Stuart Tizzard searches for grip
Long Compton
historic trial
Trialing in the rain
In mid-May , a fabulous entry of over 60 contenders was taken for the ever-popular Long Compton venue . Paul Lawrence reports
After the dry and dusty conditions of the Ron Faulkner trial , mid-May brought rather more usual ground conditions as heavy rain in the run up to the event ensured plenty of mud . The rain persisted through the two morning runs and as the grass disappeared so did much of the remaining grip . However , the sun made a brief appearance after lunch and grip levels started to improve for the third and final round of seven long and interesting hills from the Midland Trials Car Club . Making their trials debut were Jonathan and Sam Lewis in an immaculate Cannon , while Grahame White was back to share his car with Tim Barrington within a bumper entry . Making a welcome visit to see what it was all about were Motorsport UK Chairman David Richards and former Le Mans and F1 racer Jackie Oliver .
The historic contest was firmly between two grandees of sport trials as Ian Wright and John Fack went headto-head . After 14 hills , just one point split them as Wright held the smallest of leads , but it was the third visit to hill
5 that settled it as Wright reached the 2 and Fack picked up a 5 . Though Fack cleaned all the other hills on the round , Wright took it by 3 marks .
Kiel Wright shared his father ’ s Cannon to take third in the historic division , while Mitch Wood and Andy Wolfe shared their Cannon and ended the day level on 40 points . Despite tying on the day , they scored differently on 11 of the 21 hills . Paul Faulkner matched
Martyn Halliday ( right ) with David Richards and Jackie Oliver
them on 40 marks for the day . An emphatic post-historic victory went to the Facksimile of Dave Oliver , who dropped just 10 marks all day and cleaned the third lap . Sandy Veale ( Kincraft ) pipped Andrew Gowen ( Facksimile ) for second by a single point while Steve Courts was back in fourth after , by his own very high standard , an average first round .
It had been another great event in typical trials conditions and with excellent marshalling and slick organisation , it was a great advert for the sport as the early summer break starts .
Chris Atkinson and Janice Snell
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