The Mel Harrison sidecar national, the ninth in the series, ran on without a hitch after after weeks of heavy rain on Sunday at Kingstone Farm, Fellbeck. The twenty-eight crews applied themselves to the task admirably and were rewarded by opportunities to take points that will keep the championship alive. In the Experts Championship class Jon Tuck and Matt Sparkes showed real class throughout the thirty seven sections. Their Wessex TRS just stopping in three sections, one of which, Holly Tree, stopped the entire entry when a huge step with little juggling room had them all beaten. But Norman Shepherd let all the riders complete their first lap then moved in with a serious farming implement in the form of one of Mr JCB's toys, to, as he put it "Tune the section slightly." After the first lap Norman Shepherd moved in with serious artillery, a large digger, and tuned the section: Result? "Large Rock 0, JCB 1"
The second lap action started in the stream where the line up the south bank was right on the edge of toppling with chair high and rider down below. William Caine and Beth Thomas were very tidy but the big rock right on the exit line toppled the GWW Gas Gas and driver and passenger almost took a dip, but no harm done and they were soon up and on their way. There were three sections near the Holly Tree, before a 400-yard climb up to the rock escarpment where John Hinchliffe and Martin Jackson braved the cool wind, even in the sunshine. There the fourth section was a climb across a rock strewn hillside with slick grass that Oliver Lace and Ealish Baxter as well as Chris and Robert Pickard failed, Josh and Luke Golding worked their own magic (aided by TRS!) to salvage a dab. Then came the fifth, a totally different problem, where the clubman drove up the grass on the east side of the large rocks and the hard route skirted the same rock but on the opposite side of the great rock lump. The last few feet were the the sting in the tail that needed careful setting up for. Tuck and Nigel Crellin and Chris Molyneux had been the sole cleans on the first lap.
The Inters were on the other flank and cleaned all the way while the clubman followed the sameline. Nigel and Gracie –Mae Scott clipped a section flag and were judged to have taken the marker out and copped a five which stung just a little. Rob Shepherd was on the sixth section in Russell Plantation where a natural heather lined switchback section did not trouble the clubmen. Caine and Thomas dropped a mark but David Tuck and Joe Newman had problems - indeed their trial ended seven sections later when the sidecar brake jammed. Some said the brake would have cooled and eased but then it could have been something mechanical and permanent so they parked up at the fifteenth and joined the ranks of spectators.
Section seven and eight were on the moor where the exposed rocks hosted many an event. Oliver Lace was the only failure on lap one while the front runners ran clean. The final two sections in the dense wooded area were savage with a big drop-off in section ten. Only championship leaders Nigel Crellin and Chris Molyneux nailed that section on lap one. The Inters and Clubmen in the main cleaned their line but Damien Owen and Gaz Temple dropped a mark. Down in the pasture land came the final two section sections. Observer Julia Rose had to give the multitude of riders-cum-rock-kicking gardeners a ‘get cracking’ warning. The last three yards of the rocky climb were hard with one large unavoidable rock right on the exit line which Josh Golding and Chris Pickard found the very hardest way. Crellin’s dab and Oliver Lace’s two were the class standards while Jon Tuck sufficed with some leg power. The two remaining Inters failed while the majority of Clubmen were line perfect.
The full results, thanks to punch card scoring were out within half an hour and awards presented a great credit to the organising club. All in all a fine day of sport for which the series sponsor, Wessex Plant, deserves justified thanks.
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