By Dave Govier | Pictures by Dave Govier
It’s early June and we are back at Hatton Park for another trial. Setting out was going to be done by myself and Steve Burrows. We had agreed to meet at Hatton at about 2 pm, as Steve was busy in the morning. Also, it had been raining leading up to the event, so we were hoping that the mornings dry weather would help to try the ground out a bit.
Steve arrived with his new toy, a blue Suzuki Jeep. He was keen to have a play in it but trying to get up the first bank, he realised he only had rear wheel drive. Probably something in the front axle or hubs because I could definitely see the propshaft was turning. Steve said he would do some investigation.
I was in my 90 once again, but had swapped the tyres over from Tango (the Tomcat) so I had the grippiest set of tyres on that I have.
I had a walk around the site before Steve arrived and decided that we were not going to use the steepest drop down into what is known as pit hole two. As the ground can be quite slippy, this would definitely not be a good idea. There are other entrances and exits that we can use, so we could still use most of this area.
We started to set out and it was quite obvious that the ground was a little bit slippy. So care was taken to make sure that whatever was set out would not need to be altered the following day, regardless of the conditions. At one point it went extremely dark and we had a short, sharp, heavy shower of rain. It was around this time that I noticed my 90 exhaust pipe rattling a little bit more than normal. I climbed under to examine and found that the recently fitted rear-pipe had not only come away from the centre silencer – but had broken from the rear silencer. This meant the rear pipe was only hanging on by two brackets. So when the setting out was completed we went to Steve’s, got some wire and did a temporary fix on the exhaust pipe. It was certainly good enough to get us through the next day trial, as my niece Natalie would be competing in the 90.
Sunday morning and the weather is nice. When I arrived at the venue and were already a couple of vehicles waiting outside to be let in. One of them was Ryan Vince with his dad Nick and on a trailer they had another 80 inch. This was a leaf sprung one and it turns out it was a Covid project. It was also the trials vehicle of the late MROC Member Andrew Neaves, who had owned for many years. My brother Jim was also competing in our red 80” – so it was nice to have two Series ones there.
We split into two groups and started. My group includes Jim and his daughter Natalie, Dave Ball, Ben Lawton and Nick and Ryan Vince. In the other group were the Lewis’s, Dave Burns, Mark Howell and Blythe Garner. So that meant we had six in each group.
Also with us was Jim’s stepdaughter Rebekah and it was her first time at one of our events. She was sitting in with Jim, Natalie and Dave Ball. Also before we started Ryan Vince’s wife arrived with their four children, as the venue is only a few minutes drive from their home. Nick Vince did say that he used to be a member of the club nearly 40 years ago and it was his first time with us for quite a while, as he now lives in Wales. I said I hope he has a nice day and he told me that Ryan had said that our events were really nice. (Thanks Ryan)
My group started on section F and Steve’s group started on section A. Dave Ball got off a really good start clearing all 4 of the morning’s sections. As did Nick and Ryan Vince. Natalie picked up a one on the first section and an unfortunate six and section H on a little slippy rise. Jim was finding out that we definitely need to get some new tires for the 80, but considering how worn they were, he still had a good start of the day – except for the eight on what was our second section!
Ben Loughton only picked up point on the first section and cleared the other four. In the other group starting on section A, Dave Adam and Ethan Lewis all cleared the first four sections but Dave and Adam picked up two points on section E, where Ethan cleared it. Dave Burns got caught out on the first section where he picked the wrong line in between gates five and four causing him to pick up four points. Dave Ball also had the same issue with this when we did section after lunch. Blythe cleared 4 out the five morning sections just picking up a 7 on section D and Mark Howell also picked up six on section D.
After lunch and it was time to swap over sections and again there were a few points being picked up but also quite a few clears. Dave and Adam cleared all the afternoon sections but Ethan picked up two points on section H. Dave Burns cleared all the afternoon sections and Blythe and Mark both picked points up on sections G and H.
In my group Jim had a good run clearing 4 out the five sections, picking up just three points on section E. Natalie cleared two sections picking up twos and ones on the other sections. Ben Lorton cleared for the five sections, but the lead was definitely between Ryan and his dad Nick. Unfortunately for Ryan, on the first section after lunch, clipped a two, leaving his dad in the lead. When all the scores were added up at the end of the day, Nick Vince had cleared every section and Ryan had scored just two points. So had Dave, Adam and Ethan.
Ben Loughton has scored just three points clearing seven out of the nine sections. Dave Ball was on five points and cleared seven out of the nine sections. I would like to thank everybody who competed and for their kind comments about the sections, considering the amount of rain we’ve had leading up to the event. Everybody had a nice day and Nick said he would definitely like to come to another one of our events.
