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Dean Partington only dropped one mark to win the car class. However Dean could only claim victory on the last section as until then Matt Facey had been clean. John Reeves was best bike with a clean sheet on his KTM
Colin Gwyer captures Matt Facey giving his BMW some air at the top of Longville. Matt was clean and in the lead when he arrived at the last section but spun to a stop on the slippery mud and it was Dean Partington who was best car with one mark lost on Oak Dingle.
It had been very wet in the week leading up to the trial, but it was dry when competitors set off from The Squirrel in Ludlow after completing the Clees very efficient administration. After many years in the hands of the Midland Automobile Club the reigns had been transferred to the Midland Manor Motor Club. However the old team were still at the helm in the form of Simon Woodall, Pat Toulmin and crew. Pat was using the Spotify App to keep competitors up to speed before, during and after the event and this was very successful.
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Rob Holden was an excellent second in his BMW estate with the only other clean sheet apart from Dave’s. Dean Partington was third, keeping his Wheelspin Trophy hopes alive.
Rob Holden finally found some engine reliability, cleaning all the hills in his BMW but having to give best to Dave Haizelden on special test times
The ever popular Allen Trial took just four days to max out the entry in the main trial. There was also provision for Heritage cars to take part in a parallel event but as this didn’t attract any entries it looks as if Heritage is defunct. It was a damp start to the day which didn’t brighten up and ended with persistent rain.
The start at The Bull at Hinton. Lined up are three of Dean Partingtons DP cars competing on the trial. From left to right. The DP Falcon, trialled by Dean many years ago and recently re-acquired and updated. In the middle is the very familiar rear engined DP Wasp recently purchased and driven on The Allen by Paul Merson. On the right is Jack Selwood’s DP Ford, originally constructed by Reg Taylor. This is the car that took Mike Furse to a triple and Graham Marshall to ACTC championships. It still has the original 1500 pre-crossflow engine (Photo by Kieran Bartlett)
Tog Hill was just up the road from the start and there were some delays after about half the field went through as one of the Austin 7’s experienced problems and blocked the section. It wasn’t a happy start for Class 2 as Michael Wall’s Trojan had to retire on the following road section.
The restart on the polished stones on Bitton Lane challenged some of the Austin 7’s in a bumper Class 2 entry.
Not so Mick Holmes who got away smoothy in what I believe was his cars first trial. Mick’s passenger was son Sam, normally seen driving his very competitive Class 4 Beetle with Mick as his passenger.
Jack Selwood strengthened his position in the Wheelspin Trophy over Dean Partington who moves up to second place eight points behind the car he bought back into the sport.
Paul Jones captures Henry Hoggart on Tanks Terror. Henry was passengered by Norton Selwood the force behind the ACTC FB Group and Instagram.
This was a challenging Tamar Trial, especially for the cars, where even the most hardened competitors struggled on the new woodland sections towards the end of the trial.
Kevin Miller was third bike overall and would have won if he had not failed the first observed test. Kevin is the Admin of the FB Group “Long Distance Trials, LDT’s, South UK Lightweight Bikes” Photo by Paul Jones
Motorcycle competitors had some bike only routes and sections that were difficult enough to ensure there were no clean sheets. The classic lanes that started the morning didn’t prove too challenging but then came the Solo only section at Ladye Park where three was the lowest score. John Luckett dropped four here and was the only bike to clean the grassy Tanks Terror but had the misfortune to retire later.
Dean was one of five clean sheets, winning the trial by being fastest on the tests. Fellow Wheelspin contender Jack Selwood retired so the championship is still wide open
Bryan Hunt captures Matt Facey using BMW power at the foot of Blaize. Matt dropped his only point on Tee Pee’s to finish 6th overall. Only Matt and Dave Haizelden were able to break inside the Class Eight stranglehold on the top ten.
Ross and DMC managed to overcome the difficulties associated with running a forestry based trial and the Kyrle was held on a dry day making it a little easier than usual.
The results were dominated by some very competitive Class Eights, many in the hands of drivers in the lower end of the age spectrum which is good for the future of the sport.
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Julian Lack was back in his familiar Liege and finished one position behind Dean
Northern Trial organiser Myke Pocock struggles for grip crossing the stream at the foot of Watergate.
Although this years Yorkshire Dales was held in good weather there had been a lot of rain during the week and some of the sections were ultra competitive. The first section Watergate proved very challenging with water being dragged up the section. Clerk of the Course John Rhodes made the difficult decision to cancel the hill to reduce delays so early in the event as it was taking a lot of time for failures to clear the section.
With determination written all over his face Clee Hills winner Ian Davis fights to stop his VW Buggy jumping out of the ruts on Meadowly. Photo by Matt Venables
With high forestry charges this years Clee Hills stayed East of the A49, with what proved to be a good mix of sections to challenge everyone from Beginner to Expert. Many of the sections were not subdivided and there was only one restart scheduled but even this disappeared when Longville was cancelled.
Charlie Merson was second and Jack Selwood third on a day dominated by lightweight front engined Class Eights
Dean Partington and Henry Hoggart returned Deans Falcon to the hills after thirty years and came away with the overall win.
Paul Merson and his team returned the Exmoor Clouds to the roads this year after a couple of years as a Covid imposed single venue event. They were rewarded by a full entry including no less than 20 Class Eight Cars.
Dean in his Falcon pictured on the front of Triple coming out the top of Calton on the 1991 Edinburgh Trial. He sold the car and moved on to improving Cannons before creating the Wasp. A few years ago he had the opportunity to reacquire the Falcon, updating it a little before returning it to the hills.Continue reading “Dean Partington wins Exmoor Clouds in Historic Car”
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Dave Cook was at the top of Sandale to see Dean Partington conquer the deep ruts. Dean and Charlie Knifton in their rear engined Class Eight cars and John Kenny amongst the Motorcycles were the only “cleans”. Link to Dave Cooks Northern Trial photos to follow.
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.
Stephen Kingstone choose four wheels rather than his Matchless but still chose to run with the hood down! Steve finished second overall in the Car Category (Photo by Alistair Knox)
Unfortunately this years ACTC Championship Status didn’t result in an increase in visitors to the Middle England Classic Vehicle Club’s event. Neverless it was enjoyed by those who did attend despite a sprinkling of snow too spice things up.
In the cars Dean Partington came one short of a clean sheet, followed by Stephen Kingstone in his Midget.
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