THE entry figure forthe Matt Shelly motorcycle trial should be around or even more than 100 contestants all keen to win the silverware which commemorates the road racing journalist who died two years ago. Shelley was one of those badly injured in the last road race meeting staged at Esholt Park in 1953.

The Esholt crash left the former Londoner - who lived in Horsforth right up until his death -

paralysed from the waist, but what he lacked in mobility, he more than compensated for in motorsport journalistic abilities.

It was Shelly who was responsible for my

involvement in motorcycle journalism back in the fifties. And in some waysover those years, I became his legs, covering trials and scrambles while Colin Appleyard took care of a lot of major road race meetings.

His widow Mary and son Mark, who now lives at Cowling, presented two trophies, one to the Horsforth Motor Club while the other was donated to Ripon Motor Club.

Yorkshire youngsters Richard Timperley, James Dabill and Sam Haslam took three of the four youth classes at the BH Refrigeration youth trial at Harwood Dale on Sunday after two days of tough riding and testing conditions at the Scarborough Motor Club annual event near Hackness.

Farmer's son Timperley was lucky to even get to the event when his father Mark's transporter blew its engine on the motorway near Sheffield.

"We had the bikes in the van, the caravan loaded for four of us for the weekend, we called recovery and went back home, borrowed my father's Isusu Trooper, a cattle truck and a tent, and arrived just in time to start," said Mark.

Cookridge lad James Dabill had one target on Sunday - to win his class - and he did, beating Roundhay's Dane Sherwin by 19 penalties.

Younger brother Joe also took part but did not quite make the leader board as did Dane's sibling Zac, who competed in Class C.

One hundred riders took part in the contest over sections that were just about right for the varied skills, the only problem at Harwood Dale is usually underfoot, not wheels, but ants by the thousand and snakes of all sizes.

Trawden youngster Daniel Smith made the best overall performance in the Wetherby MC trial on Saturday night at Pateley Bridge where Clockensyke Farm hosted 49 contenders.

Second in the trial and best novice was Otley's Jonathon Rathmell on his Bultaco machine.

There is plenty of action this weekend, Elvington for road racing, Scraborough and Caistor for motocross, while up in the Scandinavian outback at Bjorkvik in Sweden there will be round two of the F.I.M European trials championship.