Shimmell is aiming to maintain his advantage

WAYNE Shimmell, who leads the over-35s age class in the Premier Motocross Series, heads the expert line-up in a South West Off-Road Series championship meeting tomorrow.

In an all-action 18-race programme at Whiteway Barton, near Kingsteignton, in Devon, he faces competition from equally talented riders Harry Matthews, Darren Toy, Cameron Packer, Brad Taylor, David Ford and John Francis and Jack Stevens.

There is a wide selection of trials throughout the region from Cornwall in the south to the Welsh border in the north over the weekend.

In the south, Somerset’s Yeo Vale Club set the ball rolling with their South West Centre event at Stoford, near Yeovil, later this afternoon.

Riders from the Channel Islands are expected to challenge local regular award winners Trevor and Hedley Ashford, Keiron Reeves, Mark Daubney and several members of the Fry family for the silverware.

It is a two-day event, and the second half is being held at Hillfields, near Dorchester, bearing in mind that the venue is situated on the A37 and is within easy reach of Weymouth, where the visitors will be making for their ferries home later in the day.

In Wiltshire, the Swindon Club’s trial is being staged near Wroughton the same day and upwards of 50 competitors are expected to contest the three or four-lap event on Bassett Down for the Wooster Garages Trophy.

Several rounds of the Kia Carsbacked Classic Bike Championships have already been held in the West Country, and the Wye Valley Auto Club are promising a further round of the series at Ewyas Harold, near Hereford, tomorrow.

It will take place on a course in the Black Mountains on the Welsh border, the course where they ran their National Traders Trial until a decade ago – and which was recognised as one of the toughest in the calendar.

But this event will be decided over a much easier course taking into consideration the age of the riders and machines.

WEEKEND FIXTURES TODAY

Yeo Vale MCC Trial, Rooks Mount Farm, Stoford, near Yeovil (1pm).

TOMORROW

Camel Vale MCC Trial, Trebarrow Farm, near Bugle, Cornwall (11am); South West Off-Road Series Championship Motocross, Whiteway Barton, Kingsteignton, near Newton Abbot (10.30am); Swindon MCC Wooster Garages Cup Trial, Bassett Down, near Wroughton, Wiltshire (10.30am); Wye Valley MCC Kia Cars Classic Bike Trial, Ewyas Harold, near Hereford (10am); Asian Motocross Grand Prix (World Championship round 12, noon); Yeo Vale MCC Trial, Hillfields near Dorchester, signposted from Evershot crossroads (10.30am).