FOLLOWING the wet weather and an enduro held at the venue the previous week, clerk of the course Graham Hutchison and his team found a very muddy Butser Lime Works on which to design the course for Haslemere Motor Cycle Club’s annual Dik Holdsworth Trial.

With three laps of 14 sections, winning scores were not excessive, despite the conditions.

The expert class alone competed on the most challenging white route and Wayne Holdsworth had a runaway victory, losing 44 marks against nearest rival Jamie Rowden.

With the steep climb on section three’s wet chalk defeating everyone, Holdsworth had a magnificent ride on the last lap to score just one.

The Intermediates and Over-40s competed on the somewhat easier blue route. Ryan Manthorpe was a clear Intermediate winner on 48 marks lost, with closest rival Nigel Haines dropping 84 and the other competitors into three-figure scores.

Manthorpe’s score was matched by Jack Taylor, riding the same course to win the Youth Intermediate class.

The challenging conditions produced yet another definitive victory in the Over-40s, with Mick Ratcliffe losing 31 to John Laker’s 53.

The Over-50s, Novices, Twinshocks and Pre-67 class riders all rode the less difficult red route which produced closer scores.

Ben Edwards took victory in the Novices on 50 from Arthur Frearson with 58.

Peter Haines finished just two marks ahead of Rob Edwards in the Over-50s with scores of 22 and 24, while Ian Hayward had a clearer victory in the Twinshock class with 26 against Neil Sinclair’s 38.

Lowest score of the day was by Barry Fitzmaurice, losing just eight marks as the only competitor in the new Air Cooled Monoshock class.

Riders on the oldest pre-67 bikes had a choice of the red route or the easiest yellow route. With the two-stroke and four-stroke classes combined for this year, Graham Barton took advantage of his lightweight 175cc BSA on the red route to score 25 marks against Adrian Mountain’s 67 on his heavyweight AJS.

Mike Barton and Jeff Morgan were the only finishers on the yellow route, scoring 41 and 46 respectively.

The sidecars produced the most spectacular competition, treating spectators to full-throttle sideways blasts across the many cambers.

Daryl Dale and Hannah Etherington had a great ride to score just 15 on a modified red route. Nearest rivals were Robert Head and Aron Jacobs on 25.

All other competitors rode the easiest yellow route, with David White winning the Sportsmen and Thomas Hutchinson the Youth Sports classes.

The trial was a round of the Star Group Championship and the Haslemere MC Club also hosted a TVTC round at this event, making a total of 79 riders.

Full results can be seen on the Star Group website https://stargrouptrials.co.uk

* Report and photo by John Johns