Spaniard Adam Raga is on the brink of clinching the FIM World Indoor Trials Championship and foiling Dougie Lampkin's hopes of a sixth world indoor crown.

If Raga does take his first world title it will be down to Austria's easy world qualifier last Friday night in the Vienna Wiener Stadhalle where the top place was settled on a single penalty and where the stadium floor was far too slippery.

Lampkin, from Silsden, said: "My Radson Montesa would not drive at the fourth section, the wheel just spun under my weight, I lost marks on that section.

"Everyone was a on a knife edge. There was always going to be a winner. From my point of view it was difficult to know when to attack because one error could mean exit from the final and that would be a disaster.

"I just hope that Italy on Saturday night lives up to world championship billing."

Twelve points separate Raga from Lampkin and that means Lampkin must win all the remaining rounds and Raga fail to qualify in at least two.

Graham Jarvis finished sixth and is now high enough in the rankings to ensure qualification for the 2004

championship, while Steve Colley showed a little of his skills to take seventh place.

l Pontefract trial rider Liam Walker won the ice-bound Bradford Motor Club trial at Yarnbury where the ancient disused lead mines provided a wintery backdrop for 80 competitors in the West Yorkshire Group championship trial of the year high above Grassington.

Walker was sharp at the third section where very few riders made it to the skyline after trying to ride up a frozen grass surface and where Leeds rider Andy Johnson rocketed up as if it were a dry summer's day.

l The national sidecar and Novogar solo clubman's championship top the weekend trials action in Shropshire and Oxon this weekend but while many Yorkies will head for the Novogar solo event, there is a very large question mark hanging over the the sidecar trial sport.

Just how many will contest the class? Twenty will be about it, and that is over all four classses.

Last year the championship class dropped to four runners while the beginners was almost a waste of time. The Novogar Clubman's series, on the other hand, looks good with Chris Pearson, Liam Walker, and Aran Drachenberg all scoring in the first round in January at Bridgenorth.

Drachenberg had a poor ride but the Skipton rider is likely to climb the ranks judging by his recent form in south Yorkshire.