The Allen Trial

27 November 2011

What a difference a year makes!

Sunday morning and the Cross House & car park were a hive of activity with double bay scrutineering, no queue onto the road and trials gossip shared over bacon butties. The rain had stopped and soon the clouds were to clear giving blue skies and low angled sun. Just as the first cars were leaving news came of a van that had rolled and was blocking the road just beyond Guys Hill. Luckily the policeman knew about the trial and with the help of a local farmer’s JCB Tim and Glen (Course Opening) moved the van and swept the road of glass and debris just in time for the first cars to exit the section.

Traver’s restart on the way to Ubley Wood caught out half of class 7 and all but the top two in class 6. The sections at Ubley sorted out the field with no restarting class 7 cleaning Ubley 1 and only 3, all class 8, cleaning Ubley 3. Burledge section, after the lunch halt, appears to have regained its bite even catching out some class 8 ‘experts’ !

The new sections at Lakeside unfortunately caused more issues than we had hoped. The landowner adjacent to Mulholland bank objected strongly to the noise and despite the efforts of the Lakeside owner and Chief Official Colin Biles they could not be appeased leaving us no choice but to abandon the section. Chimney routes worked well with the class 1-6 route producing an interesting scatter of scores with cleans in most classes when taking a considered approach. The class 7 & 8 route proved much harder than we envisaged resulting in a hole digging out at the point of failure which led to instability especially with reared engined specials. For safety reasons we cancelled this route despite 3 cars Dean Partington, Charlie Shopland and Dean Yarranton cleaning it.

John Walker once again proved a good blast through mud and an enjoyable end to the trial. The last cars finishing as the sun went down. Once again the pub was busy as competitors and marshals waited for the results to be announced. Dean Partington takes the Allen Trophy with the only clean run, and the destiny of the Wheelspin Championship will be going to the wire at the Camel Trial on Sunday.

Thanks to the members of the Somerset and Wiltshire Land Rover owners Club for providing recovery.

Finally the event could not be run without the continued help and support of our stewards, marshals, helpers, landowners and villagers in Doynton. Many thanks to you all and we look forward to seeing you again next year.

Carlie, Pete, Mark & Tim.

Marshals' Prize Winners: Dick Munns, Andrew Meek & Chris Brock

Allen Trophy: Dean Partington – D P Wasp
Bob Wood Trophy: Liam Rafferty
Henly Trophy: Charles Knifton

Woodberry Chillcott Trophy: Adrian Dommett - Wolseley Hornet
Bryan Brothers Trophy, Dick Bolt, Escort
Renwicks Trophy: Sam Holmes- VW Beetle
Rumsey Trophy: Keith Sanders – Reliant Scimitar

Highland Circle Trophy - Dean Vowden - VW Notchback
Rootes Trophy: Mal (MPD) Allen - Marlin

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