Simon Robson wins the Gill Morrell Trial

The Gill Morrell Trophy was won by Simon Robson in his Liege, beating Ross Nuten by five marks, mainly lost on the grassy hill seven which was not very Dellow friendly as it was also Mike Pearson’s downfall.

Good job it's Matt driving as the Robson Liege shaves a marker	Nigel Taylor on tiptoe through the Brickhill bracken.
Roger Dudley challenged for the early lead.	Pete Crawford winding on the lock in his six cylinder Marlin.

Cliff Morrell and his team attracted 26 entries to this incredible venue, which has witnessed so many great trials over the years. It was split roughly 50/50 between the National B, run with the official classes, and the Clubsport "run what you brung" affair with free tyre pressures. Peter Morley was an interesting new comer with a very smart Green Dutton Melos. The registration number looked familiar and when he rubbed a wing against a tree and some orange paint appeared it was confirmed to be the ex-Fred Gregory machine. The other interesting car was a nice looking Skoda fastback driven by Neil Bray. It sounded "fruity" and when the hood was raised at lunchtime all was revealed, a Rover V8! Richard Tomkins Imp was definitely not sounding fruity as Richard had swapped the 1040 lump on Twin 40’s for a cooking 875 with a standard carb!

The National B’s started out with a real ding-dong battle between Robin Howard (Marlin) and Dave Smith (Tempest), who swapped the lead all day until Dave had gearbox gremlins on the last round. This allowed Robin into the lead and the National B victory and Pete Manning to sneak a last minute class victory.

Ross Nuten took an early lead in Clubsport with Roger Dudley snapping at his heels. But by lunchtime Simon Robson had over-taken both and held on to a 3-point lead and best overall on index. Nigel Taylor was going well in the front wheel drive class and was well ahead at end, by which time Stuart and Stephen Earthy had retired. We had a couple of other retirements in Clubsport as both Mike Hinman and David Jackson broke their transmissions. Neil Bray took David’s special home on his trailer while Jonathan Baggott owed Mike home to Buckinghamshire.

The rain came down at he end but it couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm for an enjoyable and well-organised trial.