NEWS
Golightly Gets His Revenge at the John Harris Trial
Tuesday 10 March 2015
Members can now download Provisional Results from the John Harris Trial, which took place this past weekend alongside our Derbyshire Tour, both based at Ashover Village Hall Near Matlock.
The sun shone on the VSCC for our annual pilgrimage to the Peak District for the ever-popular John Harris Trial, again led by Joint Clerks of the Course, Steve Fathers and Andrew Staples. Regular Trials Competitors themselves, they know the makings of a fun and challenging event and thus it proved with a total of 14 sections on the day, based within the familiar sights of Beeley, Dudwood Forest and Butts Quarry amongst others.
As has been the tradition during the current organisers’ tenure, the day began at the ideal and welcoming surroundings of Ashover Village Hall, where the mandatory Scrutineering process was carried out and Tina Fathers and Cheryl Staples – the ‘better halves’ of our intrepid leaders – managed the seamless administration and signing-on process for Competitors and their crews. They were supported by Ben, Jane, Kerry and Rosie Wildsmith, who arranged the always well-received refreshments, including bacon rolls in the morning and local real ale and nibbles for the end of the day, raising an impressive £750 including Gift Aid for the Alzheimer’s Society (visit www.alzheimers.org.uk for more information). We thank them for their efforts.
Provisional Results from the day indicate another closely-fought contest across the classes. David Rushton again found himself amongst the top three Standard Short Wheelbase entrants in his MG M Type, although was unable to repeat his class-winning performance of the Exmoor, as David Johnson took his Austin 7 Chummy to victory ahead of the always competitive Frazer Nash Interceptor of David Leigh. However, Dennis Bingham did continue his great start to the Trials Season as he won the Standard Long Wheelbase Class for the second event in a row in his Ford Model A, examples of the popular machine filling the top seven places.
Not unexpectedly, the Modified and Special cars fared better in the scoring stakes again. Reigning Long Wheelbase Champion, Paul Jeavons returned to form in the Vauxhall 30-98 to find himself back on top of the class and winner of the Patrick Marsh Trophy. John Fack continued a strong start to his season in the Ford Model A Special with a second place finish, whilst Jo White put on a 1st Class award-winning display in her family’s Riley 12/4 Special for third.
But it was the Short Wheelbase cars, which again proved to get the better of the challenging conditions under wheel. Amongst the 1st Class award winners, there was a fantastic result for Alexandra Milne-Taylor in her AJS Sports. Frazer Nash will be pleased to see Philip Tillyard earn some all-important Intermarque Trophy points with third place in his 1930 Super Sports, just behind a familiar pairing at the top of the standings; following a most narrow defeat at last month’s Exmoor Fringe Trial, David Golightly got his revenge with a dominant performance, dropping only 9 points all day in his Ford Model T, to take the Dick Batho Trophy ahead of Donald Skelton’s Austin 7 Sports.
After the excitement of Saturday, there was a much more relaxed atmosphere, as 21 crews took part in our Derbyshire Tour, organised again by John Higgs and team. Whilst the weather was not quite on par with the preceding day, it did not deter the participants, who enjoyed a wonderful day following either the long or short routes on offer, taking them through the stunning countryside of North Derbyshire. An extra arranged tour of the Engine House at Middleton Top was a most welcome addition to this popular complement to a Vintage weekend of motoring.
Our thanks go to Steve Fathers, Andrew Staples, John Higgs and their teams for hosting another excellent edition of the John Harris Trial and Derbyshire Tour. We also thank the weekend’s other officials and also the many volunteer Marshals, who again gave up their time to oversee the events, whilst we re-iterate our thanks to Ben Wildsmith and his family for their catering efforts at Ashover.
To download Provisional Results of the John Harris Trial, please visit the Event Page (CLICK HERE), where a selection of photos from the event are also now available to view in the gallery. Photos from Sunday's Tour can be seen at is Event Page (CLICK HERE)
As has been the tradition during the current organisers’ tenure, the day began at the ideal and welcoming surroundings of Ashover Village Hall, where the mandatory Scrutineering process was carried out and Tina Fathers and Cheryl Staples – the ‘better halves’ of our intrepid leaders – managed the seamless administration and signing-on process for Competitors and their crews. They were supported by Ben, Jane, Kerry and Rosie Wildsmith, who arranged the always well-received refreshments, including bacon rolls in the morning and local real ale and nibbles for the end of the day, raising an impressive £750 including Gift Aid for the Alzheimer’s Society (visit www.alzheimers.org.uk for more information). We thank them for their efforts.
Provisional Results from the day indicate another closely-fought contest across the classes. David Rushton again found himself amongst the top three Standard Short Wheelbase entrants in his MG M Type, although was unable to repeat his class-winning performance of the Exmoor, as David Johnson took his Austin 7 Chummy to victory ahead of the always competitive Frazer Nash Interceptor of David Leigh. However, Dennis Bingham did continue his great start to the Trials Season as he won the Standard Long Wheelbase Class for the second event in a row in his Ford Model A, examples of the popular machine filling the top seven places.
Not unexpectedly, the Modified and Special cars fared better in the scoring stakes again. Reigning Long Wheelbase Champion, Paul Jeavons returned to form in the Vauxhall 30-98 to find himself back on top of the class and winner of the Patrick Marsh Trophy. John Fack continued a strong start to his season in the Ford Model A Special with a second place finish, whilst Jo White put on a 1st Class award-winning display in her family’s Riley 12/4 Special for third.
But it was the Short Wheelbase cars, which again proved to get the better of the challenging conditions under wheel. Amongst the 1st Class award winners, there was a fantastic result for Alexandra Milne-Taylor in her AJS Sports. Frazer Nash will be pleased to see Philip Tillyard earn some all-important Intermarque Trophy points with third place in his 1930 Super Sports, just behind a familiar pairing at the top of the standings; following a most narrow defeat at last month’s Exmoor Fringe Trial, David Golightly got his revenge with a dominant performance, dropping only 9 points all day in his Ford Model T, to take the Dick Batho Trophy ahead of Donald Skelton’s Austin 7 Sports.
After the excitement of Saturday, there was a much more relaxed atmosphere, as 21 crews took part in our Derbyshire Tour, organised again by John Higgs and team. Whilst the weather was not quite on par with the preceding day, it did not deter the participants, who enjoyed a wonderful day following either the long or short routes on offer, taking them through the stunning countryside of North Derbyshire. An extra arranged tour of the Engine House at Middleton Top was a most welcome addition to this popular complement to a Vintage weekend of motoring.
Our thanks go to Steve Fathers, Andrew Staples, John Higgs and their teams for hosting another excellent edition of the John Harris Trial and Derbyshire Tour. We also thank the weekend’s other officials and also the many volunteer Marshals, who again gave up their time to oversee the events, whilst we re-iterate our thanks to Ben Wildsmith and his family for their catering efforts at Ashover.
To download Provisional Results of the John Harris Trial, please visit the Event Page (CLICK HERE), where a selection of photos from the event are also now available to view in the gallery. Photos from Sunday's Tour can be seen at is Event Page (CLICK HERE)
