Championship riders ready to tackle the quarry

SEASONED British Championship contenders Sam Haslam and Sam Connor are among the pre-event favourites to win the Southern Experts Trial at Gurney Slade in midSomerset tomorrow along with Tom Minta and 19-times South West Centre champion Joe Baker.

There is a sprinkling of local aces in an entry of 65 riders for the threelap, 12-section event in Binegar Quarry, including Wessex Centre champion Kurt Brain, Connor Atkinson, Stephen Martin, Radford Chugg and Jeremy Cross. Tom Culliford and Tyler Rendall are also in action.

Lee Hassall, Ben Skinner, Brian Francis, Kevin Nolan and John Luff are in the clubman expert class.

There is also a youth class featur- ing Brett Harbud, winner of last weekend’s Stroud Valley Trial at Dursley, Jack Dance, Joshua Wright, Alice Minta and Gus Oblein. The sidecar class has had to be omitted as only one crew had entered.

The Wells Club are staging their final timed and observation trial of the year at Maesbury Rings a few miles from the cathedral city the same day. It is an hour-long event and the entry list features regular award-winners Steve Hamblin, Peter and Zac King, as well as Paul Manning, David Jordan, Dan Edwards, Nick Derham, Ben Sinclair, Nathan Newman, Gary Newman and Ben Franklyn.

The final rounds of the South West Centre pre-1965 and twin-shock championship takes place at Grove Farm, Tolland, near Bishops Lydeard.

Entries for this event will be accepted only on the day. However, it is an event that the main contenders dare not miss.

And in the pre-65 class they are Barry Stephens, Tony Henbest, and David Fisher, George Atkins, Owen Clarke and Nick Smith.

In the twin-shock class the contenders are Anthony Cowling, Jason Atwell and Martin Gilbert, Ian Baker, David Sherlock and David Price.

The event is also open to clubman class riders and over-50 years class contestants.

The continuing rain in Cornwall has forced the Pendennis Club to call off their trial at Perran-ArWorthal, near Falmouth, this afternoon, but the second half of what was set to be a two-day event in Fraser’s Woods tomorrow will go ahead as planned, this time using the site’s upper woodlands rather than the under-water lower slopes.