Lots of Gold on Dry Lands End

With Easter so late this year Clerk of the Course Bill Rosten caught the nice weather for his first event. With only subtle changes the event ran smoothly although enforcement of the timing regulations caught out a few established competitors.

Nigel Hilling paws the air in Stan on the way to the Class Two award (Picture by Dave Cook)

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Plusha was definitely the place to start on this years event, with 96 cars, nearly two thirds of the entry, choosing the first starting point, many of the more northerly competitors choosing to trailer down to the West Country. It wasn't long before they were on their way back up the A30 for the night run to the Bridgwater accumulation control where Dean Vowden lost his Class Six award when he was penalised for late arrival.

Penalties at Felons Oak and Crook Horn

The first section was the familiar Felons Oak, a nice opener, but the last section on this years event for the venerable Courtney Yandle, who retired his Class Six Beetle after stopping here.

The Crook Horn Special Test was very disappointing for John Wilton in, or should I say on, his Trojan, penalised ORL and loosing his Gold. No such mistake by Nigel Hilling who went on to the Class Two Award, returning to trials after a years enforced break in his 100E engined upright Ford Anglia. Roger Vanstone (Suzuki X90) was another to loose his Gold here. A couple of competitors were penalised for stopping at the flying finish line, including the father and son duo of Peter and James Mountain in their Mk1 Dellow.

Time Issues at Barbrook

A trip over the wilds of Exmoor preceded a holding control at County Gate to regulate arrival at Barbrook where there was a penalty for early arrival. A number of competitors fell foul of this, including Lee Peck in his his Kracken. This was unfortunate as Lee would otherwise have won Gold, which would have been a great ad for the Kracken which he has put into production.

Neither Beggars nor the other sections before the Wilsey Down rest halt caused problems for most although Darracott was cancelled after Ivan Sharrock had the misfortune to turn over in his HRG, the good news was the crew were OK.

Warleggan Restart wasn't easy

Warleggan came after the break. The higher classes had to restart and this took its toll on the medals, either for not pulling away or in the case of Steve Glasson and Linden Alcock who were penalised for not stopping in their Dellow Mk2's. None of the three German crews got this far which was a shame considering all the way they had come.

Into Cardinham Woods and Lady Vale which had a restart with a very narrow box, where Paul Brooks lost his gold in his X90. Hoskin was next, in the same complex, with different restarts according to class. These boxes were narrow as well but the marshals must have been lenient as they didn't record as many fails as was feared.

Bishops Wood

The Bishops Wood test saw Dave Wall loose his gold when he over ran the line as did Trevor Wood in his Suzuki powered Leige.

The Bishops Wood section was just up the track, with a restart after the cross track for the higher clases and just before for the lower category cars. This wasn't a problem for most but Ian Musgrove in his X90 said goodbye to his gold here. The higher class restart was definitely not Marlin friendly, confirmed by Harry Bounden who lost his gold when he was judged not to have got away.

Blue Hills

Only the two sections at Blue Hills remained where neither Nick Farmer or Neal Vile could cope with the tight corner in their UVA Fugitives, nor could Mike Tucker's X 90. BH2 had its usual big crowd enjoying the spectacle and saw a handful of competitors loose their golds.

All that remained was the 19 mile run back up the A30 to the finish where a handful of competitors were penalised for late arrival.

Published here on 24 March 2015

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