Sporting History - Trials

SOUTHAMPTON & DISTRICT MOTOR CYCLE CLUB Sporting History - Trials. The Club has promoted two or three sporting trials every year since 1946, for the first two or three years using observed sections in the West Wellow area followed by the use of the Fair Oak and Swanwick areas till 1956 returning to the West Wellow and Sherfield English areas up to 1958. The Club's strength organising trials and the individual riders competing in them and those run by other Southern Centre ACU clubs can best be illustrated by an extract from the report for the year 1950 submitted by the Committee to the 1951 AGM.

During 1950 the Club maintained it's individuality in organising trials and, in addition to the well established Presidents Cup event, a new Open to Centre trial, the Jack White Trophy Trial was organised. The Ashes and More Ashes Trials, restricted competitions between ourselves and the X.H.G. Tigers M.C.C., were also held during the summer months. All the above trials were well supported and received favourable comments from the officiating stewards. The activities of our Trials riding competitors, some 40 in number, deserves some comment. During the past year there have been 26 Open to Centre Trials involving the presentation of 553 awards, of these, our own members have gained 198, representing 35.78%. Analysing these still further they have gained 11 Premier Awards out of 26 representing 42.2% , 7 Opposite Class Awards out of 8 - 87.5% and 12 Team Awards out of 24 - 50% . A really remarkable achievement when it is borne in mind that the remainder of Awards were shared out between the other 37 Clubs in the Centre.

Competition between Southern Centre clubs for the team awards was quite intense. Before the start of a Trial about half a dozen local clubs would nominate three of their members riding in the trial as their team. The Club's team was usually made up from regular riders Ken Edwards, Gilbert Buttegieg, Dave Pragnell and Ray Russell and one or the other of them often won the Premier Award for the event, with the others finishing well enough to secure the team award. In the years to 1965, the Club's name often appeared as winners or runners up in the Southern Centre Trials League. Later, when the Southern Centre ran Team Trials, the Club continued to enjoy successes.

In the early post war years, and in the mid fifties, petrol supplies were rationed. As trials routes covered thirty miles or more and travel to and from the start often meant another 50 miles or so, and as low geared trials bikes were not particularly economic, it meant that the whole of a months ration could be used in a day. It so happened that two of the club's regular riders, Dave Pragnell and Cecil Rann, were parcels carrier transport operators equipped with covered luton bodied lorries, so, early each Sunday morning during the trials season would see Dave picking up riders on the East side of Southampton and Cecil on the West side to travel to the starting point of the day's trial. These journeys were much enjoyed social events in themselves.
There was always a lot of friendly rivalry between the Club and the XHG Tigers club of Christchurch and, because there were no ACU Centre trials during the summer months, the two clubs put on a trial each, one called "The Ashes" and the other called, would you believe, "The More Ashes"which, because of their informal nature, were really good fun - but they were hotly contested by both club's expert riders.

In 1947, Club President, Alec Bennett, presented the Club with a trophy so, until he handed the Club Presidency to Syd Lawton in 1970, our major trial was for "The Presidents Cup". Then, in 1950, Club Vice-President Jackie White presented a trophy to the Club and this has been competed for every year to the present.

Always prepared to innovate and to experiment, in the early 50's club trials would include long timed sections where the fastest rider would set 'standard time. One such section ran along the shingle beach on the East side of Southampton Water from Hook to Brownwich. This section was popular with some riders but not others and certainly not with the owners of week-end holiday chalets at the Solent Breezes site who didn't much like their peace being disturbed. Neither were these sections too popular with the ACU as speed became too much of a factor. Nevertheless, in the 60's, the Club ran a number of 'Scott' type trials which were 'timed and observed' events.

The West Wellow area has always been regarded by the Club as providing venues for it's trials but, in the period 1956 to 1962, the Club enjoyed use of a Scrambles circuit on the Beaulieu Estate and was able to take advantage of the terrain to provide some trials sections. Finding suitable nearby sections and obtaining permission to use them was difficult but one trial was held in the area in each of these years. During the seventies, land at Sherfield English was used for the

 engines in steel tubular frames, drum brakes and rigid rear frames or sprung with two shock bsorbers. All classes of bike a competed against each other, two strokesand four strokes alike. Awards were fairly simple, Premier, for the best performance, then First and Second Class awards for the next best on a percentage of the entry basis, and then Intermediate and Novice awards. Many observed sections encountered were described as 'up a bank and round a tree' which advantaged the lightweight twostrokes whilst 'mudplugs' favoured the heavier fourstrokes. The arrival of bikes like the lightweight Bultaco two stroke with improved engine torque characteristics at lower revs and vastly improved suspension started the changes. Further dramatic changes followed with the arrival of Montesas, Ossas etc. and, in 1983 the appearance of Fantics and Yamahas with single shock absorbers providing the suspension at the rear.

These developments changed the face of trials, such were the acrobatics that could be performed, sections could be marked out incorporating standards of difficulty which would have been impossible just a decade or so before. So much so that the eighties saw the start of 'arena trials' in which riders competed on short circuits over man-made obstacles. Some club members competed in such events and, in 1985 and again in 1986, the Club ran a three day arena trial on Southampton Common as one of the attractions of Southampton's Carnival week . Just prior to this a trial was run in the grounds of the Botleigh Grange Hotel which combined arena trial obstacles and natural sections. In fact, as early as 1974, the Club promoted what was billed a demonstration trial during the Eastleigh Carnival celebrations using some manmade sections as well as some going into and out of Monks Brook.

Chandler on solos have frequently appeared in the awards lists of Club trials.In 1979 and 1980, the Club ran timed and observed team relay trials on Ministry of Defence land for a trophy presented by Rafferty Newman. Eight teams from Southern Centre clubs entered the events and both were won by the Waterlooville Club. Interesting to note was that well over half of the bikes were Bultacos.

Through the eighties , the Club ran two trials each year, the 'Jack White' in the West Wellow/ Sherfield English area in November and the other named 'The Mixed Bag', run first at Tidworth, then on a closed circuit at Hut Hill, Forestry Commission land between Southampton and Chandlers Ford. The Club is indebted to the Waltham Chase Youth Club for permission to use this land. Competition classes in these trials included: solos and sidecars, single shock's, twin shock's, pre 65, Over 40's, Clubmen on Trail and Enduro bikes.

Marking was also changed from the old 'three marks lost for footing, even just one dab originally, and five for a stop in the section', to a 0.1.2.3 or 5 system as follows: footing once- 1 mark, twice-2 marks, more than twice- 3 marks lost; stopping (ceasing forward motion) or a wheel passing outside of a section marker- 5 marks lost, also, for sidecars, 5 marks lost if the passenger touches the ground or a tree.

won numerous Trailbike class Premier awards in our trials and in those run by other Southern Centre Clubs. In 1991, the name of the Mixed Bag trial was changed to The Dave Pragnell Trial, in memory of Dave who had been Chairman of the Club for 37 years, otherwise the pattern of the events of the eighties continued with all Jack White trials being held at Bryce's Farm. Sherfield English. This course comprised three old, worked-out chalk and sandpits, two of which were quite small but the third large enough to accommodate up to 12 sections. all contained mature trees. saplings and exposed tree roots on the steep slopes. The course at Hut Hill was in about 10 acres of hilly. and in places, dense woodland crisscrossed by tracks with Slippery banks. Neither required the use of public roads, which is now a common practice, most trials bikes are not road registered and are trailered to the events. A number of these trials during the nineties were run as rounds of the Southern Centre ACU's Sidecar Star and Clubman Championships and successes were chalked up by Steve Tacock and Bernie Chambers in the Star class, Phil Bridges and Ian Wakeford in the Clubman class but Ian was not in the clubman class for long and he is now the Southern Centre's sidecar champion. Club members enjoying some successes included George Herbert and son Geoff, Jack Pinckney and Ralph Boden.