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This years Exmoor trial proved a little easier than Clerk of the Course Chris Barham would have liked although the two sections in the Holdridge woodland proved too much for all but a few.
The car entry was dominated by Class Eight and a particularly strong Beetle entry spread across classes Four and Six.
Competitive sections kicked off at Porte Farm with three sections. The second of these proved particularly challenging. Most of the solos and all the outfits went clean, but it was a different story when the cars came along.
Outside of Class Eight 0nly Keith Sanders (Reliant Scimitar SS), Ray Ferguson and John Early (Lieges) and Brian Hampson in his X90 emerged from the complex with clean sheets.
The second section at Porte Farm shattered the dream of a clean sheet for most competitors. (VidCap from Steven Price)
The middle part of the trial was mostly smooth sailing, but then came High Bray, the usual highlight of the Exmoor Trial.
Steven Price on the resurfaced High Bray (Photo by Peter Browne)Vince Feeney captured Andy Beveridge on High Bray. Most of the outfits were based on Enduro chassis in Class D2. Andy was in D1 meaning the chair can be detached.
There was a solo bike-only section called Walscott just before High Bray, which stopped all of the smaller-engined Class B bikes. Then came the famous hill itself. The section looked very different this year. The local authority had resurfaced it as part of a byway improvement program. It still stopped a few bikes, but all the cars sailed up.
There were two sections in the Holdridge woodland, and these were to prove decisive for the cars. Only Duncan Stephens, Paul Merson, and Arnie Martin emerged clean, all in rear-engined Class Eights.
Ray Ferguson dominated Class 7, dropping only four marks and finishing fourth overall, passengered on this occasion by experienced trailer and fellow Liege owner Trevor Wood. Photo by Vince Feeney on Floyds Bank
Floyds Bank was the penultimate section and proved as competitive as ever, providing entertainment for the usual spectators. It didn’t stop the three leading Class Eights, and they were to finish the event with clean sheets. That meant the overall results would be decided by the time of the only special test. Dean Partington had been fastest there, but he had dropped points on the observed sections. That meant the win went to Duncan Stephens, followed by Paul Merson and Arnie Martin.
Neil O’Connor was fastest of the two Solos on zero marks. Steve Urell and Julie Williams were the best of a well supported class of outfits.
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Camel Vale had ACTC Championship status for the Car Classes in their second annual Bodmin Heights Trial.
Building on last years inaugural event the trial used some of the clubs single venue locations, adding some new sections. This involved clearing new routes, challenging the Simon Groves and Ben Tonkin led teams road building skills.
Last years event was for Cars and Outfits. This year Solos were added and Ross Hancock came out on top on the only Class C entry.
Richard Maddern on his way to win the well supported Outfit Class. Photo by Vince Feeney
Richard Maddern was best outfit in a well supported Class D2, only dropping 9 marks. Gareth Andrew had the same score on the hills, the win going to Richard on test times.
Duncan Stephens overcame the challenging muddy sections to win the appropriately named Mudlark Trophy in his Fugitive. It was definitely a day for rear engined Class Eights with ACTC Chair Dave Haizelden second in the family Deere Special and Dan Keat third.
Interestingly although Duncan has won many events in the various trials disciplines this was his first win on a Camel Vale event.
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Duncan Stephens successfully restarting on New Langleys under the eagle eye of Launceston Vice Chair Andrew Rippon
Launceston and North Cornwall Motor club had a strong entry for this years Tamar. It was especially good to see seven outfits to take the start at The Proper Ansome Cafe in Launceston. They were rewarded by a closely fought trial in the muddy conditions.
John Reeves was best Solo with a clean sheet. Matt Tilley came second after dropping five marks between the two wheels only Harts section and Kings Langleys.
Steve Urell and Julie Williams had a narrow outfit win, just one mark better than Andy and Kayleigh Seward.
The car classes were a battle between Class Eight and Matt Facey in his Class Three BBMW E30. Matt dropped his four marks early in the trial and it was three Class Eights who arrived at New Langleys, the penultimate section, with clean sheets.
Norton Selwoods Videos from new Langleys
Neither Roger Hancock or Tom Jones got off the restart, picking up four marks but Duncan Stephens was successful to finish with a clean sheet and win the trial.
Tristan was best Solo while Chris passengered Richard Maddern to a Sidecar Win. In the Cars Matt Facey came home in front of Duncan Stephens and Tom Jones
What no Mud! Solo winner Tristan Barnicoat on Penhale Climb, one of the few sections to escape the full effects of the recent wet weather. Photo by Vince Feeney
Torbay organisers Dave Haizelden and Keith Sanders like a tough trial and everyone knows this is what the event is all about. This year more than lived up to expectations with the wet conditions ensuring that grip and ground clearance were at a premium.
There were ten clean sheets spread across four classes. Duncan was fastest in his Fugitive from Joe Browning in his Baja.
Long Term Dellow Trialler Richard Andrews looks on while marshalling the restart as Duncan Stephens claws the air on Nailsworth Ladder on his way to winning the Cotswold Clouds. Photo by Calvin Samuel
Stroud attracted their usual full entry for this years Cotswold Clouds which was held in unseasonable dry conditions, resulting in a number of clean sheets.
Ben Tonkin and family on their way to their Tamar victory (Photo by Duncan Stephens)
Ben Tonkin won Launceston’s Tamar Classic Trial on Sunday, returning in his 1600 VW Beetle with 2 year old son George passengering for the first time. It was a very close scoring day that saw the lead change multiple times on the last hill.
Hat Trick of ACTC wins for Duncan Stephens who pipped Philip Thomas on Test Times
Philip Thomas only dropped one mark but lost out to Duncan Stephens for the overall win on Special Test Times Photo by Bryan HuntContinue reading “Mechanics Trial”
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With Stuart Bartlett in the passengers seat of his UVA Fugitive Duncan had a day long battle Keith Sanders in his Reliant Scimitar SS. At the end of the day these were the only cars with single digit scores, the win going to Duncan on six with Keith on nine.
Apart from Duncan and Keith the remainder of the entry attracted some high scores on what was reckoned to be a tough event with some very steep sections.
The motorcycles had a strong class X entry. Ian Thompson was the best Solo amongst the regular classes
Run last year as a Single Venue Event Minehead Motor Club had planned to run a road trial this year. Unfortunately there were problems a few weeks before the event and the route had to be confined to the extensive Headon Woods. Tristan Barnicoat dominated the Motorcycles while Duncan Stephens had a hard fight with Charlie Merson and Stewart Green to win the cars.
Duncan Stephens was one of nine clean sheets across five classes.
With dry conditions it was predictable that the Allen was going to see clean sheets, but the way they were spread across the classes showed Pete Hart and his team had got the event right. Josh Moss was second overall in his Gregory Special.
Duncan Stephens not only won the trial in his Dutton Melos but was kind enough to come back down Burledge and tow a stricken vehicle to keep the trial on the move (Picture by Calvin Talbot from Cstartworks)
With the Cross House closed it meant the Allen Team had to find a new start venue, coming up with The Bull Inn at Hinton which proved a popular choice. It did confuse one or two though, who had problems finding the route to Tog Hill, but all was well and everyone cleared this nice starter hill.
Traditional Hills
Bitton Lane didn’t have tyre pressure limits for its restart on polished stones. It didn’t cause many problems apart from Class Five, where four of the seven didn’t get away. Everyone had to restart on Little Uplands which proved tough on Class One, where only Dave Haizelden (Golf) and Nick Cleal (Peugeot 205) got off the line.
As ever Guys Hill was a tough challenge for Classes Seven and Eight where they had their usual restart on a mixture of polished stones and tree roots. This left only Duncan Stephens, Andrew Rippon, Mal Allen and Murray Montgomery-Smith clean in Class Seven and Josh Moss, Dudley Sterry, Mike Chatwin, Charlie Knifton, Carl Talbot and Russell Clarke in Class Eight.
Ubley Woods Sections
After a tree rooty Travers competitors tackled four sections and a special test at Bristols Ubley Woods venue. Although muddy there was nowhere near the usual amount of clag and things flowed smoothly. The Class Eight restart on Ubley Woods Four sorted the red category out and only Josh Moss (Gregory Special) and Carl Talbot (Morris Trialsmaster) were clean going to lunch. They were joined by another eight clean sheets, including the Model T based Board Racer of David Golightly.
Burledge
There were four traditional hills after lunch, starting with Burledge. This had been closed to motorised traffic following last years event. However, Pete Hart and his team had worked a miracle and got permission for the hill to be open for the event.
The second special Test took place on the way to the section. With so many clean sheets this was going to be decisive in determining the results. Carl Talbot was fastest here and coupled with his time on the Ubley Woods test was in overall lead of the trial.
Burledge started just up the track, beginning where the old section finished before the ruts were filled in! It was all about stopping in the right place at the restart. About 25% of the entry didn’t, although it didn’t trouble the leading contenders.
Mill Lane was enjoyable but not too problematical, although David Golightly retired his wonderful car here. This was a shame as David had his clutch fail on the VSCC’s Cotswold Trial on Saturday. Undeterred he returned home to Grimsby to make a repair. An exercise that involved removing both the gearbox and back axle, returning to Bristol on Sunday morning.
Big Uplands
Only class eight had the pleasure of tackling Big Uplands as water erosion had created some deep gulleys. It was a tough one, even for the specials, and decided the result of the trial when Carl Talbot failed at the seven, putting Duncan Stephens in the lead of the trial.
John Walker
The Allen’s finale was the wonderful John Walker, tackled in the dusk for later numbers as there were a few delays extracting those unfortunate to puncture.
With all the clean sheets there were a lot of hopefuls at the finish. After the ST times were taken into account it was Duncan Stephens (Dutton Melos) who emerged the winner, followed by Josh Moss (Gregory Special) and John White (1300 Beetle). Everyone enjoyed the trial which was a credit to the effort and experience of Pete Hart and his team from the Bristol Club.
Class
Driver/Car
Marks
Overall
Duncan Stephens (Dutton Melos)
0
1
David Haizelden (Golf GTi)
0
2
Bill Bennett (MG J2)
5
3
Phillip Thomas (Ford Escort)
22
4
John White (VW Beetle)
0
5
Keith Sanders (Reliant Scimitar SS1)
0
6
Gary Browning (VW Beetle)
4
7
Andrew Rippon (VW Baja)
0
8
Josh Moss (Gregory Special)
0
We have been publishing stuff about Classic Trials on the Web since 1995 and always appreciate feedback. Comments, Corrections, Criticism & Concerns are all welcome. You can leave a comment to have your say here on this web site or our Social Media
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