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A cold, tough trial, with some controversy

Lots of Sun and Lots and Lots of Golds

The report starts here

There was lots of Sun and lots of gold’s and lots of sun on the Lands End. Unfortunately, not so many came Falcons way, as only Keith Oakes and Simon Groves came home with a gold.

Most Falcons elected to start from Popham, and were flagged away by Verdun Webley for a nice run through the gathering dusk to the consolidation point at Bridgewater Rugby Club. There was work for the passengers here, updating the route card with amendments, as there were problems with both Riverton and Hoskins.

The run to the first hill at Felons Oak was not without drama. The two Trojans were stopped by the roadside and Steve Potter had to retire soon after. Neil Bray heard ominous rumblings from the front of Primrose and diagnosed wheel bearing problems. He continued, but by Minehead it was so bad he had to retire. Primrose was despatched back to Hertfordshire with Arthur’s Army while Neil and Julie went down to Wilsey Down in a hire car and on to Bluehills to watch their fellow Falcons.

Felons Oak only claimed a few casualties, but Paul Weston (Liege) and Nick Wollett (Dellow Mk1) must have been disappointed this was their only failure. With Stony Street out of bounds competitors tackled Stoneless Street instead, but this wasn’t too trouble the scorer to much, although Mike Young was penalised a runback in his Austin Big 7 on his first trial for the best part of ten years.

Beggars had a restart within a chicane created by tape, causing uncertainty as to what happens if you touched it or knocked it down. Both Simon Groves and Michael Leete came very close and were relieved to see they had not been penalised when the results were published.

With Riverton out of action, Rodney’s Revenge was on the agenda, a hill familiar to some from North Devon’s events. It was a short, sharp, very steep affair, cleaned by most of the early numbers. However, like Beggars Roost it cut up badly towards the end and claimed numerous scalps amongst the later runners.

The dry conditions made both Sutcombe and Cutliffe Lane achievable for most, but Michael Leete fell foul of the restart on Darracott, which had a taped off chicane like Beggars, marshalled by Brian Alexander. Simon Robson lost his gold on Crackington, the next hill, after the engine fluffed and the 850 motor didn’t have the steam to pull the Liege through the doctored section where there had been the usual localised shower.

After Warleggan and Powells Hill (substituting for Hoskin) came Bishopwood. The yellows and reds had been dreading this. However, the usual Mickey Mouse restart was been more generous and there was the possibility to stop before the slab and get some momentum going. Keith Oakes and Simon Robson were both thrilled to get away. Peter Mountain, Geoff Hodge and Ross Nuten all picked up their only fails in the event here. Ross was later thrown excluded as Maureen was down in the program and the MCC ruled he was not allowed to change the driver.

On to the finale at Bluehills, where there did not seem to be as many spectators as usual, despite the lovely weather. Both hills were Falcon friendly, apart from BH2 where running at the back of the field Mike Young had problems with the big holes that had dug by preceding competitors.