British Champions 2008

Congratulations to the Centre's British Trials Champions - Nic Draper, Jon Bliss, Ian Hannam/Debbie Smith, and Steve Allen.

There's a mind-boggling nine ACU trials championships with numerous classes, and Western Centre riders have been to the fore in many of them.

Western Centre Trials Champion for the fifth time, Simon Welch, came fifth in the Novogar championship, which used to be known as the clubman championship. I won't embarrass Steve Saunders by saying where he finished but he picked up points for third place in the only round he rode (actually he was second but the first two tied). Simon also picked up a couple of points in the Expert class of the British Championship

In the Traditional Trials Championship, former Centre Trials Champion Nic Draper again won class C, for air cooled monoshock machines. Next year's Trevor Hunt Trophy Trial will be a round of this championship and two of its organisers, Andy Pitt and Dan Sanders, also picked up some useful points in one-off championship rides.

Martyn Goodall came fifth in Class E for over 50s on modern bikes, even though he only scored in (and presumably rode in) six of the 10 rounds. Steve Venn finished just outside the top 15, with two top ten rides. In the over 60s class, F, Jon Bliss topped the lot for first place, with Dan's dad John picking up a top ten finish in one of the rounds.

The Sammy Miller Trials Championship saw a winner in Class 1 (rigid - these boys make it hard for themselves), with Steve Allen. Goff Hannam came second and you can read how the championship panned out here, in his words. Great mates Peter Collins and Nigel Townsend are never far apart, and finished 5th and 7th in the championship respectively. Regular Western Centre visitor Martyn Wilmore topped Class 2 (Pre-65 pre-unit springer).

In the Pre-69 Pre-Unit Sidecar Class (class 6), Ian Hannam and Debbie Smith once again proved a formidable team, with a convincing win. And in the Twinshock solo class, Dan Sanders managed a third place finish in one round, while Andy Pitt and Malcolm Herbert picked up some points too.

And in the Clubman class of the sidecar championship, Neil Hannam came ninth with Pete Pesterfield in the chair. They also won the modern sidecar class of the Euro-cup this year.

Last but by no means least, there is a championship for trailbikes too - one round of which, the OK Supreme run by the Stratford club, visited the northern reaches of the Centre. Regular centre visitors Gavin Moore, Graham Lavis and Keith Wells were second, third and fourth, with Ben Falconer fifth, and Steve Venn ninth. Jon Bliss and Dave Eeles also picked up some useful points.

That's all for this year - unless you know otherwise. If I have missed you out, I'm sorry - don't be shy, tell me and we'll put it right. [on 5Dec2008]