Steve ThomasThe Yorkshire Classic Club held it's annual day out in Allan Jefferies country to help it's members prepare for the forthcoming Pre65 Scottish. Bill Wilkinson's land between Litton and Halton Gill has a great rocky stream similar to those met in the Highland event.
With this in mind, a high quality record 71 riders turned out at Litton to put man and machine to the test. Three expert riders completed the 10 section 4 lap course with a loss of only 1 mark, each losing their dab in a different section.
A Noble Ariel
It was Jimmy Noble, out for the first time on the Ariel since his major crash at Aluminium Works in last year's Scottish pre-65 that took the top spot in the Blue Riband Pre-unit class. Club Cub champion Tony Calvert also finished on 1 but lost out on the oldest rider tie break rule to guest rider Chris Milner up from Chesterfield for the day, both being Cub mounted. New member Stuart Blythe from Ripon also Cub mounted was just one mark behind on two together with guest Triumph Twin mounted Nick Shield with his polished tank glinting in the occasional sunshine.
Clubman Baker
By contrast Bob Baker took his Cub to a three mark margin of victory on the easier Clubman route losing just four. Gary Mitchell pipped Gordon Imrie on the age rule in the Clubman Pre- unit class losing just 7 with Colin Benson close behind on 8.
Slippery rocks
Sections one and two were the calm before the real tests began. Section three turned out to be the hardest the Clubmen faced with only Baker staying clear on all visits although Chris Milner lost his solitary dab on the relatively easy premier route line here.
The rocks became bigger in each of the next four sections with number six cleaned only by the top three and fifteen year old Will Harrison on his Cub. It was where Stuart Blyth lost both his marks.
The clubmen stayed out of the rocky gully higher up but section seven saw Jimmy Noble's throttle slip from his grasp to record his only dab of the day.
The penultimate section, an innocent looking climb and sharp turn on the bank was the downfall of Calvert and where Yrjo Vesterinen lost 6 out of his total of 7.
As the riders finished, the sun came out to highlight the stunning view from the event field.
Thanks to Duncan MacDonald, Andy Scott and Neil Anderton for setting a great and challenging course.
Roll on Scotland!