The Bob Owen event raised £1641.89 for the ACU Benevolent Fund charity
NB results updated to version 2, 21.00 10 11 24 – only hard course affected
Photos of the trial can be found in the batches below
batch 4
batch 3
Batch 2
Batch 1
Bob Owen Memorial Trial
Thankfully the weather over Yorkshire was kind to us, kind in the fact we had no rain, no wind, no chill. Can’t complain about that for the time of year.
95 riders entered with a great spread across all classes.
The marking out team made a superb job at setting 12 sections out to cater from Youth C to Expert riders. Really utilising the available land at the Parkwood Off Road Centre.
Championship Route:
The championship route top 6 certainly represented nearly all Centre clubs and Ripon.
Bradford Trials Club rider Charlie Smith finished on a clean slate taking top spot.
Wetherby & District Yamaha engined Scorpa rider Danny Gamble brought the nearly classed a classic bike back in second place with only a single mark dropped.
Horsforth man Oliver Sharp finished the podium off in third with two marks dropped.
Special mention for Yeadon Guiseley and District rider Harrison Lightfoot, Youth A class, who has returned after injury as strong and as committed as ever. Harrison came 6th overall only 6 points behind Expert rider Elliot Laws.
Clubman A (50/50) Route:
TRS Motorcycles Factory would be happy with this podium, seeing TRS on each step in this class.
Bradford rider Anthony Ayrton showing he too still has the style and commitment after injury took top step with also a clean slate for the day.
Horsforth rider and good friend, John Bellwood was visibly gutted with himself with 3 marks being dropped on the first lap. A pat on the back, a couple of Jellybabies hopefully helped him not loose his head too much for the remainder of the trial. It seamed to do some good, as he finished in second place 6 points behind Anthony.
Leon Wood finished the TRS trio only 3 points behind John, on 9 marks lost.
Special mention to Chris Watson, who sees little Rocco through the conducted trial before starting his trial, some 1.5 hours behind. Chris had to pick up the pace to finish before sections pulled, to finish a very admirable 10th place out of 16 but still with low marks dropped. Welldone Chris.
Clubman B:
Horsforth rider Richard Bryant finished the day comfortably in first place, with 4 marks dropped. Second place rider Kieran McShane finished on equal 13 points to West Leeds Motor Club rider Chris Manby who lost out on second by most cleans.
Clubman C:
It’s always great to see the classics still out being ridden, nice to hear too. Even nicer to see them giving the modern stuff a run for their money, and that’s exactly what Duncan MacDonald and Peter Clements did with their Triumph Cub and Fantic 156 respectively. Both finishing the day on 1 mark dropped, 2 points ahead of TRS mounted Michael Kettlewell.
Brian Ayrton was out and about with his camera, pictures will be up soon. If you see an image(s) you like, for a small fee, Brian will happily provide you with a high quality framed print. Please contact Brian.
Huge thanks to the observers and marking out team, who without, the trial would not be possible.
Please do encourage friends and families to get involved, observers are always needed across main and conducted. If anyone is nervous about being an observer, we can help with this, whether it’s a chat or even a few buddy sessions till the person is comfortable.
We all love to get results as quickly as possible, so please do take a minute to show gratitude to Martin Fairburn who not only gets you signed on and gives you your numbers and route changes. But his day also does not end till results are done. And we are indeed grateful to have him.
So a huge thankyou to Martin for getting results done QuickTime especially for the Bob Owen! Same day for that many entries, and it is not an automated job. Scores need transcribing over from score boards!
Lastly, Thankyou for supporting our Charity Trial, we really hope it was an enjoyable ride out.
Chris Bancroft
I don’t know about anyone else, but it didn’t take me long to fall asleep last night.
What an absolutely phenomenal end to the year.
Full of nothing but highs.
A nice big entry and lots of new and returning faces.
To start with, a huge welcome to
Brandon Casey 👋
Harrison Cockshott 👋
Freddie Moore 👋
6 fantastic sections were marked out within the Parkwood Off Road Centre superb grounds.
Section 1,2,3 were within the rock garden of the centre, and it’s certainly a rock garden that is intimidating, it’s seen world champions ride around it and now future champions. These were also set out inbetween 2 sections of the Adult course, so a perfect opportunity for the Adults to see what’s quickly coming upon them as competition.
Section 4 was a good old down a muddy banking, hard right and back up to come back down, we know kids love rollercoasters, so we took the opportunity of making one.
Section 5 was a test of traditional trials riding, slow round the trees getting the arms and legs bent.
Section 6, this was an early Scott training section, a rocky stream bed with a step at the end, flags on the banking and it was a good point and shoot and see where the rocks guided you.
So how did we all do then? Firstly, every single rider was riding like a champ, there was some seriously good riding skills on show.
On the Red Route:
Jamie Waddington is certainly showing some good skill upon his Beta Evo 80, taking 3rd place on the day
Tate Croft has come back to trials after a break for Enduro, showing that Enduro grit and determination taking 2nd place on the day with 53 marks dropped.
Rocco Watson is always a joy to watch, and indeed has taken 1st on the day and provisionally 1st in Class for the year.
Well done all red route riders, it was certainly set out to test and educate, and it did just that.
Yellow Route:
Again, all Yellow route riders were indeed outstanding to watch, backed up by some adult riders taking time out to come and watch who had nothing but admiration for all our juniors.
Third place, on the day was Alfie Dykes making sure there is indeed petrol on the podium.
This did make third place in the championship very close, with Tom provisionally taking 3rd in the championship.
Second place Maisie Danes, who missed out on first place with her nemesis section 6 taking the majority of her points. Second on the day and provisionally Second in the season.
Top spot, Benjamin Swainson who had a fight on his hands, Maisie was pushing hard all day and all season, great battle between the two and makes for good telly. (If Trials was on TV)
First on the day and Provisionally First in the championship.
White Route:
Emma Mitchell rode a blinder of a trial, going clean all day secured her First on the day and Provisional First in the Championship.
Oliver Clark was hot on her heels, (Clerk of the Course, don’t worry she didn’t really have heels on, appropriate trials boots were worn)
Finishing the day on only 4 marks dropped and taking provisional Second place for the year.
As always a huge thank you to Chris Mitchell Faye Mitchell Joanne Dykes Joe Dykes and Chris Bancroft for the continued support, without you, the Trials UK Ltd conducted series would not be the success it is.
Thank you to all Parents for giving your young ones this amazing opportunity in life and indeed for supporting Horsforth & District Motor Club and more so our Bob Owen Charity Trial.
The winner of our KUDU giveaway bag, was Ned Fawcett, Thankyou Russ Brodie for providing this extra bit of fun and Lucy for expertly pulling a number out of the bag.
In the words of Porky Pig…. ‘That’s all Folks’
Chris Bancroft
Pre-Trial: Open to all ACU members, stop allowed, 11am start
Sections set out to our 2024 4 route beginner friendly Club Series
plus kids conducted course subject to minimum entry numbers
Hard (but still Novice friendly if you are good enough) Blue/Red flags only
Clubman A – 50/50 between Hard (as indicated at start of section) and Clubman B
Clubman B All Blue/Red except where Yellow/White easier alternative gates are present
Clubman C beginner friendly, follow Green flags only
NB THIS EVENT IS ON A SATURDAY
Please bring a few extra quid to throw in the charity box and observers please note this is the one trial in the year where time is given freely
Who’s Bob Owen and why do we have a long standing trial named after him.
The Bob Owen memorial trial is now in its 36th year, so I was interested to find out more about Bob and why we are so dedicated to his name.
Bob was a Horsforth member, but a member with a difference. He had fingers in lots of pies!
Mr Owen not only rode Grass track and Scrambles but by all accounts was a well respected Speedway referee.
Did this get the respect for a trial to be named after him?
Nope, Bob not only was a very active HDMC member but also heavily involved in the ACU, The Centre and a delegate to National Council.
Did all this get the respect? Hmmm, getting there, certainly gave a lot back to our sport.
ACU Benevolent Fund! As an ACU member do you know about this Charity? Bob did.
Bob Owen amongst all the other aspects he gave back to our sport, took it upon himself to raise money to gift to the Ben Fund. He did this mainly by car boot sales selling all sorts of items and memorabilia.
That is why the Bob Owen memorial trial is named what it is, as he gave so much to our sport, and that’s why proceeds raised from this trial are still gifted to this amazing charity.
To date, HDMC has raised £69,203 towards its chosen charities with majority going towards Ben Fund. Other charities did include Children in need.
I have first hand gratitude to the Ben Fund charity, who came to the support of someone extremely close to me after a serious motorcycle incident. So I am personally thankfully it’s there. But it is only there by donations and fund raising activities from its members.
1988 was the first ever Bob Owen trial.
Pre 65 was won by our very own Graham Wilson
There were 119 entries, with some names you may know.
> Hemingway brothers in the B class
> Martin Crosswaite riding C class with dad Neil Crosswaite losing out to Graham by 1 mark in Pre 65
> J Liddamore on his 175 Yamaha loosing out to Ben Hemingway by…. Well a fair bit to be honest.
So, make the time, get your entires in, support your clubs ‘it’s an open trial’ and support this great charity whilst having a great day out.
Entries open Monday 21st October.
Let’s look to beat the entries of 119 from 1988.
Same format as our club trials, so Main course has 4 options of routes.
Easy / Middle / 50:50 / Hard and a separate Kids Conducted.
Hope to see you all there.
Please note, it is Remembrance Sunday weekend. A 2 minute silence is held before the start horn sounds at 11:00
Please consider the time and ensure no engines are running, and we invite you to remember all those Human and Animal who we have lost through conflict.
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