COLIN ADAMS MOTORPARTS HURST CUP TRIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT 

COLIN ADAMS MOTORPARTS HURST CUP TRIAL 50TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT

Over the weekend of 26th/ 27th April 2025 Moto Trial NI hosted an event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Hurst Cup Trial, which was the very first World Championship Motorcycle Trial in 1975. 

The event ran for many decades, hosted by Knock Motorcycle Club at the Clandeboye Estate and what is now Whitespots Trial Park, gaining the status of the first round of the inaugural World Championship in 1975 and this continued until 1990. 

Andy Perry (Chairman of Moto Trial NI, and a stalwart of the sport both as a competitor and enthusiast) believed that it was an event and milestone in the sport that had to be honoured and celebrated, he took his vision to the Knock club who very kindly gave their permission for Moto Trial NI to use that very famous Hurst Cup trophy for the event. 

Over a year of preparation then began culminating in the event proper last weekend. 

Andy, assisted by a vast group of volunteers set about locating as many of the original sections from that 1975 trial as possible, as well as using new ground that was kindly offered by the landowners. 

This evolved into a course consisting of 18 sections to be ridden twice on both the Saturday and Sunday.  The object of the sport of motorcycle trials is to test man and machine over the course and similar to golf, the rider with the least penalties at the end of the event is the winner. Riders get docked points each time they put their foot down with a failure by stopping, riding outside the section or failing to complete the section earning a maximum 5 marks lost. It is a skill of balance and throttle control for the rider to pick the best route through the sections with an overall time limit of 6 hours to finish the course. 

One hundred and twenty riders signed up for the event with some very famous riders of yesteryear travelling from all over the UK, Europe and indeed three riders coming all the way from America to take part in the event along with our own local riders. 

Yrjo Vesterinen from Finland, a three times World Champion, 11 Times British Champion and former world number 2 Steve Saunders from England, Frenchman and 5th place finisher of the 1975 event Charles Coutard and Northern Irelands own Robert Crawford all took part in the event. 

All have many many years competing at the highest level in trials. Robert is still the youngest rider to score points at World Championship level and the fact that he did so at The Hurst Cup made this anniversary event extra poignant. 

The event was split into two grades, Clubmen for the more experienced riders, and Sportsman. These were then split into sub grades to cater for different types of motorcycles to take a broad spectrum of bikes from the early days of the event up to the 1990s. Riders rode machines from every decade from the 1950s to the 90s. 

So at 10.30am on a bleak and wet Saturday morning Simon Scott was first rider away closely followed by the rest of the 120 riders at intervals of 30 seconds to tackle the 18 sections over a 12.5 mile lap through the historic Clandeboye estate, into Whitespots Trial Park and then looping back through land owned by Eddie Irvine, Ms Porter, Brian Johnston and Alan Moore, returning to the start through Clandeboye estate. Thankfully the weather turned in the afternoon and this no doubt greatly helped the riders as the course slowly dried out. 

All eyes were on the premier grade, Clubman twinshock as this was where Steve Saunders was competing on his Armstrong machine. Lots of our local riders were hoping to try and if not take the win over Steve to at least push him as hard as possible, this included Stephen Murphy who practically grew up on the course as well as multiple Ulster and Irish champion Stuart McClurg.   

In the other grades we had Scott Callaghan Jim Hough and David Coughlan battle over the two days in the pre 65 grade for the older bikes. In the Mono grade it was going to be a battle royale as Alex Lennox, Chris Garlick and Robert McCrory locked horns with Robert Crawford to see if they could take the win from him, Robert being a top rider for factory teams as well as finishing 7th in the Championship at his best. Sam Hampshire and Frazer Morrison did battle all weekend in the pre 95 water cooled group. 

Into Sportsman pre 65 grade, the fight was going to be a tight affair between international superstars Charles Coutard and Yrjo Vesterinen, both using the decades of competition experience against the younger riders like Ross McCullough, Stephen Lace and a gaggle of others. In the twinshock grade English man Derek Edmondson was always going to be in with a shout of the win giving his experience. Not only for his ability on two wheels, but also having been minder for Steve Saunders when at Honda Factory team he knew his way round the Hurst course, his main competition would come from local riders George Smyth, Keith Annet, Andy Ellis and Clive Bailie as well as riders from across the Uk and America. In the Mono grade James Edwards, Bailie Thompson and Che McStay were the main contenders. And in the pre 95 water cooled grade Banbridge rider Michelle Hanlon was going to the girl to beat on her Yamaha TYZ. 

At the end of play on day one there was a surprise, or maybe not, with Stuart McClurg taking the top step by two marks from Steve Saunders with 11 marks lost to Steves 13. Third home was Banbridge man Stuart Hanlon on 21 marks to take the final podium spot. Battle lines drawn for day two and the pressure on Stuart to keep that two mark gap. 

In the pre 65 grade Scott Callaghan on his Triumph Tiger Cub took the top step on 31 marks lost from Jim Hough on his beautiful Triumph Twin with 62 marks, closely followed by David Coughlan on 65 marks. 

In the Mono grade Alex Lennox absolutely stole the show to lead on 14 marks lost with Robert McCrory second on 22 and Chris Garlick third on 23 marks lost. At that half way point Robert had slipped to fourth, so he had it all to do on the Sunday to get onto the podium. 

And in the pre 95 water cooled grade Sam Hampshire took top spot on 30 marks lost from Frazer Morrison on 86 marks. 

Into the Sportsman grades and in the Twinshock grade Derek Edmondson on 10 marks lost pipped both Andrew Walters and Darren Phypers to top spot by 3 marks, both tied on 13 lost. 

In the Pre 65 grade as expected, experience was the order of the day as Charles Coutard, now in his 70s, took top spot on 11 marks lost with Glyn Moses next on 12 marks, Stephen Lace then just pipping Yrjo Vesterinen to third on 15 marks, 2 less than Vesty. 

In the Mono grade James Edwards took the honours on 14 from Bailie Thompson on 35 and Che McStay taking third on 48 marks. 

In the Pre 95 water cooled grade Michelle Hanlon showed how well she can adapt to the older bikes by locking out first on a very low score of 28, followed by Nicky Johnston on 88 and Oliver Boland on 111 marks lost. 

For day two the clerk’s of the course decided to switch things up and altered many of the sections early while most of the riders may still have been having breakfast, out at just gone 7am with his helpers. 

As the trial commenced the weather brightened to ensure a great days action was had. 

In the Premier Clubman Twinshock grade Steve Saunders showed that he copes well under pressure as he was steady all day dropping only 9 marks over the 36 sections, an amazing score, closely followed by Stuart McClurg on 12, meaning Steve took the overall win by 1 mark on 22 from Stuart on 23. Stuart Hanlon was third on 42 marks lost. 

In the Pre 65 grade Scott Callaghan maintained his steady ride by taking the overall win on a combined two day total of 56 from Jim Hough on 125 and David Coughlan third on 142. 

In the Mono grade Alex Lennox had another steady day to take the win on 24 marks lost and as we often saw over his many years at the top level Robert Craawford turned on the style to match Alex on 10 to take second place on 43 marks from Chris Garlick on 45 marks lost over the two days. 

In the Pre 95 water cooled grade Sam Hampshire again bested Frazer Morrison to take the overall win on 56 marks to Frazers 171. 

In the Sportsmans grades then Matthew Bradbury had the best score of the day on only 5 marks lost, but Derek Edmondson on 6 marks lost took the overall win on 16 from Andrew Walters on 21 marks lost just piping Darren Phypers by 1 mark. Darren and Matthew tied on the overall scores with Darren taking third by the “most cleans” decider. 

In the Pre 65 grade Yrjo Vesterinen found his form of old to take the day win on an incredible 1 mark lost, but for him it was unlucky as Charles Coutard only lost 3 marks and took the win overall from Vesty with a total of 14 to Vesty’s 18 lost! Third home was Glyn Moses on 25 marks lost. 

In the Mono grade it was a repeat of Saturday with James Edwards running out winner on a total of 21 marks lost, Bailie Thompson second on 70, pipping Che McStay by 1 point on 71 total.  

Finally in the Pre 95 water cooled grade Michelle Hanlon had another steady day to drop only 21 marks to take the overall win on 49 from Oliver Boland on 149 with Nicky Johnston third on a score of 170 marks lost.

The event went by without a hitch and the feedback from the riders and spectators was fantastic with an overwhelming amount of enthusiasm and love for the nostalgic experience.

Moto Trial NI would like to thank all of the observers, officials and riders for their amazing support and enthusiasm to help resurrect this event.

Special thanks must go to the land owners and council for the use of their land and support to the club.

And finally a HUGE thank you to our sponsors Colin Adams Motorparts, Scrabo paving and landscape supplies, Motor-Tec, Regency Cars, Eddie Irvine Sports, OHA Motorsport, U-Hire plant & equipment, Irish Classic bike festival, SJ Trials, Trial Magazine, Leadmines Motorcycles, Ards Fireplaces, Alpha Fire protection and Nutt Travel who stepped up and supported the event, without whom the trial simply could not have happened.

We thank each and everyone one of you for your support and chairman Andy Perry would like to personally thank everyone who helped make this amazing event happen.

He would also like a special mention to Nicola Coulter, Stephen Coulter and Warren McKee for their dedication and commitment to the club. Perry commented, “Without them the dream of this event could not even have started and they all deserve more recognition than me! I thank you all for allowing this dream event to become a reality.

RESULTS AND PHOTOS BELOW

 PHOTO CREDIT:- John Hulme from Trial Magazine