The Dave Pragnell trial, run by the Southampton & District MCC was the latest round of the ACU Southern Centre Solo Star, Youth A & B & George Allan Pre 65 championships. It was held at Hut Hill, Chandlers Ford by kind permission of Waltham Chase Trials Motorcycle club.
There was only a small entry but given the negative weather reports prior to the event, perhaps it was no great surprise!
The Intermediate class was hotly contested by several riders with Reynard Norris losing 6 points, narrowly beating Mark Elms who dropped 7 points.
There was only 1 expert rider entered so Rob Howard won that class,
Geoff Herbert beat John Miles in the Pre-65 class, both bikes being long, low & heavy, a proper handful on the wet marl clay in some of the sections.
The novices were well represented & varied from quite competent to truly novice. A name to look out for is Bailey Tidbury, He may not have threatened to win today but he showed very good throttle & clutch control on some parts that had older more experienced riders struggling.
The sections were laid out by Dave Freemantle & Dick Ramplee, ably assisted by Keith Mitchell & Steve Earle. They provided a variety of challenges that only needed minor tweaking following overnight rain & frost & had a major impact on the way the trial was received by the riders. The high scores didn't upset the majority of riders, just provided an opportunity to close the gap with their peers.
I would like to thank all the riders, observers & officials for doing their best & making it possible to run the trial. SDMCC has donated £110 to Muscular Dystrophy as a result or Dave Pragnell 2015.
Results attached below...