Emma BristowThis weekend saw a full-on two days of Trials for Scarborough and District when their Low North Camp venue played host to not only the British Youth A&B and C&B Championships, but also the third scoring round of the 2014 Luscombe Suzuki Leeds ACU British Ladies Trials Championship. Thirty five of Britain’s top female Trials riders made their way to the east Yorkshire former army camp to battle it out over three laps of twelve sections made very slippery by both rain on Friday and the preceding day’s Youth C&D action.
In the main Championship Class, Britain’s top two girls, Emma Bristow – MRS Sherco and the Isle Of Wight’s Becky Cook – Beta UK were tied with one win apiece going into this round whilst Joanne Coles – JST Gas Gas who is more than capable of shaking things up at the top made a welcome return to the top level.
It was Cook, who appears to have re-found her confidence after a bit of an “off” spell who set the early pace dropping just a single dab over the opening six sections whilst Bristow lagged behind, picking up a maximum five on the second section and immediately following that with a three on the third. Coles too had a bit of a shaky start dropping two points on the tough second and also collecting fives on the third and fifth. However, it wasn’t to remain that way and with Bristow getting back into her stride and Cook picking up a score of eighteen over the latter half of the opening lap, it was the reigning champion who ended the first third of the competition in top spot with a three point margin over her rival whilst Coles lagged behind on twenty eight points, some nine points adrift of Cook.
It was to be the second lap that was to prove decisive in this Trial and one that Cook will probably want to forget. Things started to go wrong as early as the second section where she picked up the first of the total of six fives she’d score through this lap. Bristow, meanwhile, continued to exhibit the steady riding she’d shown in the first lap with just two fives on the ninth and tenth sections ultimately ending the lap with a score of seventeen, one higher than her first lap score, but well ahead of the thirty six Becky ended up collecting. Coles, who’s not riding nearly as much as she used to, continued her challenge, again with steady riding and repeating her opening lap score of twenty eight.
With just one lap remaining Bristow had a comfortable twenty two point advantage over Cook whilst Coles was just one point behind Cook and very much in contention for the runner-up spot. There was to be no relaxing for Emma though and although racking up her highest lap score of the day - nineteen on her final visit to the sections, there was to be no challenge to her dominance. The battle for second place continued between Cook and Coles though, one in which Joanne was to prevail after a final lap score of twenty three put her on a final total of seventy nine to Becky’s overall total of eighty one after her last lap score of twenty three.
In the Girls A Championship the outcome was to be exactly the same as that at the preceding round in Shropshire just two weeks previously. In a close competition, Louise Alford – Gas Gas prevailed with her opening lap score of sixteen proving decisive in the final outcome. Although rivals Victoria Payne – Active MRS Sherco and Beth Waite – Beta UK both improved considerably on their second visits to the sections, neither could gain back the points lost in the first lap with Payne eventually taking second place and Waite the remaining podium position.
The Intermediates saw a worthwhile trip from the Isle of Man for Saskia Baxter – Beta as she took top honours, despite a shaky start in the first lap. Improving dramatically though she went on to score subsequent lap scores of just three and then rode clean on her final lap to ensure herself the top step on the podium. For Kate Hunter – Gas Gas, it was to be the other way round. 
Hannah MooreShe got off to a great start, dropping five on her opening lap and reducing that to three on her second, but a score of eleven on her final visit to the sections was to put her five points behind Baxter and settling for second place. Third in this competition went to returning Katy Bullock – Jotagas who missed out on the second spot by ending just one point behind Hunter.
In the Intermediate A Class, the entry of just two - Francesca Tattersall – Trials UK Sherco continued her ongoing battle with Olivia Pearson – Eldiss Sherco. Despite sporting a nice shiny new lid, Tattersall was unable to repeat her win at the second round with Pearson prevailing by sixteen points at the end of the competition.
An entry of seven took on the B Championship Class with Megan Savage – Beta improving on her fourth place in Shropshire to take home the silverware with Alice Minta – Beta UK ending four points behind in second place and Gabby Witham – Jotagas completing the podium line-up.
Hannah Moore - Beta continued her dominance of the C Championship with her third win from three starts over second placed Amy Turpin – Beta. Claire Collinson – Beta, though some way behind the top two girls in this class, did enough to claim the remaining podium place.
Full section by section results are attached to this article.
Photo Coverage
In light of requests from parents as to where they can buy photos, we've put these over on our sister site at trialsphotos.com. Both digital downloads and photo quality digital prints are available. All income will go to funding the costs of covering more UK events.
trialsphotos.com link - all photos are searchable by rider name.
Trials Central Supporters Photo Coverage - Higher resolution, no watermarks