Entry forms for the annual T. Arnott Moffat Memorial Road Run in the Scottish Highlands have just opened. The event takes place near Loch Ness on Sunday, 19th July 2020.
Run under an SACU Social Permit, the run take in over 75 miles of A & B class roads around the historic loch and includes a lunch stop in Foyers at the Cameron’s Tea Rooms a popular stop.
Any free proceeds of the run will be donated to the ACU Benevolent Fund.
Bernie Schreiber has accepted the invitation of the organising committee of the Edinburgh & District Motor Club Ltd as Guest of Honour for the 2020 Scottish Six Days Trial on 4-9th May at Fort William.
A press release issued on 12th January 2020 by the SSDT is available to read here: Schreiber SSDT Guest.
Bernie Schreiber on his factory SWM on his way to win the 1982 SSDT – Photo: John Honeyman
Bernie attended a couple of events in the UK, Europe, Canada and the USA in 2019 as a Guest of Honour and hosted a series of trials schools called the ZEROBS Schreiber Experience, which were well attaended and well received.
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1977 Californian American, Bernie Schreiber (325 Bultaco) on Blackwater watched by Martin Lampkin – Photo: Iain Lawrie, Kinlochleven
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SSDT 1980 – Bernie Schreiber on the Bultaco attempts Pipeline at Kinlochleven – Photo: Jimmy Young.
The Westmorland Motor Club Ltd has undertaken the annual ‘Bob MacGregor Motorcycle Run’ for some years and will do again in 2020 with their Special Guest, Mrs Sylvia Bickers, the widow of top motocross rider, Dave Bickers, from Coddenham, Suffolk who was European Motocross Champion on Greeves motorcycles in 1960 and 1961.
The late Dave Bickers with Sylvia, Guest of Honour at the 2020 Bob MacGregor run
The route commences from the Perthshire village of Killin on Tuesday 28th of April 2020, which is prior to the commencement of Scottish Six Days Trial week. It is run under an SACU social gathering permit.
Bob MacGregor, a local Killin Greengrocer and Rudge factory rider was of course SSDT winner in 1932 and 1935, the only Scotsman to have won the Scottish Six Days Trial and the run is organised in his memory.
The start and finish of the run will be at the McLaren Hall, Main Street, Killin, Perthshire, FK21 8UH at 10.00 am.
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As we enter a new decade, we take a look back at some SSDT photos from 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010 while we slip effortlessly into 2020.
Iain Lawrie from Kinlochleven, an enthusiast of trials since the early 1970s.
We are indebted to Iain Lawrie, a trials enthusiast from the village of Kinlochleven for putting together this collection of photographs, so please be respectful of his copyright and do not share them on the internet, instead put a link to this article if you don’t mind please.
The SSDT sections are named in the captions for all years.
Every five years, former riders, organisers, officials and enthusiasts of the famous Scott Trial decend upon the Yorkshire town of Ripon to celebrate the Greatest of All Trials with a celebratory dinner at the Ripon Spa Hotel.
2019 was the year once again with Master of Ceremonies, Alan Lampkin at the helm which saw many riders of yesteryear attend the gathering to celebrate the Scott Trial.
The quinquennial dinner was open to anyone who has had an association with the event, male or female and it was well supported by young and not so young Scott enthusiasts.
Table 1 – Photo courtesy: Barry Watson
The number one table consisted of Alan & Arthur Lampkin, Ray Sayer, Arthur Browning and partner Gail, Nigel Birkett, Gordon McLaughlan, Peter & Derrick Edmondson and Mick Wilkinson.
Alan ‘Sid’ Lampkin has organised four of these wonderful events, taking over the task from the Late T.U. Ellis, the former BSA supported rider/dealer of Ripon.
Tom Ellis from Ripon on his factory BSA in the 1957 Scott Trial – Photo: Charlie Watson, Hull
The toast to the trial was proposed by former racing star, Nick Jefferies, a man who was quite capable of winning a Manx GP and then jumping on a trials bike to take honours in the Manx Two Day trial.
Nick Jefferies proposed the toast to the Scott Trial – Photo courtesy: Barry Watson
Jefferies is an excellent after dinner speaker and covered a lot of ground in his toast, touching on quite a few riders who are no longer with us and added a slice of humour in for good measure as well as giving a short history on the event itself. Nick’s father, Allan Jefferies was the last man to win the Scott Trial on a Scott machine in 1932.
Table 3 consisted of Neil Gaunt; John Moffat, Nick Jefferies. Rob Shepherd, Dave Butcher, Norman Shepherd, John Metcalfe and Jimmy Noble – Photo Courtesy: Barry Watson, Richmond
The toast was responded to by Trials Guru’s John Moffat who wasn’t a Scott competitor, but has attended many Scott Trials since his first as a schoolboy to spectate in 1974. Moffat made a point of thanking not only the main speaker, N.W. Jefferies, but also Sid Lampkin for all the effort and hard work he put into organising the dinner. Lampkin of course being a former winner of the trial as were his two brothers, Arthur and the late Martin Lampkin who featured in the many photographs that adorned the dining room.
Main speakers were Nick Jefferies and John Moffat – Photo copyright: Eric Kitchen
Alan Lampkin skillfully arranged a display of every Scott Trial programme since 1909, a collection that will be sold off for charity shortly. many of the items were supplied by David Wood, the son of former Scott Trial clerk of course, C.H. Wood.
The doyen of trials photographers, Eric Kitchen attended and brought with him many photos of Martin Lampkin in action that he had taken since 1970 when Lampkin rode the Suzuki 80 in trials.
The assembled diners stayed on after the most excellent dinner to look at the photos, programmes, old route maps and time cards and converse and enjoy the company of like-minded individuals. It was a true celebration of the Scott Trial and motorcycle comradeship which no doubt had been built up over many years.
Former Scott Trial winners: Rob Shepherd; Nigel Birkett; Arthur Lampkin; Alan Lampkin; Gerald Richardson & Ian Austermuhle – Photo courtesy: Barry Watson
Former Scott Trial winners present at the dinner were: Ian Austermuhle (2015); Nigel Birkett (1984); Alan Lampkin (1966); Arthur Lampkin (1960;61 &65); Rob Shepherd (1972) and Gerald Richardson (1983 & 85).
There were a good collection of younger riders attending and this bodes well for the future of this wonderful and unique five annual event.
The Auto-Cycle Union, the primary motorcycle sport organising body in the UK (FIM recognised) has decided to mount an experimentary trials championship series for 2020.
In essence it is a reversion to the stop permitted rules for the predominantly English and Welsh based series.
This is an attempt to inject new life into a series which has been commented upon as being sparsely contested over the past few years.
* New marking system named “ACU Trial GB” (British Trials Championship) which will include a one-minute time allowance for each section to be traversed.
* Competitors may stop, go sideways or reverse without penalty. Going backwards whilst footing will incur a five-mark penalty.
* The ACU Trial 125 Class will be open to any rider over the age of 14, but riders between the age of 14 to 16 will require permission from the ACU to compete.
* Assistants will be allowed in the ACU Trial GB Class only.
* Competitors for the ACU Trial GB and ACU Trial 2 Classes will be asked to Register at the start of the year to be allocated a permanent number.
* The top six from the 2019 ACU Trial 2 Class will not be permitted to move down a class for 2020.
* An additional one Championship Point will be awarded to the best performance on observation on each lap of the Trial to all four classes.
* There will be the option for a third route for the ACU Trial 2 Class, with separate coloured markers.
* The Series Manager will visit each Organiser in advance of each round and discuss section layout with each Clerk of the Course and advise that protocol for section layout be much the same as 2019, with emphasis that the Expert route cater for the majority of the entry.
* Riders need to carefully consider which class they will compete in during the season as moving down a class during the season will mean the rider will not score points in the new class. It is recognised that the ACU Trial GB Class is likely to be smaller than in 2019.
Series Manager, Brian Higgins commented, “We actually had more organisers wanting to run a round of the championship this year and some were disappointed. However, the aim is to introduce some new venues into the series, and I am sure the ones left out will be offered a round in future years.
Dates and venues released are:
Saturday March 7th Hookwood, Surrey; Sunday April 5th Neath, South Wales; Sunday June 14th Harrogate, Yorkshire; Saturday June 27th Bovey Tracey, Devon; Sunday June 28th Tavistock, Devon; Sunday 26th July Scarborough, Yorkshire; Saturday August 15th Llanbedr, Wales; Sunday August 16th Llandiloes. Wales; Sunday 27th September (Reserve Date).
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