Kidderminster Motor Car Club hosted a round of the BTRDA PCT championship on Sunday the 3rd June.
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The Clubâs Wyre Forest Trial, which took place in the orchard at Hurtle Hill Farm, Heightington, near Bewdley, was a round of the 2007 BTRDA and MSA Production Car Trial Championships and the leading contenders turned up to compete in what proved to be a very closely fought contest for the overall win on index of performance.
Although there hadnât been any rain for some days and it was dry again on the day, the grass in the orchard is always âwetâ for the first couple of rounds. The hills, therefore, are always a challenge, even to the best âtriallersâ in the Country and four rounds of eight hills were planned by Clerk of the Course, Leigh Webb, to test their expertise to the full.
On to the competition then and no-one from classes A, B, and C could manage a âcleanâ on any hill on the first round. It was left to Steve Courts and Dave Oliver in the âImpsâ running at the rear of class D to post the first zeros. Lowest score on round 1 was an excellent 10 marks lost from Dave Oliver, the next best being the 27 of Steve Courts. Best of the rest were 31 from Garry Preston in class A and 39 from Malcolm Brown in class D.
At lunch, after the two morning rounds, the lowest scorers were still class D runners Dave Oliver on 20 and Steve Courts on 39. Garry Preston was still having a good day in class A with 49 marks lost, but it was Dave Oliver who led on index of performance.
The hill changes made over the lunch break continued to test the competitors through the afternoon runs and with no-one dominating the quest for âzerosâ, it was difficult to judge from which class the index winner would eventually come. Steve Courts had a particularly good third round with only 7 marks lost while Garry Prestonâs 16 maintained his lead in class A. The best scores in the final round came from the class D runners, Oliver on 1, Courts on 3 and Colin Weeks on 5, but how would this affect their performances on index?
At the end of the day, the index calculations proved how close a competition it had been with little to choose between class A, C and D. However, it was Garry Preston from class A in his Fiat 127 who took first overall and the Chesterfield House Trophy with an index of 91.46. He was closely followed by excellent performances from Dave Oliver from class D in his Imp on 93.91 (2nd O/A), our own Malcolm Brown from class C in the Westfield on 94.88 (3rd O/A) and Simon Harris from class B in his Golf on 96.75 (4th O/A).
Our congratulations go to the award winners and our thanks to all competitors who supported the event. A very big âthank youâ also goes to the marshals and officials who ensured the success of the 2007 Wyre Forest Trial.
See you all next year!