The Charles Pollard Trial By Richard Rimes

The King’s Cliffe site, regardless of the wettest trialling season, still produces remarkable grip as long as the rain is not present on the day. As ever the winner will never drop the amount of points from 30 hills that at home sites you can drop on one hill. The morning saw an extremely cold wind with the likelihood of snow following an early flurry before the start. Tyre pressures were a very generous 2 psi which the starting 34 cars from 39 entries would take advantage of. Even the sun showed itself for most of the day. 10 hills had been set out utilising the many trees as good ‘route guides” - no pun intended.


At the end of the first round Tom Stevenson and Ian Bell were on zero from John Fack in a shining blue Crosslé on 2 with Roger Bricknell, Stuart Beare and Richard Rimes in close order on 3 points. The second round saw no real hill changes apart from some tightening but most hills were still very climbable as the cars recording a clear round confirmed. At lunchtime tyre pressures were increased to 5 psi, which, knowing this site, could have gone up to 10 psi without stopping most cars. Before the final round the first ten drivers were Ian Bell, Tom Stevenson (0), John Fack (2) Roger Bricknell, Stuart Beare (3), Julian Fack, Peter Fensom, Julian Fuller (4) Richard Rimes (5) Steve Courts, Ron Bland (6). The final round had only hill 4 as a ‘risk factor’. You may have got passed the 3 pole to get a clear but in the attempt most cars hit the 3 marker, unless you were happy with a cast iron 2!

Overall I would say that very few drivers could not like King’s Cliffe as it is a trial that gives a much more level playing field when the climbing ability takes a back seat and concentration is available to everyone. The last round saw Kim Warwick entering the top ten with Julian Fuller, who was disqualified from taking an award for using ineligible tyres, dropping down to 16th. John Fack lost ground from 2nd to 10th. The rest of the first ten basically held their lunchtime positions. For my part I was ably passengered by my stepson John Wright, who helped balance the imbalance which my Kincraft has to accommodate!! Looking at the results could there be some cheap Crosslés available ?

1 Tom and Elizabeth Stevenson R1 3
1 Ian Bell Andrew Bell R1 3
3 Julian Fack Meg Marrion R2 4
4 Peter Fensom Liz Fensom R3 4
5 Stuart Beare Monty Peters B1 5
6 Roger Bricknell Julia Bricknell R4 5
7 Richard Rimes John Wright B2 7
8 Steve Courts Paul Tate R5 8
9 Kim Warwick Rita Hailwood R6 8
10 Ron Bland Ivor Dolby R7 9
11 John Fack Margaret Stapleton R8 10
12 Ian Wright Kathy Wright R9 11
13 Stephen Barnes Simon Cowley B3 13
14 Paul Price Alan Baker R10 14
15 Paul Faulkner B4 17
16 Richard Gowen Robin Sims B5 18
17 Julian Fuller Charles Course G- 22
18 Ian Rodman Jim Hannis G1 22
19 John Ward G2 24
20 Neville Collett Claire Collett B6 25
21 Peter Thorpe Les Stevens B7 26
22 Martin Grimwood Duncan Walker G3 28
23 Richard Robarts Richard Flanagan G4 29
24 Brian Wall Reg Kemble B8 32
25 John Ridley Ian Medcalf B9 34
26 George Watson Victoria Watson B10 36
27 Phil Yarwood Geoff Geering B11 37
28 Dave Oliver Jennie Oliver G5 39
29 Tony Harrison June Harrison R11 44
30 David Bastable Gill King B12 46
31 Richard and Simon Waterhouse G6 52
32 Lynn Jones J Peacock B13 53
33 Antony Lane John Ryder G7 81
34 Roy Robinson Richard Marriott G8 115
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