The 2002 Edlesborough Trial

Jack Williams walked away with overall honours at Falcon’s Edlesborough Trial on 27^th January. On a day dominated by the very sticky conditions that made even getting to the hills a trial in itself.

Left - Jack Williams looking as relaxed as ever on his way to an overall win. Right - Joshua Taylor doing a great job as he bounces Nigel to a class win.
Left - Watch out MCC scruitineers, Noddy is alive, well and still trialling! Dave Nash challenged Jack and Ross for the lead all day. Right - David Sheffield threading his Midget through the trees on hill one

Mike Pearson made the brave decision to run The Edlesborough Trial, in spite of a lot of rain the week before, and a forecast of even more later on the day itself. It was a tough decision as Edlesborough is renowned for being very sticky with the slightest amount of rain. But Mike decided to go ahead, albeit warning competitors not to bring trailers and leaving the club caravan at home because of the difficulty in getting through the mud patch inside the gate.

35 competitors signed on, and there was an excellent turnout of marshals, so there would have been a lot of disappointed people had the event been cancelled. Even so a couple of competitors decided to call it a day early on when they saw how difficult it was to even get to the first section, a warning of things to come. Mike had laid out six hills but handicapped class D by presenting them with a run up the steep bank on hill five but giving the other classes an easier challenge on hill four.

Hill one comprised a run up the track though the trees, then a tight slalom around the markers while traversing the open bank. This proved very difficult in the slippery conditions and the bank became very cut up, as was the route to the next two sections, marked out on the bank. Hill Three was towards the top of the hill and wasn’t so sticky. A number of competitors went clear here, across all the classes, vindicating Mike Pearson’s sections, which were competitive without penalising larger cars by having ridiculously tight turns.

Having worked their way to the top of the hill on the first three sections competitors made their way back down for section four, if you were class D or five for the others. Section four didn’t present a problem for experienced competitors, but some of the novices were caught out by the ninety-right at the top and lost grip. The bank on Hill Five certainly sorted out the class D’s and only Jack Williams (Tempest), Dave Nash (Noddy), Ross Nuten (Dellow) and Dave Smith (Tempest) got up it to tackle the higher reaches of the hill with only Dave Smith actually getting to the top.

Hill Six finished off the first round, involving a run up the hedge alley after a tight right hander on an adverse camber. This proved too much for everyone except Ross Nuten, the others loosing grip at or before the ninety-right. At the end of the first round, Ross was leading overall, having only dropped eight, despite the difficult conditions. Jack Williams had dropped 14; having lost five on Hill Six, with Dave Nash only one behind in what he says could be Noddy’s last trial. They were followed in class D by Simon Robson in his Liege and John Parsons, who was enjoying his day in his ex Graham Marshall, ex David Thompson Buggy, having fixed the front suspension that broke on The Exeter. Michael and Richard Leete were having a good run in their yellow Beetle, only dropping 16 on round one, chased by Ed Nickel (Imp) and Simon Benoy, who was also Imp mounted in only his second trial. Nigel and Joshua Taylor were having a good run and had established a big lead in class A in their Samba.

There were a few casualties after the first round. Ian Lawson couldn’t get his Tempest to run properly and called it a day. Then class D lost one of it’s leading contenders when Dave Smith’s Tempest stretched its throttle cable, which Dave found it impossible to adjust out. Roger Dudley was having difficulties with his Dutton Melos, which was becoming difficult to start but Roger and Jacqueline were doing well on the hills. A special mention also for Owen Turner who came straight to Edlesborough for the trial having been up all night rallying in his K series Imp.

In view of the conditions, Mike Pearson had eased all the tight corners, which made things much easier. Michael Leete managed a clear round in his Beetle, by dint of a real blast at hill one. Tony Shakeshaft and Dave Middleditch also did well here in their Nova but the others in the lower classes couldn’t get over the bank. This put Michael in overall lead of the trial at the end of the second round as class D still had to tackle the tricky hill five. By now, it had started to drizzle and things were getting sticky. It was especially difficult to get to hill two so Mike Pearson cancelled hill one and created a new section on the track at the bottom of the hill. Even so, it was becoming more and more difficult to get between the sections.

Roger Dudley was really struggling with the Melos but finally found a problem with the timing, which he managed to fix. Jack Williams got the bit between his teeth and had a really good run to go back in the lead of the trial at the end of the third round, one mark ahead of Ross Nuten. In Class C the Imp’s were all evenly matched and having a good battle. David Russell was the only class C to clean hill four, all the other competitors in this class under-steered off on the first corner. Dick Trevett (Metro) was the only other competitor to clean this hill, putting him closer to class leader Nigel Taylor.

Conditions were really tough on the fourth and final round. Most of the hills were OK but getting to them was a real problem and sadly some competitors gave up the unequal struggle. Many of those that carried on could only do so with the help of a tow from Mike Pearson’s tractor. The front wheel drive cars struggled to find any grip, rear engined cars under-steered off at the hint of a corner and Jack Williams soared to the top of all the sections! Well he did drop one on the first hill but it was an impressive performance never the less. Ross cleaned this, putting him equal with Jack and we were on course for a tie but then he got a 12 on the last section, under-steering into the markers on the first corner and that was that. Still you can’t get closer than the event being decided on the last hill!

Results

Class A	Nigel Taylor (Samba)	110	1st in Class
	Dick Trevett (Metro)	131	2nd in Class
Class C	Michael Leete (VW1302S)	59	1st in Class
	Simon Benoy (Imp)	106	2nd in Class
Class D	Ross Nuten (Delow)	42	1st in Class
	John Parsons (VW Buggy)	45	2nd in Class
	Dave Nash (Noddy)	55	3rd in Class
	Jack Williams (Tempest)	30	1st Overall
	Matt Robson (Liege)	83	Best Novice