The 2012 British Trials Championships are now four events down with just two to go. This coming weekend it is the Yeadon Guisley DMC's turn to host the 5th round of the series and it has all the makings of being a cracker.
The event returns to an old favourite venue at Addingham Moorside so reset your satnav's to BD20 0NL. For the past few years the trial has been at Brimham Rocks but the club has gone back to one of its old stomping grounds high above Silsden in North Yorkshire and the scene of many spectacular events in the past. It is also very spectator friendly and there should be no problem seeing most of the action.
Another huge plus for visitors will be the entry list as the event welcomes back no less than Jack Challoner and Jack Sheppard neither of whom have ridden in the 2012 no stop series.
In fact the Championship Class has no less than 31 riders signed up, a bigger entry than the 24 strong Expert section and I am not sure when that happened last.
It will be no great surprise that the two main contenders for the 2012 Championship are James Dabill and Michael Brown. It is however Brownie that holds a slight advantage at the moment, one point in front of James but with two rounds remaining there is everything to play for. Dibs has won twice so far but he has also had to settle for third twice including last time out at the West of England where Ross Danby took his first senior series win on the Jotagas. Ross now hold third in the series from Alexz Wigg with veteran Sam Connor fifth. Sam has reminded everyone what a class act he is scoring consistently well all year. In fact all of the riders who have returned in 2012 have gone well with Gary Macdonald and Dan Thorpe both running in the top10 and giving the younger contingent something to think about.
Things are a little more clear cut in the Expert Class which at the moment is being headed by John Crinson. He holds a seven point advantage over Richard Timperley who would have been right up there with him except for a bad day at Scarborough in round 3. Adam Milner currently holds third place and he has not finished any 2012 event lower than fourth. Look out though for Simon Kershaw who only came into the series at Scarborough which he duly won before getting another podium with a third at the West Of England. Clearly a man to watch.
The youth class has four riders entered, Luke Walker, Iwan Roberts and Jack and James Stones.
The weekends programme starts with a 3 hour practise session on Saturday between 2.30 - 5.30 pm and then the trial proper will commence on Sunday at 9.30. All riders will have 2hours 30minutes to complete their first lap with an overall time allowance of 5 1/2hours to complete the 3 laps of 12 subs.
There is a very reasonable entry fee of £5.00 per car which will include a programme.