THE annual Shrimp Hill Trial at the exposed Addingham Moorside venue just about beat the rain on Sunday.

The event, organised by the Spen Valley Motor Club, was also the third round in the West Yorkshire Championship series.

The clerk of course opted for a three lap, 14 section course in an attempt to beat the rain clouds hovering above the Pennine hills.

The ploy just about worked and many competitors moved faster than normal and got away before the serious rain blanketed the trial.

The hard route featured Silsden's Dougie Lampkin, East Morton's Martin Crosswaite and East Keswick's Ben Hemingway, who all rode the entire trial without a hint of a penalty. Only eight riders contended the expert route.

Bradford's Charlie Smith just lost out to Huddersfield novice Will Tolson. A stop in section five on lap two by Smith clinched the final result in favour of Tolson. Predictably, Harry Hemingway got his Beta home to take Class A youth by a mile. The boy cleaned the frightening ninth section where one mistake was a headlong flight into rocks.

TT star Ian Hutchinson lost the plot and set fastest time of day in his downhill rock clattering.

The Hemingways were ever present as usual and George Hemingway dropped one mark on the ninth and won Class B youth from Henry Stephenson by a good margin. West Yorkshire champion Howard Gulley won Clubman B from Falcon front runner Paul Haigh.

Gulley got it wrong on the ninth on lap three but Haigh obliged by dropping seven in the hillside climb at the seventh section.

Both Lampkin boys were in action. Fraser Lampkin won Class C from Charlie Petty and Oliver Petty while Alfie Lampkin got his Vertigo home in fourth place in Class B.

The Bradford and District Motor Club headed for the hills at Rough Holden, Silsden, on Saturday to stage a Manywells Winter Championship trial for 51 contenders. Rough Holden was the ideal venue for the event. The terrain was dry after the recent 'heatwave'.

Clerk of course Jason Dunning and his team elected for a compact eight section route ridden four times. The section variations tested all ages.

The opening section featured sharp grass banking and then a drop into a deep crater. The banking proved to be the stumbling block for many.

Sections two to five were a short ride across the moor where some rocks were navigated.

Section six and seven required grass climbing techniques plus speed up a ten yard gradient.

The descent was also interesting for many riders who found out that even dry grass can become slippery.

Outright winner David Petty had no problems with gradients, rocks or the narrow stream that formed the final section. He completed for penalty free laps.

Contender Chris Jones was right on Petty, but dropped a mark on lap two of the final section.

Robin Luscombe was in fine form but also dropped a mark where Jones made a mistake. His fourth place certainly looked like the Luscombe of old.

The top youth was Oliver Winstanley, whose worst loss was a five out in the country at section three.

Shaun Lightfoot just took the 50/50 from late starter Josh Snowdon, who rode the entire course without a riding number. Fortunately the backroom staff had his number booked.

Class C runner Bradley Crabtree won the easy class matching novice Ian Bradley's five score. Separate classes saved the tie-breaker route.