Tom’s the Jackson victor
Barrow’s secretary Angus Jenkinson was besieged in his van, taking entries for the Frank Jackson Trial on February 1, and ended up with numbers up to 74 numbers, in fact only 73 were issued as he refuses to allow any rider to be number 13.
However it was number 69 that proved to be the winning digits with once again Tom Swindlehurst taking the honours at this single lap, 30 section road based trial through the Haverigg fells, a result that he has achieved all bar one Northern Centre Championship round since the series for 2026 started back at the beginning of November 2025. The one rider who has beaten him has been Darren Brice, who was in attendance at this trial, but he retired after 9 sections with a score to that point which was unlikely to bring him victory once again.
Just as the results had been the previous weekend at the Westmorland Club;’s Lonsdale Trial, also a centre championship round, so the results were the same again over the hard course with Wilf Shuttleworth in second place and John Crinson in third. The hatd course lads certainly had some tough hazards and Swindlehurst’s winning score of 16 belies the severity of the trial for second was 29 and third on 50 – some difference!
Phillip Alderson is a rare visitor to Cumbrian trials but showed that his trials riding talent hasn’t lost its edge with a Green course win on 17 marks lost with second and third places going to Stuart Gaskell and Matt Hopkinson both on 24, though Hopkinson had a a rude surprise when he returned to his van parked on the nearby road where his wing mirror had been knocked off by a passing vehicle whilst he was trialing.
Moving onto the clubman results it was no surprise to see Mark Barrow winning despite being thoroughly annoyed with the five he lost on section 20. Second was a surprise result with Dave Oswald getting the better of Jackson Edwards and Ian McKean.
A persistent drizzle made the trial a damp but thankfully mild affair from a club that once again organised a truly excellent sporting trial.
Full results are linked from the Home page; Ian Abbott’s pictures will be available soon as will a You Tube video midweek from the “2wheels off-road” team who were recording the action.