Roy Fedden Trophy - 12 November
BTRDA and MSA by Peter Fensom
Dyrham Woods was again the venue for Bristol
Motor club’s annual Sporting trial, Tony Streeting
had taken a close look at how he could improve
upon last year and ignored the sections on the main
avenue through the woods. He chose this time to
keep the main part of the event on the higher ground
on the left of the site, this decision in conjunction
with a new access route across the field and into the
wood at the highest part of the site created a trial that
could rival any wooded trial we have held this year.
Twenty Five competitors entered the trial all intent
on improving their position in the BTRDA
Championship plus a select few who were
determined to outdo each other for the MSA
Championship which is so close at the moment
between Ian Wright and John Fack.
Dyrham Woods can be a difficult site if you start a
hill with a thick cover of late autumn leaves and
brushwood all over the place but the 1st round in
unseasonable mild conditions held no fears for Johnand Ian who made it through with a clear and one
point respectively Julian put his silly hat on and
dropped a 9 and a 12 I will leave him to bore you
with the details.
Star of the round and a definite champion of the
future were Ian Rodman and Jim Harris in Ron
Blands old car who dropped 7 points on hill 3, best
of the rest were Stephen Barnes on 10, Roland
Uglow and Peter Fensom both on 11.
Gordon Jackson and his son Drew in their Ibex
unfortunately took an early bath with gearbox
problems. David and Tina Zank made a good start
to the day but their fiddle brake gave up the ghost
after just three hills.
Round Two saw the hills being slightly tweaked
and tyre pressures being checked to ensure
compliance with the three pound rule for the day.
New sections had been created over deep leaves
giving some drivers a wake up call with some big
numbers being dropped, John lost 8 and the lead to
Ian who lost 5 Stephen Barnes had a great round
and found himself in third, Roland Uglow in his new
Crossle was trying to balance out giving it some
welly or preserving his expensive bit of kit however
he found the right formula which gave him fourth
place
Jon Mores found himself in a difficult position as
usually by mid round two he could be found loading
his car on the van with yet another breakdown,
could his stamina hold out until lunch or would he
need a lie down between hills, Jon is made of
sterner stuff coming in fifth dropping only 6 points.
As a build up to the final scores I have to report that
Julian lost another 12 points which left him 14th at
lunchtime
No more breakdowns and the rain holding off
allowed the field to take a well earned lunch break.
Bristol Motor Club had arranged an excellent
catering van, along with two portaloos which are
not mandatory but do make the event so much
more pleasant.
Round Three saw Ian throw it away when he
dropped 13 points John dropped a fantastic 4 points
to take back the lead, Stephen Barnes gave a
faultless display of driving ability to keep his third
position, however he only just beat Ian Rodman
who had been snapping at his heels all day to come
in fourth, Ian who is a relative newcomer has been
improving steadily over the last year and with the
help of his passenger Jim Hannis has travelled all
over the country experiencing as many different
events as he can to build up ability in all terrains.
This experience is now paying off as we see his
results on the championship scoreboard and the
national trials.
Mike Readings has also been coming back into
form and achieved a good result along with George
Watson who was again pleased to thrash Peter
Fensom who dropped more points than the days in a
year but not as many as Julian who managed
another 15 points after lunch which gave him a total
of 997 points and a position of 80th just in front of the
tractor ploughing in the adjacent field. We should
make the most of this ridicule as the great man is
changing to gas for the next event, watch this space
- he will be back.
At the end of the day John Fack won the Roy
Fedden, Ian Wright was second and Stephen Barnes
was third. It was a good event on difficult terrain
which the Bristol Motor Club used to great
advantage An excellent days trailing was had by all.
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