The late Willie Dalling (Montesa Cota 348) at Scottish Experts & National Trial, Achallader, Bridge of Orchy 1978 – Photo: Jimmy Young
If you haven’t been here before, you are in for a surprise. We have been putting articles, photo collections and information from the world of trials together for about two years now. Trials Guru is free, no subscriptions to pay, no membership fees, it runs for free!
Trials Guru is here to promote the sport of motorcycle trials throughout the world.
Scottish Six Days shot of Rob Edwards. the late Jim Sandiford and Martin Lampkin in 1975 – Rainer Heise Archive
It is supported by an enthusiastic band of photographers, these people own the legal rights to these photos, they are not the intellectual property of Trials Guru unless indicated as such. Please be respectful of the photographers copyright which is clearly marked either on the image or in the captions.
Rob Edwards in 1971 at Edramucky on the first day of the SSDT – Photo: Mick Illing
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Tirials Guru is easy to use, just click on the headline titles which take you to various pages. There is also an ‘Index‘ page which is arranged alphabetically.
The festive season is now with us, so why not catch up with Trials Guru? There has been a veritable heap of articles and photos added during 2015 with more to come next year, all being well.
We were very fortunate to secure the services of Germany’s Rainer Heise and the UK’s Mike Rapley during the year, which has brought even more pleasure to trials fans world-wide.
Mike Rapley
Compliments of the season from Trials Guru – Dedicated to the sport of trials.
2015 Bob MacGregor Memorial Run near Killin with Trials Guru representative John Moffat enjoying a run on his late father’s 1951 AJS 16MC.
A ‘This is Your Life’ style interview will take place with Pete Edmondson and Jimmy Aird at 11.00 am on 2 January, 2016 at the Crooklands Hotel. Kendal, Junction 36 M6 motorway.
Kirkcaldy born, Jimmy Aird was a multiple Scottish Motocross champion who moved south to live near Barnard Castle and contested the British championships for CZ, AJS, Montesa and CCM when these marques were at their height. He later became a director of TT Leathers with Len Thwaites and set up Scott Leathers which he still runs to this day.
Pete Edmondson is a Yorkshireman who produced the Dalesman motorcycles from a church in Otley. Machines which had the input of world motocross champion, Joel Robert.
Also coming along to join in is journalist Frank Melling to promote his new book, “A Penguin in a Sparrow’s Nest”.
Dave Thorpe (325 Bultaco) was the first rider to win a World Championship round, seen here competing in the World Championships at Bristol in 1975 – Photo Copyright: Mike Rapley
18 December 2015 – Trials Guru and all it’s readers, supporters, contributers and photographers would like to wish Dave Thorpe, former Ossa, Bultaco and CCM works rider all the very best on his seventieth birthday!
Happy Birthday, Dave Thorpe
Dave Thorpe (325 Bultaco), in the ‘West of England’ national trial of 1977 – Photo: Mike RapleyBlackwater Dab from Dave Thorpe in 1977 – Photo copyright: Iain Lawrie, Kinlochleven
Dave, Bultaco mounted in the 1980 Loch Lomond 2 Day Trial – Photo: Jimmy Young, Armadale
Guy Martin, star of the film ‘TT3D – Closer To The Edge’ and various television series is to ride a 350cc Ariel in the 2016 Pre’65 Scottish Trial on Friday 29th and Saturday, 30th April, 2016. He will also undertake duties as the official guest of honour for the event which takes place around the village and hillsides of Kinlochleven, Argyll.
Trials Guru’s John Moffat (left) with Guy Martin (centre) and George McCann at the Bon Accord Grampian Motorcycle Convention at Alford in 2011 where he was guest of honour – Photo copyright: Jean Moffat/Moffat Racing
The Pre’65 trial secretary, Anne Gordon added: ‘We are delighted to announce that Guy Martin, Motorcycle Racer and TV star has agreed to be Guest of Honour for the 2016 event and has also entered the trial to try his hand at Pre’65 trials riding. It is a great honour for us to have him at the trial and we would like to thank Simon Sharp and Owen Hardisty at Hope Technology (our Saturday Day Sponsors) for helping us to get Guy to the event after we approached them at last year’s SSDT. We are really excited to have such a celebrity at our event and hope he enjoys taking part. I don’t think there will be many people who have not heard of Guy, as he is well-known through his very illustrious motorcycle racing career as well as his many film and television shows that have us all enthralled with his very hands on and down to earth approach’.
The Pre’65 Scottish is always massively oversubscribed with over 150 potential entrants disappointed at not getting through the inevitable ballot of competitors. However it should be clarified that Hope Technology are the event sponsors and as such, are entitled to what is effectively a ‘wild-card’ reserved entry as part of their sponsorship deal, which in this case has been granted to Guy Martin for 2016. The appearance of Guy Martin at this event, both as a rider and guest of honour can only be good for the sport of trials and the ever supportive inhabitants of the town of Kinlochleven.
Guy Martin picks up his 350 Ariel that he will use in the 2016 Pre’65 Scottish Two-Day Trial on 29/30 April from Hope Technology’s designer Owen Hardisty – Photo courtesy of Hope Technology.
Who is Guy Martin?
Born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England in November 1981, Guy was the central racing character when supported by the Irish-based Wilson Craig Honda team in the docu-movie, ‘TT3D – Closer to the Edge’ which was filmed during the 2010 TT races and screened in 2011. This set Martin on the road to a lucrative television career having competed for many years at the Isle of Man TT with success, but so far no outright TT win to his credit. He has ridden for AIM Yamaha, Relentless/Tyco Suzuki and Hydrex Honda teams in the past.
Martin is interested in all things mechanical, his main occupation is an HGV mechanic with an independent truck company in Grimsby Lincolnshire, which specialises in the maintenance of Scania trucks. His father Ian who also ran a similar business is also a former motorcycle road racer who retired from racing in 1988 after an accident at Scarborough’s Oliver’s Mount.
Martin has been the central character in several television documentaries which has taken him half way around the globe to India and most recently to Latvia in a Chanel Four production in which he retraced the life of his late maternal grandfather, Zanus ‘Walter’ Kidals in the war-torn Baltic state of Latvia which saw occupation by both German and Russian troops in the second world conflict. His grandfather was a displaced person known as ‘DP’ arriving via Hull where he met an English girl, married, settled and worked in Britain.
By coincidence, the town of Kinlochleven saw many DPs, like Martin’s grandfather; arrive from war-torn Europe and the Balcan states of Poland, Latvia and Lithuania as there was work available at the North British Aluminium Company smelter in Kinlochleven. One such man was Lithuanian born Paul Kilbauskas, who arrived in 1947 and found employment at the aluminium works and with co-worker and friend Ian Pollock discovered the many paths and sections that are still used by both the Pre’65 and Scottish Six Days events that make use of the Leven Valley in early May. Kilbauskas later became a ‘Tunnel Tiger’ working on the large hydro-electric schemes in the Scottish Highlands.
Guy has harboured a desire to compete in Pre’65 trials since 2011, but television and racing commitments rendered it a ‘back-burner’ for a few years.
The Pre’65 committee having secured sponsorship with Hope Technology which has an association with Guy through his interest in mountain bikes and eventually Simon Sharp and Owen Hardisty made the approach to see if Martin would be Guest of Honour at the annual event, now in its thirty second year.
Guy Martin has turned his skilled hands to many things in front of camera, including a two-year restoration of a Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft which had been buried in a French beach since the second world war; a rebuild of a narrow-boat called ‘Reckless’ and much more; including riding a hydroplane motocross bike across a lake and setting a speed record for a pedal-cycle. He was even fortunate enough to be allowed to work on the last flying Vulcan bomber aircraft XH558 during preparations for its final flight in 2015.
Guy’s Ariel:
On loan specially for the Pre’65 Scottish Guy will be riding a 350cc Ariel HT3 which used to belong to Lancastrian ace, Chris Gascoigne who campaigned the machine for many years and has been a winner in Chris’s hands many times over.
Added attractions for the 2016 Pre’65 Scottish from 1966:
The 1967 SSDT programme cover featured the 1966 winner, Alan Lampkin on his factory BSA 748MOE
There will also be an appearance of the 1966 Scottish Six Days winning BSA C15T of Alan ‘Sid’ Lampkin. Registered as 748MOE, it will be ridden in the Pre’65 by Alan’s son, James Lampkin to celebrate 50 years since Sid’s SSDT victory on the very last British four-stoke machine to win the Highland classic. This will be James Lampkin’s first pre’65 Scottish although he has competed in the SSDT for many years.
James Lampkin: “Dad realised that it would be 50 years since the BSA won the Scottish in 1966 after he bought the bike back again in October 2014. It is very original having passed through quite a few owners since it was sold off in 1967. Although he doesn’t ride trials himself anymore, he was very pleased when I agreed to enter on the BSA. I’m really looking forward to it”.
1966 SSDT winner, A.R.C. ‘Sid’ Lampkin seen here with John Moffat (Trials Guru) in November 2014. James Lampkin is visible on the left of the photo – Photo courtesy: John Hulme/Trial Magazine.
Malcolm Rathmell (Montesa) watched by Brian Higgins at the World Championship trial, Bristol in 1975 – Photo: Mike Rapley
What a fantastic year 2015 has been for Trials Guru. We have managed to bring you more photographs and articles from the sport of motorcycle trials than ever before. We hope that you have enjoyed them as much as we have bringing them to you.
This would not be possible without the ongoing support and assistance from the photographers and article contributors, so before 015 is out, let us thank them all publicly for their input.
Article contributors and photographs: Dave Cole and Mike Naish, not forgetting Rob Edwards who brought us his wonderful story of life as a trials rider and beyond.
Thanks also to Heath Brindley for ongoing support and web assistance.
It is with great pleasure that we are now able to bring you a new page on Trials Guru – ‘Recalled by Rappers’.
Mike Rapley is not only a ‘died-in-the-wool’ motorcyclist, but also a well-respected motorcycle sport journalist, having been a reporter and staff member of the weekly Trials and Motocross News for many years.
Over a long period of time, Mike has taken many photographs of events and wondered if the time was right to put them somewhere on the internet so that these may be enjoyed by fellow enthusiasts.
After some months of discussion, Mike has finally agreed to entrust this task to Trials Guru and we are very grateful for this opportunity to help Mike in his endeavour.
Colin Dommett & Eric Chmberlain (Suzuki) – Photo copyright: Mike Rapley
Trials Guru’s John Moffat became friends with Mike Rapley, or ‘Rappers’ as he is universally known, some years ago. In fact it was at the start of the Jim Worthington Trial at Lagnaha on the Wednesday evening during SSDT week in 1996, when Rappers was making him-self useful by signing the competitors on at the event.
Moffat having entered the event on a Yamaha, pretended to be an Eastern European competitor who did not understand the formalities, keeping the ruse up for many minutes until Mike asked: “what is your name?” This brought to an end the practical joke!
We will not record here what Rappers said when he realised that he’d been had!
Please remember and be respectful of the fact that all of the images on Recalled are the intellectual property of Mike Rapley and you must obtain express permission from Mike if you wish to use them elsewhere.
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