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| Simons Allen |
As competitors gathered at the start it was clear that with all the rain during the previous week this years Allen was going to be a muddy trial.
After leaving The Bull at Hindon the early morning Classic Lanes of Tog Hill, Bitton Lane and Big Uplands saw only a handful of competitors loose marks. A big change from the past when Big Uplands was a real terror, but the resurfacing gas changed all that.
It was Guys Hill that started to see significant marks lost, with a common restart on polished stones for Classes 4, 6, 7 and 8. The hill was as slippery as usual and wasn’t that friendly to around half of the non-restarters. Many of the Class 8’s struggled and it was the tricklers that seemed to do best. In Class Seven Dudley Sterry, Duncan Stephens and Mal Allen were the only clears. The Beetles did well, even the lower powered ones in Class four where Craig Allen and Anthony Young were successful.
Travers
Ubley Wood lay just up the track. There weren’t as many sections here this year as Pete Hart and his team had found the Fry’s Bottom Complex to add to the afternoons challenge. With all the wet weather they were very muddy and reduced clean sheets down to a handful, spread across the classes.
Ubley Woods 1 was a new one, right by the fence with the lane with a tight 90 turn into it. This was a clean/fail section and proved straightforward for all but a few.
With Tris White failing to get away from the Class Eight only restart on the sub-divided Ubley Wood 2 there was only Nick Farmer left on zero in Class Eight so overall could go to one of the lower classes.
Tony Young wasn’t going to win though, retiring when his Beetle transmission failed. There were a few others who didn’t get to the lunch halt as Daniel Bowden (BMW), Chris Maries (Suzuki GV2000) and Peter Mountain (Dellow Mk1) were all out of the event.
Burledge
After Burledge came the new Frys Bottom complex where the event was decided. All were subdivided with restarts for Yellow and Red on two of the three sections. There was a lot of mud under the trees and the sections either didn’t go out of the top or if they did very few got that far. This caused some delays at the second section which deteriorated during the day.
Nick Farmer dropped his only marks of the event on the first of the three sections, failing at the two as did Dudley Sterry (MG J2) and Aaron Haizelden (Reliant Scimitar). These were now the only three left with clean sheets. This didn’t last as Aaron and Dudley both lost one mark on Frys Bottom 2. Nick went clear here and for the remainder of the event to point another overall win.
John Walker
(Picture by Scott Boulton)
Returning through the water at the foot of the section competitors found Little Uplands cancelled for fear of a tree blowing down in the very high winds. That just left the glorious run up John Walker in the dusk. It did’t have any impact on the results but was glorious fun.
So ended another Allen Trial, enjoyed by all.
| Class | Driver/Car | Marks |
| Overall | Nick Farmer (VW Fugitive) | 2 |
| 1 | David Haizelden (VW Golf) | 3 |
| 2 | Bill Bennett (MG J2) | 8 |
| 3 | Matt Facey (BMW 316) | 4 |
| 4 | Craig Allen (VW Beetle) | 3 |
| 5 | Aaron Haizelden (Reliant Scimitar) | 3 |
| 6 | Andrew Rippon (VW Beetle) | 8 |
| 7 | Dudley Sterry (MG J2) | 3 |
| 8 | Tris White (Troll) | 9 |
Simon Woodall Reports on his Allen Trial
We had possibly my worst day for a VERY long time. Guys always defeats us, Dave Haizelden recons its because I don’t carry enough weight. But this year we were struggling before we even reached the line.
Took the wrong line on Travers despite thinking about the right line even as we approached the restart. The first Ubey Wood section was a new one, right by the fence with the lane with a tight 90 turn into it. We understeered into the fence, reversed off and went up. For some reason, Stuart Harrold didn’t notice our reverse and gave us a clear!
I don’t think I let the tyres down enough on Burledge, familiarity breeding contempt here.
The new sections at Frys Bottom were a great addition to the event, I don’t know if the first one went out, but I don’t think so. A short sharp blast, starting with a 90 left off the track with a bumpy lip to stop you from getting the power on too early.
FB2 caused some delays as climbers had to return down the bottom part of the section. Much mud amongst tree roots caused some problems and a nasty camber at the top had many sliding off into a tree – hence the plethora of ones. FB3 was faily simple, wih Josh Moss in charge. If it hadn’t been so wet, I don’t thonk it would have troubled anyone. It too didn’t go out so we had to queue at the top to go back down in groups – most un Allen like.
We were finally given the boot, when the car stopped just above the landing on John-Walker with total electrical failure. Couldn’t work out what it was in the wet and dark so scrounged a lift back to the start to get the Pick-Up and went home in disgrace.
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