followed in by Alex Yiatrou on 116 in total. The over 40 class went to Marl Grimshaw on his Montesa losing 24 second was Danny Ralph’s who dropped down from the inters finishing on 26, the over 50 class went to Mike Leddy and the youth beginners was won by local lad Sam Blackburn. Unfortunately section 4 had to dropped from the results as the observers sheet blow away in the high winds and no matter how we searched it was never to be seen again.

Thanks to all helpers and organizers

Results rochdalemc261211

The Rochdale crew had decided to make possibly the last trial run at Shawforth quarry one to remember so with assistance from some of the older members of the committee who can still remember the old sections from the national days of the Red Rose Trial, it was decided that a large lap consisting of 12 sections was going to be the order of the day. So the course was laid out and the route marked out on Saturday on a lovely clear day, as so often happens to best laid plans the Sunday the day of the event turned out to be Foggy to say the least, pea soup jumps to mind as a description of the conditions. So extra route markers where needed and put in place, so field of109 riders would actually have some small chance of finding the sections and also finding their way back to the start area. The size of the lap and bad visibility on the day slowing forward motion down considerably and the fact that the observers where showing signs of hyperthermia the course was closed at around15:15. When the observer boards where counted it appeared that only 48 riders had ridden every section three times. So the decision had to be made for a result and the only way we could find was to drop the trial to two laps so we could get an accurate result. I can only apologize to the riders who managed to finish the three laps but at least you got a good ride out. So onto the results on the hard route there were three riders who finished on 15 in total this being Josh Law, Julian Ingham and Billy Bolt, Josh got the decision with 16 cleans compared to 15 from Julian and Billy Bolt.  Billy was unlucky in that he had five on the relatively easy section 12that cost him the overall win but he still got the best youth expert award so it was still worth the drive down from the north east. In the largest class entry of the year top intermediate was Russell Carter on 18 pushed on by Scottish vintage star Paul Heyes who dropped 21, Russell managed to clean both of the sections at Cuckoo rocks, these sections where found and set by Over 50 star Andy Wright who last rode them in 1989 when the club used them on the Red Rose and what a couple of crackers they turned out to be, proving to be just as much as a challenge 22 years later to the modern machine and rider. In the novice class Danny Sharples got the win losing 22 second went to young Jack Butterworth on 25, on this route section 7 turned into a real mark stealer the dreaded river section it was bone dry this year and proved to have less traction than when there is water present. There were only a handful of cleans here with Chris Lord cleaning on every visit the only rider to do this on his way to the over 40 class win losing a measly 6 marks in fact this was the best score on the middle route only Andy Wright nearly matched him losing 7 in total and winning the over 50 class to boot. In the youth A Class local lad Curtis Fitzsimmons got the win losing 38 in total and second went to Jamie Proctor who dropped 54, in the youth C Class Joe Hiley was top dog losing 55 and was well on the way to finishing the full three laps not bad for an 11 year old when disaster struck at cuckoo rocks and his chain snapped believe me you would not want to push it back from there. Luckily for Joe is dad is a bit of spanner man and managed to get the chain back together but the delay was too much for a full three lap finish. Second place went to Alex Yiatrou who went around for a loss of 86 in total. I would like to thank all the organizers and especially the observers some who were called out retirement to man the far out points of the course and I can only wish for sunshine if we ever get to use this land again when they have finished building roads all over the moors for the environmental friendly windmills….

Report By

Alan Lord

Results rochdalemc301011

 http://www.yorksclassictrials.co.uk/

2011 ACU British Trials Championship Round 8 Results – Championship Class

2011 ACU British Trials Championship Round 8 Results – Expert & Youth Classes

2011 ACU British Trials Championship Final Standings

Photo of Martin Jackson over 40 class winner

The Penultimate round of the Joan Robinson evening series got under way at the usual venue at back cowm quarry Whitworth with a good entry of 70 riders, with a pleasant dry evening the sections proved to be bang on the mark for severity with most classes being completed with a loss between 10 and 20 by the class winners. In the expert class on form Andy Cripps took the overall win losing 15 in total Crippsy had 2 maximums on the challenging section 5, second place went to Josh Law riding a borrowed Beta four stroke he lost just 17 in total and managed a 1 and 2 two’s on sub 5, but Crippsy was  more consistent overall. The only clean  ride on section 5 came from Paul Sullivan who cleaned on his second visit, he finished on 19 in total and came 3^rd overall. The top inter was Ross Law who dropped 19 and took some good scalps in the process. Second went to Mark Jackson making a rare appearance and finishing on 21. The novice class was won by Ben Hanson on his beta losing 25 closly followed by local lad Mathew Waggett losing 27 on his Gas Gas machine. In the over 40 class Martin Jackson had a very good ride losing just 7 in total followed in by Mark Grimshaw on 10. The over 50 class went to Andy Wright who posted the best result on the middle route sections losing just 3 marks in total. In the beginners the top adult was Phil Holey on 18 and second place went to Pete Andrews on 20. The youth beginners was won by Chad Isherwood on 4 and seocond was Owen Blackburn losing 13 in total. The conducted class being supervised by Julian Ingham was won by  his daughter Ellie Ingham she dropped 29 in total closly followed by Greg Weston who dropped 34 in total.

The cheque was presented at the Rochdale clubs 2^nd evening trial with representatives from all concerned pictured.

The First round of the 2011 Joan Robinson evening series took place at the usual venue of Back cowm quarry, with the current heat wave a warm summers night welcomed the 66 riders. The course turned out to be a bit on the easier side than normal but  still provided enough of a challenge to give us a clear winner in each class apart from the intermediates who had to be split on the most cleans ruling. So straight to the expert class and Andy Cripps who got the win and recorded his first ever clean ride in a trial, I thought he would have achieved this earlier in his career as he seems to have  been  riding trials for ever and he is still only in his thirty’s. Josh Law was relegated to the runner up spot on this occasion ending his winning streak at the Rochdale club he lost 3 in total a 2 on section 4 and a dab on section 8. But second place overall went to the only youth expert rider Jack Price who finished on a very creditable total of 2. In the inter’s it was a close fought battle between Steven Rowles and Jimmy Bentley both finished on 9 in total but Rowlesy got the verdict on Most Cleans in the Novice class Danny Sharples got the win finishing on 12 with Ross Hall second on 17. Once again the biggest class of the night was the over 40 brigade with Steven Robinson just edging out Nigel Pickering in the new over 50 class Andy Wright just had a single dab followed by Les Patinson who dropped 15 in total. With no youth A class riders present it was left to youth B class riders on the middle route section’s to make a name for them selves Jordan Kent got the win on his Gas Gas losing a total of 8 and second went to Harry Jackson who lost 28 in total, in the youth C class Alex Yiatrou went around for a loss of 40 marks dropped. Peter Andrews riding in the adult beginner class got the win losing 6 and in the youth beginners Harvey Doolan rode his Beta around for a loss of 18 and the win. And last but not least the conducted class Ellie Ingham came out on top losing 17 and second place went to Greg Weston who dropped 25 in total third placed was Lillie Yiatrou who dropped 44.