The Yorkshire Classic Championship Season started at Lady Lane, Bingley on a bright but cold day on. Colin Lawrence and Dale Harrison set the 10 section course to be ridden 4 times. The ground was frozen when the 49 riders arrived but the sun soon thawed making the grass slippery especially when carried on to the numerous rocks.
Two riders stood out from the rest. John Maxfield, getting to grips with his Bantam and Chris Gascoigne still campaigning his Francis Barnett. Both lost a single mark on the tricky Premier Route but the Club’s tie break system gives ties to the more senior rider and thus Maxfield took the honours by four years!.
Steves Thomas (Bantam), Gossop (Bantam) and Rayner (Cub) filled the top three spots on the clubman route on 1, 5 and 6 respectively with seasoned campaigner Keith Hobson (MacD Cub) close behind on 8. Section 3 saw many clubmen struggling to wriggle through the jumbled boulders with only 4 riders being unpenalised.
On the premier route, the first major test came at section 4 where riders had to weave uphill between large rocks. Only Gascoigne and Robin Luscombe remained clear with Maxfield’s sole point being extracted here.
The remaining sections were entertaining and the final pair proved tricky as both Vesterinen (Bantam) and Lusky found to their cost. After conquering the lower rocks, both hit a side slope where traction was suddenly lost throwing them sideways to take five’s from their otherwise respectable scores.
The move to Bantams on the premier route was very noticeable with almost half the entry riding up to date versions of the mark. It seems that this could also be happening in the Clubman’s sector but for now the Cubs were most numerous with almost half the entry so mounted. Mystery surrounds why the entry was the lowest in recent years.
It was agreed by all that the Clerks of the Course had done a good job and our thanks go to them for a good days sport and also to the Landowner, Observers and Riders, and Barry Pickard for the results.