Local riders placed highly in the latest rounds of the North Island Moto Trials series, held in Tauranga over the weekend.

Rounds five and six were held at Muirs Farm in Te Puke and Maddix Park Ohauiti, and drew 35 riders competing in several classes.

Tauranga winners included Phil Shilton taking out the Expert A class, while his father Nigel placed third in the Presidents (over 40s) class and Francis Sydenham came second in the Clubman class.

The classes are progressively harder, with Expert being the most difficult, and Clubman being the easiest – although he adds that particular class can still be challenging.

'We've had some debate since the weekend with people saying Clubman is too hard. I've ridden at higher grades, but I'm 65 now, and some of the higher grades can cause you to hurt yourself if you fall off. I've only been riding for 10 years, while some of the guys in the Presidents class have been riding for 40 or 50 years.”

Expert class winner Matt Foster, from Wellington.

He says they had a few more in the crowd watching thanks to earlier publicity in The Weekend Sun.

'I think the article was definitely conducive to bringing out more spectators. One guy I was talking to read it and came out specifically to watch.”

Matt Foster from Wellington won the Expert class on both days, while Tauranga's Gabby Gundry won the women's class.

Rounds seven and eight are on at the end of this month in Hawke's Bay, with Francis and the rest of the Tauranga Motorcycle Club enthusiasts heading down for that too.