Sheffield
With no FIM status attached to the event the long-standing Sheffield Indoor Trial still hosted a fantastic evening of trials action titled ‘The Martin Lampkin Memorial Trial’ to celebrate the memory of the great trials rider and sporting legend who sadly passed away in April 2016. Along with his business partner in the event, Neil Crosswaite, Martin had the vision of bringing the sport’s top riders to a UK arena event and over a twenty-year period that’s what they did. Neil made a short speech to remember the great man before inviting the appreciative crowd to put their hands together as they warmly applauded to make some noise around the arena, which was what the pair had always wanted to achieve.
With the event now past the twenty-year marker and running as a stand-alone event in 2017, the Crosswaite and Lampkin families once again united to bring the world’s best trials riders together for the first major event of the trials calendar. The riders would contest the qualifying over six man-made hazards, with each taking a turn in going first. The four lowest-scoring riders would proceed through to the final, with starting positions decided in the dual lane races. The hazards were designed and constructed with a hard-working team under the guidance of the two Lampkin brothers, twelve times world champion Dougie and his brother Harry. Supported by the team of workers with many years of experience they used a selection of natural materials, including some local Sheffield steel and a mixture of rocks, logs and a HGV tractor unit and trailer from the independent Mercedes retailer Mertrux. With the Lampkin family looking after the hazards the Crosswaite family look after the logistics and once again it would be Neil’s son Martin, supported by his close friend Wayne Kershaw, who would be the master of ceremonies for the estimated crowd of seven-thousand motorcycle enthusiasts.