Archive of previous events and news

Round 6 Closed to Club Trial
Saturday 5th September 2009

Click here for Results

North Berks Bonanza SuperTrial 2009

Photographs - Set up and Qualifying

Photographs - Final

What: An 'Arena Trial', where world class, top British riders ride their Trials Motorcycles over a series of man-made and natural obstacles. Not sure what to expect? Do you remember the 1980s BBC TV series 'Kickstart' ? It's moved on a bit since then, but it will give you an idea of what it's about. Or check out these photographs from other North Berks MCC events ...

Where: At a location known locally as 'Seymour's Arena' between South Moreton and Aston Tirrold. It will be signposted from the A417. Click for a map and directions.

When::Sunday 9th August. Gates are open from 10am, with the action starting at 11.00 - with two qualifying rounds (2 x 7 Sections) building towards a final throughout the afternoon, starting at 2.30pm. The final will include the top 4 riders from qualifying, competing in convoy on one final lap - which will contain one extra 'special' section not included in the qualifying rounds!

Entry fee will be £10 for adults, including a programme, £5 for children under 16 and under 5's free. There will be a free Alexz Wigg T-shirt for every 25th person through the gates, courtesy of Steve Saunders Top Trial Team.

Alexz was interviewed recently by the BBC about his involvement in the North Berks Supertrial.

Who: The following riders have confirmed their attendance - these are the some of the best riders in the country, so exciting, quality entertainment is guaranteed;

Click here for photographs for last year's event.

You can also see videos from last year's event on YouTube.

There'll be camping available from Friday night, trade and food stands will also be available, as well on-site toilets.

A lot of work on section design has been happening, so things will be different for the riders from last year.

For more details, see Trial Magazine ...

Rounds 4&5 - Bessels Leigh Trial - 27th/28th June 2009

Round 4 Results; Round 5 Results; Photographs

Round 3 - Closed to Club Trial - Sunday 12th April 2009

Results; Story

Round 2 - Closed to Club Trial - Sunday 15th March 2009

What a cracking turnout!

Results; Photographs; Story

Novogar Wallace Trial

This year's National Novogar Trial took place on Sunday 22nd February 2009 at 09.30 from the Horse & Harrow in West Hagbourne. The first riders away on the new 50/50 course were our very own Justin Heavens, Mikey Austin & David Pratt. We had some more quality riders such as Rob Warner, local boy Tom Nicholas back from a long break, Yorkshire boys Phil Disney, Johnathon Richardson and Chris Pearson, plus from other parts of the country there's Gary Jenkins & Martin Hawyes & top girls Emma Bristow, Becky Cook & local Maria Conway. Add to this top experts like James Dabill, Sam Connor, Lee Sampson, Ross Danby and James Fry all battling for the top spot, it turned out to be another cracking event.

Final Rider List and Start Times; View some initial Photographs;

Results: in Excel Format or Adobe .pdf format ...

Hangover Trial - Round 1- 2009
Friday 26th December

Scores and results (Revised); Gazza's Photos

Ian Cross Photos

Initial Photographs; Gazza's Photos; Ian Cross Photography

Results: Summary; Detailed Scores.

Sammy Miller attended in person again this year, both to wish the riders good luck at the start as well as to congratulate them at the finish. We also welcomed another former British Champion to the event, Steve Saunders, who entered this year on a Beta Alp trail bike.

Local heroes, Justin Heavens and Michael Austin, entered their first National Trial on their recently created Pre'65 Royal Enfield 350 Bullet sidecar outfit. Apparently mechanical problems forced them to retire - and they were last seen being towed along the A417 behind Doddies van, but still in high spirits!

Didcot Street Fair
Thursday 27th November

Hopefully you managed to get down to see us at the Didcot Street Fair.

We had a selection of new and old off-road bikes on display, including Trials, Enduro, Pre-'65 and children models. There was a small demonstration arena, including skips and old cars, which our highly skilled team rode all over.

For photographs see Ian Cross Photography.

Closed to Club Trial - Round 7; Sunday 12th October 2008

Here are some photos from the the event.

Click here for results.

This special new event, held at Nappers Lane, was for Beginner, Novice and Intermediate Trials riders looking for a leisurely or confidence-building ride over relatively simple and straight forward sections.

There were 3 alternative routes for the 4 laps of 7 sections, all appropriately down-graded to suit the more Novice rider.

Click here for results.

Motorcycle Trials Extravaganza Weekend at Besslesleigh
The weekend kicked off at 9.00 a.m. on Saturday 16 August, with a training school for 14 participants, with the tutor multi-British Champion Steve Saunders putting them through their paces, with a short stop for a barbeque lunch the training went on through until 3.00 p.m. At 4.00 p.m. Round 5 of the Club Championship began with 47 riders signing up to take part, for 4 laps of 9 sections at this disused sand pit with its banks and gullies. Section 5, marshalled by Pete White of Basingstoke, took marks from all the entry. The overall winner of the expert class was Women's TDN teamster Maria Conway beating local lad Joe Harris by 1 mark, 3rd place club stalwart was 10 marks behind Stuart Robinson. Clubman B Benny Ayres, up from Bordon in Hampshire took the top spot from Dave Barrett, in 3rd place 4-stroke king pin but riding a modern machine was Adrian Steele. In 4th place riding a highly tuned Cub was all rounder Scott Faulkner. Winner of the clubman C class, as would always be predicted, was Kevin McCullagh, going round without loss of marks, second Paul Wickson, 3rd Shaun Skinner, ex army top enduro rider who has just taken up trials. Youth C also riding the hard route and would have been best overall, Alan Ayres, losing 1 mark less than Maria. Will McBain was in second place, Bradley Cox in 3rd. Youth B Jordan Fletcher one of the Oxford Fletcher family took top spot, Liam Thomas slotted into 2nd, and local club teamster, Tom Matthews came in 3rd. Youth C was won by Thomas O'Sullivan losing only 4 marks on section 5. A few marks behind in 2nd was Neil Dodd, Bertie Raines nicked the 3rd spot. And so on to Day 2.

57 riders came to the start line to tackle 4 laps of 10 sections of an overnight modified course. Joe Harris having the ride of his life secured top spot in the expert class. Stuart Robinson slotted into 2nd, with Tony Moulder 3rd. Winner of the clubman class for the second day was Benny Ayres, having a better ride on day 2 was Justin Heavens now riding a 2-stroke having been 4-stroke mounted for the last couple of years, 3rd from Newbury was Jim Parker. Colin Ross was the only pre-65 competitor thus winning his class. Clubman C, a complete action replay from Saturday, that man again Kevin McCullagh first with again no marks lost, 2nd Paul Wickson, Shaun Skinner, the ex-army man, came in 3rd. Youth A the same 3 names from Saturday, i.e. 1st Alan Ayres from Will McBain from Bradley Cox. Youth B was won again by Jordan Fletcher, 2nd Liam Thomas, 3rd Joe Bayliss, 4th Tom Matthews dropping one place from his Saturday result. Youth C again a repeat performance from Saturday, 1st Tom O'Sullivan going round clean, 2nd Neil Dodd, 3rd Bertie Raines.

The club was lucky with 2 days of decent weather and to have catered for 100 riders over both days, this is a record for the club so far as the club championship is concerned. Kevin McCullagh brought along a snippet to show that it was almost 30 years that the club had been running a 2-day event at this venue.

Results: Saturday Round 5; Sunday Round 6

John Lightfoot

North Berks 'Bonanza' Super Trial

What: An 'Arena Trial', where world class, top british riders ride their Trials Motorcycles over a series of man-made and natural obstacles. Not sure what to expect? Do you remember the 1980s BBC TV series 'Kickstart' ? It's moved on a bit since then, but it will give you an idea of what it's about. Or check out these photographs from other North Berks MCC events ...

Preparation for the event has been on-going for weeks and months... here are some recent photos from Wednesday and Saturday before the event.

Where: At a location known locally as 'Seymour's Arena' between South Moreton and Aston Tirrold. It will be signposted from the A417. Click for a map and directions.

When::Sunday 27th July. Gates are open from 10am, with the action starting at Midday - with a series of heats (2 x 8 Sections) building towards a final throughout the afternoon, which will include the top 4 riders from qualifying, competing on one final lap - which will contain on extra 'special' section not included in the heats!

Entry fee will be £10 for adults, including a programme, with children under 5 free.

Who: The following riders have confirmed their attendance - these are the some of the best riders in the country, so exciting, quality entertainment is guaranteed;

Click here for more details.

John Wheeler British Bike Night
Tuesday July 15th; Horse & Harrow, West Hagbourne (Map)

Once again a lovely summer's evening enticed hundreds of bike enthusiasts and local families to the Horse and Harrow in West Hagbourne for the Annual British Bike Night. On display was an outstanding selection of classic british bikes, modern superbikes and the Trials Arena, some of which are included in the following photo album.

Closed to Club Trial Round 4; Sunday 22nd June 2008

• Results

Closed to Club Trial Round 3; Sunday 13th April 2008
A spring like morning welcomed officials and riders to The Moors, East Hagbourne where 4 laps of 8 sections had been planned. The expert class was a tough fought contest between club stalwart Stuart Robinson and Joe Harris, and only one mark separated these two at the end of the event - with Joe taking the top spot ahead of Stuart - and Dan Clarke from High Wycombe only a few marks behind.

Clubman B class, Justin Heavens on his 4-stroke Montesa took the win by 6 marks over Lars Sexton, 5 marks behind was Mick Metcalfe. Kevin McCullagh, the grand master of trials in this part of the world, again showed his fellow competitors in Clubman C class how it should be done losing a total of 11. Some 30 marks behind were Mick Bayliss and Richard Gardiner, with Mick taking second place once the tie break system was applied.

Youth A, also riding the hard route, was won by Will McBain, had he been old enough to ride in the adult class he would have won the trial outright by some 8 marks, 2nd Ross Fletcher, 3rd Joe Bayliss. Youth B, Jordan Fletcher, brother of Ross, won this from second place Tom Matthews. Youth C was quite tight, Alex Muirhead taking top spot by 3 marks, from local lad Neil Dodd, 3rd was Thomas O'Sullivan, and 4th Ambeerley Nevill the only girl in the event. Amberley has a famous dad who is known to ride an enduro sidecar outfit quite quick, with Amberley's mum in the chair. April showers were not too far away and a couple of heavy scuds came down during the event making some of the banks a little more slick.

• Results

Closed to Club Trial Round 2
Sun 16th March; Seymour's Arena

Similar to last year, when the arena was flooded, heavy rain overnight made the going a bit slippery, particularly on the 'C-route'. Despite the weather there was still a good turnout - with 30 riders and a full set of observers. Stuart has asked me to express his thanks to all those involved - whether setting out, observing or riding.

Results: (.xls); Gary Dowzalls Photobox site.

'The Hangover Trial' Boxing Day - 2008 Round 1

Once again there was a surprisingly good turn out on Boxing Day, with a total of 43 riders. There was a great selection of sections as always, so thanks to the team for setting everything out, including some new sections amongst the trees and logs in the middle of the field, as well as two along the lane. The ground was a bit wet and sticky and there was the usual 'bog' and stream sections to look forward to!

I'll put a link below to a few photo's that I managed to take after I'd finished riding - I've been promised some more from other sources, so come back later and see what's been added ...

Photographs; Results (.xls; pdf); Gary Dowzall's PhotoBox Site

Annual Dinner and Awards 2007

Awards List; Photo's

FTR
You may have heard that Alexz Wigg has recently joined Future Trial Racing Team, but guess who else has recently joined FTR ... More ...

18.11.07

The Winston Grove National Downland Trophy Trial
The Final Round of the 2007 Sammy Miller British Bike Championships took place today, Sunday 18th November. Once again Riders converged from the far corners of the country to compete with nearly 80 riders entered on a range of bikes, including 11 Sidecars. Despite the rain and cold weather, the concensus from the riders was that, as always, it was a enjoyable day and a great course - sentiments echoed by Neil Gaunt, who couldn't quite repeat his winning clean round from last year - he lost only one mark this year!

Results: (Summary as PDF; Full Details as Excel spreadsheet)
Photographs; Gary Dowzall's PhotoBox Site

Closed to Club Trial - Round 5 - Bessels Leigh Copse
Saturday 18th August 2007

Many thanks once again to the Amey Trust for the use of The Bessels Leigh Copse. The club would like to apologise for having to cancel day 2 at the copse, but the clerk of the course and other club members came to the conclusion that the course would not take another day's pounding after the persistent rain during Saturday.

Everyone with the exception of David Pratt had to be towed out, he managed to do it clean. Thank you to Richard Gardiner and Justin Heavens for operating Gardiner Heavens recovery service - well done. So in the interest of preserving the use of land for future events reluctantly Sunday's event was cancelled. We will try to reschedule day 2 at Bessels Leigh in October.

• Results (Excel) (PDF)
• Photo's

John Wheeler British Bike Night
17th July 2007

Despite the threat of wet weather, once again there was a fantastic selection of outstanding bikes to be seen, ranging from classic british bikes through to modern superbikes. To see a selection of photographs, click here.

The well prepared Trials Arena proved a popular attraction once again with a good turn out of our youth club riders putting on a great show over the different skips and cars that added new interest this year.

Closed to Club Trial - Round - Seymour's Arena
Sunday 24th June 2007

The rain just about held off for the four laps of 8 sections - with sections 3 and 5 proving particularly tricky. Thanks to all the people who supported this event - in particular Mick Bayliss, Geoff Pratt and Clive Matthews for setting up another great trial and to the Observers who braved the weather on the day.

• Results (Also in PDF Format for those without MS Office)
• Photographs - Coming soon I promise. If anyone has additional photos they would like to share, please email them to me and I will put them up.
• Link to Photobox Website - where there are also photos from other local trials.

Berks Bonanza 2007

The weather seemed to be a repeat of last year - rain overnight but with the promise of sunshine later. The track had been carefully re-positioned and marked out, the grass cut and rolled and the hundreds of wooden posts knocked in, painted and roped up by the hardworking setup team. More ...

• Photos - the people!
• Link to Garry Dowzall's Photobox Page - the action!

Closed to Club Trial - Round 3 - The Moors, Nappers Lane
Sunday 15th April 2007

Another excellent trial, once again in glorious sunshine. The use of some additional sections 'further along the lane' added fresh interest; for some of our newer members, this was the first time these had been included. Thanks once again to the team for a great course.

• Results (Also in PDF Format for those without MS Office)
• Photographs
• Link to Photobox Website - where there are also photos from other local trials.
• Report for TMX

Closed to Club Trial - Round 2
Sunday 18th March 2007

A good turn out of 36 riders all arrived at Seymour's Arena keen to try out the selection of brand new and revamped sections, based on the work from the recent Wallace Trial - and they were not disappointed - despite mixed weather that included gale force winds, hail, rain and brilliant sunshine.

• Results
• Photographs
• New - Some cracking new photographs supplied by Mick Gilder
• Report for TMX

The Novogar 'Wallace Cup' Trial
Sunday 25th Feb 2007
Our very own Joe Harris was first out of the blocks for another successful Novogar National Trials event. After a slow start, the other 93 riders were on their way to experience a range of familiar and new sections created by Clerk of the Course, Stuart Robinson and his team.

Photographs:

• From the Start, Sections 1&2 and Arena
• From the Arena, Lollingdon and Chilton
• From the last 3 sections
• Official results

Alexz Wigg wins 19th Annual Bielefeld International Indoor Trial held in Northern Germany more ...

ACU British Enduro Championship Award, as seen at the recent AGM.

In memory of Nathan Tame
A personal 'Letter of Thanks' from Ian and Aaron Tame

26.12.06

'The Hangover Trial' Boxing Day - Closed to Club Trial - 2007 Round 1

After extensive trimming of bushes and the felling of tree branches, the sections were marked out ready for the first round of the 2007 Closed to Club Trials.

The ground was a bit wet and sticky and there was the usual 'bog' and stream sections to look forward to. In all there were 47 riders and our man with the camera, Les Bayliss, took a checklist around with him today, so there should be at least one photo of everyone!
Photographs; Results

New! Some different photographs of the Boxing Day Trial - kindly supplied by Linda Gilder.

08.10.06

Closed to Club Trial - Round 7
The final round of the Closed to Club Trials series was held at Seymour's Arena on 8th October.

Initial photographs.
Results

Overall 2006 Championship Results
John has also compiled the results for all rounds of the Closed to Club Trials. And the Winners are ...

How the scores stacked up for each Round...

17.09.06

Change of date for October Club Trial

The final round of the Closed to Club Trials series date has been changed from Sunday 1st October to Sunday 8th October to avoid clashes with other events. It will be at Seymour's Arena, starting at 10.00am.

20.08.06

Besselsleigh 2-Day Trial
The course had been carefully prepared and marked out. The Campers among us has pitched up and set up camp, ready for a full weekend of Trials Competition and singing round the campfire at this outstanding venue. Only the weather could upset things, which it did with a downpour on the Saturday evening. This made some of the sections a bit too slippery for comfort, although things had improved a bit in time for the Sunday morning event.

The following link will take you to some photos of the event. (Thanks to Mick Bayliss)

Results now on-line. Saturday; Sunday

30.07.06

World Trials Championship, Hawkstone Park;
Less than two weeks ago Alexz Wigg, Sam Haslam, Ross Danby and Stuart Robinson were amongst the small group of trials riders entertaining the crowds and having fun in the North Berks MCC Trials Arena at the British Bike Night in West Hagbourne.

Today they were all to be found amongst the cream of world class trials talent, doing a much more serious job, at the British Round of the World Trials Championship at Hawkstone Park.

We decided to follow Alexz and Stuart around most of their first lap, and take photographs, as they worked their magic to create yet another outstanding win!

17.07.06

John Wheeler British Bike Night 2006: The record breaking weather resulted in a record breaking turn out at the John Wheeler British Bike Night 2006 with an estimated 4000 people in attendance. Once again there was a fantastic selection of outstanding bikes to be seen, ranging from classic british bikes through to modern superbikes. To see a selection of photographs, click here.

For additional photos contributed by Malcolm Brownsword, click here.

The well prepared Trials Arena proved a popular attraction once again, with a top class selection of visiting riders including Alexz Wigg, Sam Haslam and Ross Danby as well as our own club youth riders who put on a great show. For photographs of the Trials Arena click here.

01.07.06

Mystery Trials Rider?
A mystery trials rider was spotted along the Blewbury Road in East Hagbourne over the weekend. The clothing (and hair style) he was sporting had a distinct likeness to those worn by Stuart Robinson in yesteryears, but Stuart was out of the country at the World Championship Round in Italy, so it couldn't have been him!

If you have any ideas about who it was, please click here.

18.06.06

Not getting a lay in and breakfast in bed for Father's Day was more than compensated for by the glorious hot Summer's day that greeted riders at Seymours Arena for Round 4 of the Closed to Club Trial. The nettles and weeds had all been cut back to reveal some interesting new sections as well as some new takes on exisiting ones. There were even special sections for 'TY80 & Small Wheel Bikes', which was particularly welcomed by Neil Dodd who made his trials riding debut. Neil got off to a cracking start, with his confidence clearly increasing on every section, even giving his dad, Derek, a run for his money on some sections! (not a good move on Fathers Day, Neil, particularly as you want a bigger bike!) A selection of photographs have been uploaded, as well as the initial results.

11.05.06

Evening Trials Practice and Coaching Sessions: Now that Summer is nearly here and the evenings are getting lighter, a series of evening practice sessions have been arranged at Seymours Arena again this year, for anyone in the club to attend. The first session will be on Wednesday 24th May, from 5pm onwards. More details ...

01.05.06

Berks Bonanza GrassTrack: Despite fears that rain may spoil the event, the sun decided to shine on us for the event. Months and weeks of advanced preparation culminated in a very successful event. To read more, follow this link ...

09.04.06

Club Trial Championship Round 3: The rain and hail held off just long enough for yet another successful Club Championship event. The sun was shining and the overnight rain had not spoiled the available grip, so the sections were just right, without being too slippery. As promised, Stuart and the setting out team had resurrected some areas of The Moors that hadn't been used for a while, so there were some fresh challenges as well as a new perspective on some of the more familiar sections - the start of Section 1, passing through the fork between the branches of a tree and Section 5, which involved going back and forth across a fallen tree, both proved particularly interesting! Section 6 proved quite tricky too, again with a quick dip in to the stream, followed by a tight turn on the opposite bank, exiting through the branches of a tree and back in to the stream.

Once again the Snack Bar was in attendance, supplying food and drinks to keep everyone going and a good time was had by all.

Les Bayliss was out and about with the camera again, snapping riders and observers from all sorts of creative angles! Click the following links; Photographs; Results.

19.03.06

Club Trial Championship Round 2: Glorious weather, great sections, good food and great fun was had by all. Les Bayliss was out and about with a camera, snapping riders and observers from all sorts of creative angles! Click the following links; Photographs; Results.

08.03.06

Club Trial Championship: It's all systems go for the 2nd round of the Club Trial Championship, with Seymour's Arena confirmed as the venue for the 19th March. As usual it will be an entry on the day event with an entry fee of £10 for adults and £7 for youth riders.

Current plans from the team marking out the course is to do 4 laps of 8 sections, with 3 alternative routes for Experts, Clubman and Novices. Start time will be 10am with a duration of 3 hours.

Please revisit the Events page for further details or look at the TMX News closer to the date.

Also, we have the go ahead the next round on April 9th at the Moors, Nappers Lane. Stuart is looking forward to resurrecting a few sections that we haven't used for a while, so it should be another great event!

26.02.06
ACU Novagar 2006 Championship, Wallace Cup Trial Results and initial photographs are now available to download.

21.02.06

Details of the trip to the Speedway Grand Prix in Cardiff have been added to the Events page.

17.02.06

The list of entries, rider number and start time for the National Wallace Cup, Round 1 Novogar Championship on Sunday 26 February 2006 have now been published at the following link.

31.01.06
Dave Williams receives a life membership award at the 2006 AGM in recognition of his long standing affiliation with the club. Click here to see photographs.

16.01.06
Details and forms for the 2006 Wallace Cup Trial have now been added to the calendar section of this website.