Motor Sport: World motor cycle trials champion Dougie Lampkin went down in Madrid to former world No 1 Marc Colomer in the penultimate round of the FIM World Cup Arena Trial Championship after winning the qualifying heats.

The 23-year-old from Silsden finished fourth and scooped just 13 championship points after the engine on his factory entered Beta unaccountably stalled in one section in the final which cost a five mark penalty.

Lampkin is still 11 points up on Colomer with one event to go. Canterbury's Graham Jarvis fared worse than Lampkin, his sixth in the qualifier ruling him out of the final, but Isle of Man star Steve Colley grabbed third and 15 points.

Lampkin has to wait until next Sunday and the grand final in Turin before he knows whether he has retained his world crown.

Results - final: 1 Marc Colomer (Spain) Montesa, 8 penalties; 2 Marcel Justribo (Spain) GasGas 17; 3 Steve Colley (Isle of Man) GasGas 19; 4 Dougie Lampkin (GB) Beta 20. World points: 1 Lampkin 125; 2 Colomer 114; 3 Colley 96; 4 Jarvis 87; 5 Amos Bilbao (Spain) Montesa 75.

The South Birmingham Motor Club's opening round of the British Trials Sidecar Championship was no picnic for most competitors at Wheathills, but it turned out perfect for Robin Luscombe and Wayne Kershaw who took their Appleyard Yamaha outfit out for a debut win to put 20 points in the championship bag.

"It was cold, wet, some snow, the course had some nasty drops into sections, not a very good event at all," was Robin's comments.

Bingley airline pilot Bernie Chambers and passenger Helen Allaway were third in the championship class.

Brother and sister team Tony and Karen Crabtree, from Mansfield, plunged off one descent, the outfit landing on them in the bottom of a stream. Karen had to be carried out and they took no further part in the contest.

Sheffield's Lee Granby and Leigh Spencer took the Clubman class ahead of Harrogate pair Kevin Morley and Nigel Ponter.

The Larkspeed Championship got under way at the Midland Hill car park at Bingley where 44 drivers battled against the clock through 12 wet and slippery tests. Guiseley's David Mosey was the fastest driver in his cut-down Mini special, a well prepared family car with the roof chopped off.

Current Larkspeed champions Ilkley DMC, under the guidance of Cullingworth team manager Jamie Forest, held all the aces. Mosey took the top award while Ilkley press officer Henry Kitching gathered information as he drove his MG Metro to a class win and more valuable points.

Sporting Escort Motor Club staged the event and their best driver was Kevin Dodd in the saloon car class.

The weather washed out several weekend events including the Scarborough Trial at Harwood Dale, the Spen Valley MC Trial at Scammonden where a foot or more of snow greeted course planner Steve Smithies on Friday, while the Grinton the Richmond Club had a course but the parking area was more like a boating lake.

Bradford did manage to run at Kilnsey where rain and snow flurries brought a cold and wet day for ten observers and about 57 riders. Skipton's Ben Naylor was the top rider and Youth class A winner.

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