ALMOST one-hundred riders took to Whitespots Trial Park in Newtownards on Saturday as the Moto Trial NI Club celebrated their 10th anniversary.
The event, which kicked off the 2024 trial series, commemorated a decade of activity at the club, who first formed with the aim of keeping the historic Leadmines venue alive and open for riders of all ages to ride in a safe, lawful and insured environment.
The park is the only fully planned and council approved trails area on the island of Ireland, used every Sunday year-round and on Wednesday evenings during the summer. Regularly hosting between 20 and 60 riders on Sundays, the club now has a very large membership ranging from ages four to 87 with all abilities spanning novice riders and those who compete at national and international level.
Whitespots was also the venue used in 1941 by the combined British Forces to train dispatch riders before deployment to the European theatre. At the end of the training, a trial was held to see who the best rider was.
This event was also to honour and remember these riders, with the Irish Guards and 591 AA Squadron in attendance with stalls showcasing their history. The Moto Trial NI Club were delighted to have the support of the Mayor, Jennifer Gilmour, and Ards and North Down Borough Council Chief Executive Stephen Reid, both taking time to visit the sections on the course to see the riders tackling the sections set out by the club.
Local MLA Stephen Dunne was also in attendance to show his continuing support for the club and watch the riders in action.
A beautiful day ensured that the riders had no excuses for rain affecting their efforts. This year, club chairman Andrew Perry had decided to spice things up and over the preceding weeks and months, along with a team of dedicated volunteers, he had located areas of the park that had never been used, developing these to deliver 10 brand new sections that the riders would test themselves on over four laps.
The trial started at 11am with grades set off in time intervals to ease the queues. Each grade had groups of riders on modern machinery, air cooled mono, twinshocks and pre 65 bikes too.
It was tribute to Andrew and the course he set out that no rider was fault-free throughout the day. In the semi-expert grade there was a ding-dong battle throughout with many riders leading at various points, but the clear winner was 14 year-old Mason Crawford who, along with Sophie Ferguson and Alex Andrews, stepped up into the adult ranks to test their skills against the big boys.
Ross Allen, Robert Crawford and current top Elite+ rider Stuart McClurg battled in the semi-expert air cooled mono class. Robert showed he has lost none of the guile and skill that saw him get to the heights of world number seven in his prime. Stuart though, given he is out most weeks on some form of two wheel weapon, took the win from Robert.
In the Clubman Elite grade Terry McKee, Desy Leckey and Alex Dugan fought their way through the sections for honours with Terry running out winner from Desy. Alex in third posted the only clean lap.
Stephen Murphy finished on seven marks lost to take the win in Clubman Pre 65, a score that would have been enough to take the Elite grade win. In the Clubman grade Micah Jones had a very steady ride, posting single digit scores on each lap to take the win from Josh Wilson, with Daniel Annett taking third.
Jamie Chambers was victorious in the Clubman twinshock grade, winning from Adam Reid with Kyle Hewitt in third. In the Clubman air cooled grade Che McStay was the winner on his lovely Beta TR34.
The Sportsman group is by far the most competitive and best supported grade, and in the Sportsman Elite grade seven riders fought hard throughout the day with some low scores, especially from winner Robbie Jennings, who posted three clear laps and a lap of three to push Ian Page into second followed by Nigel Mowbray.
In the main Sportsman grade 24 riders finished with 10 marks covering the first eight riders. Gary Johnston almost had the perfect day, just one dab all day seeing him take the win from Johnny Russell with Brian Rogers in third. In the Sportsman Twinshock grade the competition was super tight and at the end Michael Adams took the win by the furthest clean countback from David Hamill with Andy Owens third,
George Robinson took the win in the Sportsman air cooled mono grade. In the Sportsman pre 65 grade David Lemon edged out Ross McCullough to take the win.
The Novice grade was another tight affair. Seven riders including three ladies did battle over the four-lap, 10-section course and the scores were as tight as could be with Ivan Chambers dropping one mark to take the win from Merve Jones on two marks and Daniel Rogers in third on three marks lost.
Ken Stewart, on his absolutely beautiful Matchless, took the win in the Novice pre 65 grade. The Youth B grade saw Tom Stevenson take the win, while Harry Marshall bettered Charlie Cooke with Toby Jones in Youth C.
What a day for the Jones family; Toby on the podium, with his father Micah winning his grade and grandad Merve finishing runner up in his grade!
In Youth D there were two mini grades, one for the older riders on petrol bikes and one for the younger riders on electric bikes. In Youth D Ben Reid took the win on the big course and on the small course Jack Cregg from Kildare took the win from Noah Barr by just three marks.
This event was the first of a five-round series and thanks go to the landowners, Colin Garrett and the council for access to the area. Moto NI Trial NI also issue their thanks to the officers from the Irish Guards and 591 AA Squadron for taking the time to showcase their activities, the medics from Pro Paramedics for being on site, all the observers for giving their time to allow the event to take place and to photographers Gary Hamilton, Martyn Boyd and Bob Torrens.
Additionally, tribute was paid to Nicola Coulter from the Moto Trial NI Club for her vast administerial work and help with refreshments on the day. For this event, Nicola put together a wonderful pictorial pinboard spread cataloguing the history of the Mines themselves, the trial in 1941 (with pictures by kind permission of Andy Glenfield from WW2 NI) and a history of the club from inception to fight to keep the park open right up to the present day.
Last and most importantly, thanks go to each and every rider for coming along in such numbers and supporting the club. As with previous years, this series was again very kindly sponsored by Jonny Annett of OHA Motorsport.
Joining OHA in sponsoring prizes was Colin Patterson from Signature Windows NI.
Full results areavailable on the club Facebook page, below are the top three in each grade:
SEMI EXPERT
1. Mason Crawford
2. John McAndrew
3. Aaron Wright
SEMI EXPERT AIR COOLED MONO
1. Stuart McClurg
2. Robert Crawford
3. Ross Allen
CLUBMAN ELITE
1. Terry McKee
2. Desy Leckey
3. Alex Dugan
CLUBMAN
1. Micah Jones
2. Josh Wilson
3. Daniel Annett
CLUBMAN PRE 65
1. Stephen Murphy
CLUBMAN AIR COOLED MONO
1. Che McStay
CLUBMAN TWINSHOCK
1. Jamie Chambers
2. Adam Reid
3. Kyle Hewitt
SPORTSMAN ELITE
1. Robbie Jennings
2. Ian Page
3. Nigel Mowbray
SPORTSMAN
1. Gary Johnston
2. Johnny Russell
3. Brian Rogers
SPORTSMAN PRE 65
1. David Lemon
2. Ross McCullough
SPORTSMAN AIR COOLED MONO
1. George Robinson
SPORTSMAN TWINSHOCK
1. Michael Adams
2. David Hamill
3. Andy Owens
YOUTH B
1. Tom Stevenson
YOUTH C
1. Harry Marshall
2. Charlie Cooke
3. Toby Jones
YOUTH D BIG COURSE
1. Ben Reid
YOUTH D MINI COURSE
1. Jack Cregg
2. Noah Barr
