GAS Gas rider Dan Peace dominated Scarborough and District MC's trial at Harwood Dale last Sunday, with Jack Howell finishing in second place.

The 60 entrants faced a tough challenge, not only from clerk of course Andy Woodall's four-lap, 10-section course, but also from the greasy conditions after heavy rain.

After breezing through the early sections, the rock gully of three caught Howell for six in total, but it was sections five and ten at Top Rocks and Middle Gully which appeared formidable under non-stop rules.

Michael Brown, looking in good form, lost five on the very last step, as did Howell and Michael Todd. Matt Ackerly and Jack Peace stopped on the first massive step.

Woodall considered changing it for the second lap, until Peace attacked it with a flowing ride without penalty, making the clerk of course a happy man. To prove it was no fluke, he repeated the feat on the last lap and followed up with more of the same on the tenth.

The formidable Sharp family were out in force, Pete grabbing the intermediate class from the steadily improving Chris Brown, who matched Sharp with a great clean on the awkward rocks of the first. But Sharp's experience paid off as he remained unpenalised on the second and the graded hill climb.

Northallerton's Andy Keel split Mick and Matt Sharp to finish second in class A as Chris Jewell hit something like his old form, pushing up into fourth place, with only the last two sections dropping him back.

There was a close battle in class B as Darren Johnson kept his winning streak going. He was the only rider to remain clean on the graded hill and overall as Andrew Dale, Mark Hardy, Paul Nelson and Brian Johnson all squandered marks as nerves made them wobble a bit.

Scarborough's Kelsey Williamson hung on to beat young John Turton by one mark to take the white route victory.

THE North-East Centre Championship kicked off 2016 in its traditional way last Sunday with the South Shields and District Motor Club putting on its Caer Urfa trial at Shield Close, above the village of Westgate, where 77 riders turned out for three laps of 14 sections.

The conditions ranged from heavy mist to steady rain, but as there has been snow, sleet and gale-force winds in recent years, there wasn't much to complain about.

The three courses turned out to be right, all taking marks but giving riders the chance to recover from a five or two.

On the expert course, it was a close-run thing between John Crinson and Michael Phillipson, who both ended on identical marks. But Crinson had managed one extra clean to claim the spoils.

Rob Waite was always a threat, but eventually finished a further eight marks adrift.

Section two, ably watched over by Alison Willis, was a real tester, with climbs over rocks and around trees taking threes at best off most riders until Jack Biggins had a tremendous clean, which was eventually matched by the top few later in the day.

The rest of the course was a case of penalties here and there, apart from Paul Battensby's section 12, where the approach to the rocky gully became like an ice rink as mud filled the tyres and riders then had no grip to climb the rest of the section.

James Black had plenty to spare on the clubman route, his 14 marks going in just two of the day's sections. His star ride, a two, was in section 12. His other marks came in section two, where he managed a last lap clean after two threes, a ride which was only matched by Zac Hubbery and J Thompson.

Andrew Black made it a family double by taking the sportsman route win ahead of Tim Harper and Michael Minns. After an excellent first lap score of just two, Black dropped a further eight on his second and would have been concerned about his final five in section 12 before realising he had plenty to spare at the finish.

SPANIARD Adam Raga won the opening trial in the FIM X-Trial championship series at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, last Saturday night, defeating multi outdoor and indoor world champion Toni Bou.

In front of a packed audience, Raga put the new TRS machine at the top of the results, heading Montesa, Sherco and Vertigo teamsters. Only eight riders contested the event, including Leeds British trials champion James Dabill, who competed on his Vertigo machine as a wild card competitor.

After a good start, Dabill could not match the rampant Spaniards, who finished first to fourth while the Leeds rider ended the night in seventh place.

Results

Scarborough & DMC trial, Low North Park, Harwood Dale. – Hard course, experts: 1 Dan Peace (Gas Gas) 14; 2 Jack Howell (Beta) 49.

Inters: 1 Pete Sharp (Gas Gas) 12; 2 Chris Brown (Scorpa) 31; 3 Shane Monkman (Beta) 39.

Clubman A: 1 Mick Sharp (Beta) 6; 2 Andrew Keel (Beta) 10; 3 Matt Sharp (Gas Gas) 11.

Clubman B: 1 Darren Johnson (Yamaha) 0; 2 Andrew Dale (Sherco) 4; 3 Mark Hardy (Beta) 6.

Youth Class A: Jack Peace (Gas Gas) 60.

Youth Class B: 1 Jack Darrell (Beta) 31; 2 Ben Teasdale (Gas Gas) 42; 3 Tom Carter (Gas Gas) 70.

Youth Class C: 1 Toby Teasdale (Gas Gas) 29; 2 Richard Pulman (Gas Gas) 36.

White course: 1 Kelsey Williamson (Gas Gas) 10; 2 John Turton (Beta) 11; 3 Mick Turton (Beta) 21.

South Shields & DMC Caer Urfa Cup Trial, Shield Close, Westgate. – Expert course: 1 John Crinson (Beta) 19; 2 Michael Phillipson (Scorpa) 19; 3 Robert Waite (Beta) 26; 4 John Battensby (Sherco) 51.

Clubman course: 1 James Black (Sherco) 14; 2 Steve Dalton (Montesa) 27; 3 Darren Palmer (Montesa) 30; 4 Joe Hutchinson (Gas Gas) 30.

Sportsman course: 1 Andrew Black (Montesa) 16; 2 Tim Harper (Sherco) 21; 3 Michael Minns (Montesa) 29; 4 Steve Holmes (Sherco) 29.

Fixtures

Sunday: Pickering DMC easy trial, Yatt's Farm, Newton on Rawcliffe, 11am.