LEMINGTON Lakes near Moreton-in-Marsh was the starting point for Sunday's Stratford Club Midland Cen-tre Motorcycle Trial that was narrowly won by Bretforton's Dean Basford.

With conditions as dry as anyone could ever remember, scores were always going to be on the low side. However, no one could have foreseen the pressure this was to put on the leading half-a-dozen competitors.

Staffordshire's Paul Bennett, who finished fifth overall, was first to crack losing a mark in the opening group at section two which took riders round a tree into a ditch then up o to the road.

Incredibly, this year's Stratford Club Expert Champion, Phillip Garrett from Solihull, lost just one mark and finished back in third.

A wayward but expensive dab on the steep leafy climb at Hancocks Wood at the top of Fish Hill his only loss.

With 20 sections in Dovedale Wood, Clerk of the Course Pete Barnett was certain that scores would rocket. But, despite using similar sections as used for the National Colmore Cup, most riders found the big climbs easy in such dry conditions with no fewer than five competitors riding the wood without penalty.

Going into the final group back at the start, five riders were on two or less and all gathered to watch the last section.

Richard Allen succumbed to the pressure and dropped his only mark of the day in the unusually dry ditch.

This left Basford the chance to take the honours. With his peers looking on, he carefully walked the section, then walked it again. Then, revving his Beta almost to bursting point, he posted a superb clean to a round of applause from the crowd.

Individual results: 1 D Basford clean; 2 R Allen 1; 3 P Garrett 1; 4 S Swanson 2; 5 P Bennett 2; 6 P Archer 7; 7 D Cooper 8; 8 K Peters 10; 9 D Smith 10.

Team: 1 Staffordshire Moorlands 955; 2 Leamington Victory 949; 3 Stratford-upon-Avon 949; 4 Redditch 551; 5 Evesham 388.