WHITBY rider Andy Chilton closed down the 2015 trials season with a flourish by winning the Guisborough and District Motor Club Boxing Day fancy dress trial by three marks from this year's Scott Trial victor Ian Austermuhle.

The Guisborough crew pulled out all the stops in atrocious conditions and got it spot on for the hardy bunch of 60 riders. The observers needed their tot of whisky to keep them going, but the top three experts, Austermuhle, Chilton and Tom Affleck, brightened the proceedings.

With sections eased, it proved tight in every class and the slippery roots of Ces Tate's section grabbed fives off the first three riders, Colburn's Phil Clough, Richard Mee and Andrew Dale, while plumber Dave Almack tangled with a bigger pipe than he is accustomed to on section nine when it flipped him over the bars.

The fourth hazard also stopped Chilton's clean sheet, while Austermuhle dropped off the pace on the awkward adverse of seven, as did James Carr and Russ Rooksby, and Affleck blew the win with a five on the first lap.

Alan Carr has taken to the new Scorpa, doing well to come back from ten lost on the dreaded fourth to steal the win from Andy Keel by one mark, with Chris Brown a further mark down. Darren Johnson and Greg Winspear bettered clerk of course Barry Overy by remaining clean to win clubman B.

Kevin Tate may have fared better if he had discarded the box covering his head sooner, but he complained of letterbox vision and had to retire. The Guisborough club thanked everyone involved.

IT was a fantastic day weather-wise for Scarborough and District Motor Club's Yuletide Trial as all three major winners kept their feet up to finish the season with clean victories.

Chris Alford headed the hard course class, Yarm's Darren Johnson took the easier course and Tom Carter the very easy course.

A superb entry of 106 riders, which included nine girls, fought it out over a Dave Chilton-inspired course around Low North Park which, after heavy rain, proved slippery.

Alford was in confident mood from the off and the third section took marks off all riders apart from him. Runner-up Mark Cottingham dropped five, as did Gary Collinson, but Shaughan Galway had the line perfect to lose just one there and one on the last big rocks to leave him in third place.

Middlebrough's Chris Brown grabbed fourth, a good effort, heading riders of the calibre of Collinson, Mark Taylor and young Zac Collinson, while 18-year-old Louise Alford, ranked fifth in the ladies' championship, attacked the hard section with confidence.

Easy course winner Johnson still handles pressure well. Although he now rides down a class, he put the perfect ride together. He had to as Lewis Woodall, Colin Bailey and Shropshire's Alice Minta, having a cracking ride, pressured him all the way, just one mark behind at the finish.

Roy Clayton, Mike Tanton and Eric Boocock kept eventual very easy course winner Carter in sight, but again the odd lapse in concentration and a mark down on the sheet saw them finish in that order.

STANLEY Motor Club were out at Butsfield, in County Durham, a week before Christmas, giving 76 North-East riders a far better alternative to last-minute shopping.

Robert Waite journeyed up from Darlington and took the expert course win ahead of Colin Ward and James Black. Five of the winner’s marks went in sections seven and eight, where both Black and Andrew Battensby bettered his score, but he would take no prisoners in sections three, four, six and ten, where he was well ahead of the competition.

Another rider from the south end of the centre, Kev Chapman, was also in form and took the green course win on 14, four fewer than Stephen Dalton and another four fewer than Roddy Baker. Chapman and Dalton were fairly evenly matched throughout the day, with the main difference between the two coming from scores in sections three and six, where the winner pulled clear, only to be pegged back slightly when dropping a few slack ones in sections eight and nine.

On the clubman route, David Braithwaite put up another good show with a clear win over Colin Ward junior, having a clear ten-mark margin at the finish. Five of those marks were saved in section eight and five more in sections two, three and six. Trevor Newton completed the top three after losing out on the tie decider to Ward.

TORRENTIAL rain and flooded roads wiped out all but three motorcycle trials out of a total of eight events in Yorkshire on Boxing Day and Sunday.

The West Leeds club's event at Post Hill was axed due to a muddy, rutted access road to the venue. The Richmond trial at Reeth was the next to go at The Woodyard, where the Arkle Beck alongside burst its banks. The Swaledale roads were under water from Tuesday last week.

Even the annual Boxing Day trial staged by the Bradford Motor Club went down when Airedale in general became a lake. The venue was fine, but the roads around Silsden were not. The annual John Smith's Bottle Trial was cancelled early last week as the Cockhill Mines venue at Greenhow was too waterlogged for even trials bikes.

THE Northallerton and District Motor Cycle Club holds its AGM at the Black Horse, Swainby, at 8pm on Wednesday, January 6.

Results

Guisborough & DMC Fancy Dress Trial. – Expert: 1 Andy Chilton (Honda) 1; 2 Ian Austermuhle (Beta) 4; 3 Tom Affleck

(Sherco) 5.

Intermediate: 1 Jak Holtby (Beta) 25; 2 Carl Kirkbride (Sherco) 30; 3 James Wainwright (Beta) 34.

Clubman A: 1 Alan Carr (Scorpa) 18; 2 Andy Keel (Beta) 19; 3 Chris Brown (Scorpa) 20.

Clubman B: 1 Darren Johnson (Montesa) 0; 2 Greg Winspear (Triumph Cub) 0; 3 Dave Wardell (Beta) 2.

Fancy Dress: 1 Mick Orange; 2 Kevin Tate; 3 Neville Lishman.

Fancy Dress Youth: William Lishman.

Scarborough & DMC Open Yuletide Trial, Low North Park. – Hard course: 1 Chris Alford (Gas Gas) 0; 2 Mark Cottingham (Gas Gas) 11; 3 Shaughan Galway (Gas Gas) 12.

Easy course: 1 Darren Johnson (Montesa) 0; 2 Lewis Woodall (Gas Gas) 1; 3 Colin Bailey (Beta) 1; 4 Alice Minta (Beta) 1.

Very easy course: 1 Tom Carter (Gas Gas) 0; 2 Roy Clayton (Beta) 1; 3 Mike Tanton (Beta) 2.

Stanley TC trial, Butsfield. – Expert course: 1 Rob Waite (Beta) 7; 2 Colin Ward (Beta) 18; 3 James Black (Sherco) 23.

Green course: 1 Kev Chapman (Gas Gas) 14; 2 Stephen Dalton (Montesa) 18; 3 Roddy Baker (Beta) 22.

Clubman course: 1 David Braithwaite (Honda) 8; 2 Colin Ward jnr (Beta) 18; 3 Trevor Newton (Sherco) 18.

Sportsman course: 1 Mark Jewell (Beta) 0; 2 Mark Dorrit (Gas Gas) 2; 3 Steve Currey (Gori) 4.

Fixtures

New Year's Day. – Eboracum MC Luxembourg Trial, The Old Quarry, Hovingham, 11am.

Sunday. – Ilkley DMC Annual New Year Trial, Dob Park, Otley, 10.45am; South Shields MC Trial, Shield Close, Westgate, 11am.