AUTUMN TRIAL 22^nd Sept 2009

Well it might not have been perfect trialing weather, but it was perfect for a nice day out in the Country Park of Burton Dassett in rural Warwickshireshire. We had a good entry of 38 competitors and in spite of it being the driest for some years, we still managed to get points off most of the competitors.

All in all, it seems you enjoyed yourselves which is what it’s all about, so whether you were a competitor or a marshal, thanks for your support, can’t have one without the other.

The major awards in our two annual trials are for MGCC members in M.G’s. However, because so few MG’s are let out to play these days, we now welcome and rely on entries from our invited clubs that we now include an award for Best Overall Performance (on raw scores), should it not be an MG.

The Allen Cup for best M.G. was won partially by default and with some surprise by novice Richard Dorney with a score of 49 in his Midget. He’s a novice no more!

The Overall Winner was Nigel Weeks in his Imp, who had a score of 22, several points ahead of the next best.

First in class awards went to:-

Class 1 - Neil Mackay (AX); Class 2/3 - Don Skelton (A7); Class 5a – Malcolm Brown (Westfield); Class 5b/6 – Carl Talbot (Buckler); Class 7a/Best Liege – Kevin Barnes; Class 7b – Keith Oakes (Dutton). This is a bit different to that announced on the day, as on further analysis it was apparent that we had enough entrants in classes 5a and 5b/6 to have separate awards.

Second in class:- Class 4 – Steve Courts (Imp); Class 7a - Paul Wheatley (Liege).

The Novice award (on index) went to Julian Lack (Liege); the best Non-Expert was Frank Buckle (AX), there were unfortunately insufficient entries for the Ladies award.

Well done to you all, we will keep you informed of the future of Midland Centre trials scene as since the loss of John Arrowsmith a couple of years ago and the recent surprise death of our Chief Marshal – Malcolm Garratt in June, the Centre is struggling to find interested folk to help organise such events.

A sign of the times perhaps, but it would be a pity to lose our trials after so many years. The Midland Centre’s first trial was in 1937 and they have continued more or less since then, apart from the 1940’s. It may be of interest that CAN May was on the organising committee in 1937 and that the “Grasshopper” Austins triumphed. The Austin 7’s in this years Autumn Trial were part of the Pre-War Austin 7 Club’s Grasshopper challenge. The Allen Cup was first used for the Autumn Trial in 1938.

Brian R. Osborn