With clubs having problems gaining permission to use Forest England land, together with local issues, it took a lot of work by Myke Pocock and his team to get this years Northern Trial off the ground. Even so they were restricted in what was available and a couple of sections had to be used twice.
This led to a challenging event and mud and deep ruts were the order of the day on some of the hills.
After the long section at Carlislegate Lane it was into the forests for Pheasant Plucker and Seth Murphy, which were to prove decisive in the results. The mud and ruts at the start of these sections took its toll and only a handful of cars got through them to tackle the meat of these hills.
Nobody cleared Seth Murphy but Dean Partington (DP Wasp) and Russell Clarke (Troll) stormed to the top of Pheasant Plucker. Stuart Bartlett got to the one in his familiar Canon as did Paul Watson in his Class 7 Imp with VW power. Unfortunately Paul had to retire shortly after with electrical problems.
The next batch of sections through Wythop Forest provided some of the magnificent views for which the Northern is famous, before returning to the deep mud of Kestrels Roost and a couple of sections used for the second time.
Josh Moss, Russell Clarke and Charlie Knifton all went clear on Pheasant Pluckers Son, but not so Dean Partington who got sideways and stopped at the six.
This should have put Charlie Knifton into the lead of the trial but he had failed the first special test, picking up a penalty of six marks which put him equal with Dean going into Sandale.
Along with John Kenny on his solo the two powerful rear engined class eights were the only competitors to clean the Northerns signature section and the overall win went to Dean Partington on Test Times.
Special mention here to Class Seven winner Ray Ferguson who came so close to getting his Liege out onto the tarmac road but just stopped at the one.
Nick Deacon managed a credible two on Sandale on his way to a resounding Class 90 victory. The Edinburgh organising team of Mark Gregg and Dave Malin took the Class Five award in their reliant engined Austin Seven.
Links:-
- Northern Trial on the Classic Trials FB Group
- All the Northern Trial Posts on the Classic Trials FB Group. This link works in a Browser but you may struggle with it in the app
- Sandale Videos by Sam Phillips
- InCar with Chris Veevers and Sam Relph
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