Classical Gas
www.classictrials.co.uk
August 2001 - Part 2
Simon Robson wins July Joust
It was his first event in his Liege, but Simon Robson resumed his autotest career in familiar fashion, setting FTD ahead of old rival Neil Bray.
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Ross Nuten (Dellow) |
Keith Pettit (AH Sprite) |
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Ashley Pilsworth (Corsa) |
Andrew Dadswell (Rover) |
Falcon's first event for many months took place at Upper Caldecote on the 22nd July when Mike’s Hayward and Furse ran the July Joust Autotest. They had a good entry with some really interesting "new" cars. Owen Turner from Watling MC entered his rally Imp, which sounded really nice, if rather different to Richard Tompkins familiar yellow machine. Closer examination revealed that the Linwood fire pump engine had been replaced by a "K" series lump. It was shame Owen didn’t have Nigel Taylor’s car, as we could have had Turner driving a Turner! Nigel had entered his Mk1 for his first Autotest, after sampling Falcon events at Brickhill in a Panda. I plan to write more about Nigel and his car for next months Classical Gas.
With only one car entered in class B it was amalgamated with it’s shorter wheelbase brethren in class A. Nerveless Murray MacDonald didn’t find the extra length a particular handicap and went into an early lead in his Golf Gti. The car looking a little better now, having been straightened after it’s brush against the Brickhill trees. Neil Bray chased Murray hard in his familiar autotest Mini, after some last minute preparation the day before, including welding in a new floor! Simon Robson, who was still getting to grips with his Liege, and was a couple of seconds behind, completed the old firm. Richard Tompkins was going well in his Imp as was co-driver David Russell driving in his first Autotest.
Simon Robson got the bit between his teeth after lunch, pulling back three seconds on test five and a further four seconds on test seven to set FTD, four seconds ahead of Neil Bray, who was best in class A after catching up and overtaking Murray MacDonald. Owen Turner really got to grips with Neil’s meadow in the afternoon and stormed to 3rd in class, just ahead of David Russell in Richard Tompkins Imp, Richard himself slipping down the order as the day drew to a close. Keith Pettit went well all day, taking the class B award in his "Frogeye" Sprite, which I have now learned is a different car to his trials machine!
It was a good day, held in ideal conditions, dry but with the ground damp enough not to raise the dust! Competitors certainly seemed to enjoy Mike Furse’s well thought out tests, which "flowed" really nicely. It was good to see the new cars and new faces and lets hope they will be back for the next event on 3rd September.
Results
David Manning Mini 368.83 Richard Tompkins Imp 334.62 Peter Manning Mini 349.85 Owen Turner Imp 324.18 3rd Class A & B Neil Bray Mini 321.53 1st Class A & B Arnold Lane Nova 335.90 Bob Tatum Panda 358.39 Andrew Dadswell Metro 347.83 Ashley Pilsworth Corsa 375.83 Darren Bailey Micra 379.09 David Russell Imp 325.55 Best Novice Murray MacDonald Golf Gti 324.06 2nd Class A & B Keith Pettit AH Sprite 326.86 1st Class D Ross Nuten Dellow 341.97 Matt Robson Liege 334.12 Nigel Taylor Turner Mk1 362.25 Simon Robson Liege 317.05 FTD
