Category: Yorkshire Dales

After a spell under the care of the Airedale and Pennine Motor Club the Yorkshire Dales was back in the hands of the Ilkley Club for 2025. Retaining the picturesque Pateley Bridge start the event attracted a fair entry of championship contenders from south of the Trent to do battle with the locals.

There was ample parking on the Pateley Bridge showground and a nice atmosphere for the efficient scrutineering and sign-on under glorious sunshine that lasted throughout the day. The downside was that the sections were very dry with a lot of grip, so a lot of tight turns were the order of the day, and unfortunately, a couple of them weren’t clearly marked.

Watergate

These familiar sections were only a few miles from the start. Watergate 1 starts with a drop into a stream that has caused problems in recent times but had been smoothed out for this year. There were few failures here, a notable exception being Charlie Knifton, who had issues with the restarts on both 1 and 2.

Dry Gill

There were two sections at Dry Gill. The first was for the bikes and Class 8. It was steep, with a restart but it wasn’t a problem. That wasn’t the case for the second section, attempted by the bikes together with cars other than in class 8. Marked out by poles on rough ground the eight gate was way off to the right, off the beaten track. Most of the entry missed it which had a significant affect on the car results as class eight didn’t attempt the section so none picked up a penalty.

Strid Wood

The four sections at Strid Wood started with the infamous gulley, approached by a hump which tested ground clearance although the soft material further up wasn’t too problematical.

Strid Wood 2 took a number of scalps. The ninety right onto the track is very sharp with a big rock on the outside to catch the unwary.

Failures here included Edinburgh trial powerhouse Mark Gregg in his Reliant powered Austin Seven, Former Northern Trial organiser Myke Pocock and Dave Sergeants immaculate Beetle.

The other two sections at Strid were marked out on rough ground and there were few failures but these did include Michael Leete’s Dellow who fluffed one of the 6, 7 and 8 restarts.

Hawpike

The two sections were very familiar to trial regulars and the only problem was the drop into the stream just after the start of Hawpike 2 which caught out Chris Sievers in his Ford Special and Sam Oddy in the Suzuki Ignis.

After the observed sections came the long trip across the moors, with wonderful views, to the Highfield Farm Special Test, a glorious windy thrash under the watchful eye of the landowner and his family.

Ellers

After the straightforward Ellers section there was a very civilised lunch stop at Fewston Village Hall with great views and a chance to get out of the sun for those in open cars. There was some nice food on offer with generous cups of tea and it almost seemed a shame when it was time to leave and get on with the trial.

Sword Point

Both sections here were marked out in woodland so there were substantial trees to hit if competitors weren’t careful. The turn here were quite tight and proved a problem for some of the older cars with limited steering lock.

The 12 marker on the second section was right over to the right and not that obvious.

It was no surprise that quite a few were penalised for missing the 12, mostly bikes but also Ray Ferguson in his Liege.

Seans Wood

These were nice sections mostly on welcome well defined tracks. Both would have been challenging in the wet but with so much grip on the day there were only a handful of failures.

Brimham Lodge

The grass under the trees would have been a real problem if Brimham Lodge had been tackled first thing in the morning, as the ground here can be very slippy when wet. However, by the time the trial arrived, the dew had dried out under the sun, and for most, it was just a simple blast to the top where Dave Cook was waiting with his camera. It was nice to see Dave out on a trial, as he’s not been too well recently.

Somerset Field Test

West Wood

Just a few miles from the finish there were separate sections for bikes and cars. For the four wheeled brigade it was to prove the toughest section of the day. It was twisty and towards the end there was a drop into a gully with deep ruts and a short, sharp climb out.

Paul Merson arrived at the section with the fastest test time among the clean sheets but dropped two pushing him back to sixth place with the consequent loss of Wheelspin points.

Amongst the lower classes David Golightly and Sebastian Welch (Austin Seven Chummy) were clean but it proved very tight for the more modern cars who couldn’t get the momentum to get up the final bank.

Back at the finish the opinion amongst competitors was that the club had done a good job considering the ground was so dry and grip so plentiful. No event is perfect and the vibe is the organisers have learned a few things to improve for next year.

Links:-

• Motorcycle Provisional Results
• Car Provisional Results
• Yorkshire Dales on the Classic Trials Facebook group
• More Yorkshire Dales on Facebook
• Video Playlist
• Dave Cooks Photos
• Gary Plimer Cars on Hawpike
• Gary Plimer Bikes on Seans Wood
• Gary Plimer Cars on Seans Wood
• Gary Plimer Bikes on Watergate
• Stephen Lancasters Photos
• Audio Report

We have been publishing stuff about Classic Trials on the Web since 1995 and always appreciate feedback. Comments, Corrections, Criticism & Concerns are all welcome. You can leave a comment to have your say here on this web site or our Social Media BTW you can subscribe and get new posts as a newsletter