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Berwick Classic - 1
May 2011
Report
- Stuart Bankier Photos - Ian Bell
 Archie
and Richard Simmonds clocked up another convincing win in the Midget on
the recent Berwick Classic thirty eight seconds ahead of the RS2000 of
Stuart & Linda Cariss. Third only four seconds in arrears were
the Willie Thompson Jnr and William Thompson Snr in their Hillman
Avenger.
Run this year as a one day event with
fourteen tests and one short regularity the event attracted 41 crews
for the 120 mile run through North Northumberland, Berwickshire and
East Lothian.
Test 1, Shoreswood, was only a short
run from the start in Berwick upon Tweed. The Simmonds were quickest on
1.25 from the Cariss’s and the Thompson’s on 1.28
setting the pattern for the day but several crews were already in
trouble. Stephen and Daniel Place “T-boned” a barn
in their MGBGT 200 yards into the test severely crumpling the front end
whilst Sue and Tom Hynd did a wall of death in their Fiat 127 later in
the test and came to a halt resting on their side. Not to be outdone
Ross Butterworth and Bob Hargreaves tried to copy them in their Escort
Mexico and lost thirty seconds stuck in a ditch.
By
Test 2 at Sunwick the red mist had evaporated a little and the Simmonds
were again quickest but this time by a second from
Butterworth/Hargreaves and the RS2000 of John Bertram and Nial
Thompson. By now the route was taking crews due north and the third
test was at Langton Lees just north of Duns where crews started on a
gravel track which lead though a farm steading to a tarmac uphill
stretch complete with a long hairpin bend. Here the Simmonds stopped
the clocks on 2.27 from Butterworth/Hargreaves and the RS2000 of Danny
Robinson and Sam Wainwright.
Test 4 was another
farmyard affair where the Simmonds and the Cariss’s tied and
the event then moved to a tarmac test in the car park at Torness
Nuclear Power Station where the marshals were supplemented by four
armed guards carrying sub machine guns. This time it was the
Cariss’s and Butterworth/Hargreaves that tied on 48 with a
host of crews on 49.
The regularity came next with
two timing points and two passage controls on a twisty forest section
originally built for a rally school. Despite the low average speed even
the Mexico of Butteworth/Hargreaves dropped 27 seconds from the Anglia
of Nigel Cardale and Peter Littlefield on 32 and several crews on 38.
One further test followed before lunch at Scoughall where several crews
just beat the target included the much abused MGBGT V8 of Land-Rover
maestro Ronnie Dale accompanied by his nephew Sandy. More accustomed to
off roading in Africa Ronnie had blown the cobwebs off the old MG,
which has been in the family since new, and was setting some
competitive times whilst rebuilding the car on the way round. The Dales
were eventually to take the award for the most entertaining crew.
Lunch
in the delightful village of Athelstaneford followed where results
quickly showed that the Simmonds had already built up a commanding
lead. However over a dozen crews were setting very competitive times
and as well as the quick Escorts the Minis of Tot & Maureen
Dixon and Dougie Humphrey/Josh Davison were snapping at their heels all
the way.
The afternoon was a very concentrated
affair with eight tests in fairly close proximity to each other and
ranging from car parks and farm steadings to long farm tracks across
open countryside. In the category for pre 1960 cars David and Roger
Loveys had built up a commanding lead in their Allard K1 Sport from the
TR3 of Ralph and Paul Miller. Test 7 fell to the Simmonds and Test 8 at
Sydserf several crews beat the target. Balgone Barns was a bit more
challenging and Bertram/Thompson threw caution to the winds and really
wound the RS up to take a second from the Simmonds Midget. Crauchie was
next using a long abandoned concrete track on the perimeter of East
Fortune airfield, originally home to airships in the First World War
and now home to Concorde. The marshals at the end of this test having
to dive for cover when
a front wheel from the Arkley
SS of William Jackson and Chris Hardie made a bid for freedom as they
slowed for the stop line. Luckily bush repairs got them underway none
the worse for their experience. The Simmonds again extended at their
lead on this test but Humphrey/Davison were only a second down on them.
A quick runback down the coast took crews back into
Dunbar for three of the last four tests. Hughes Yard saw the Simmonds
quickest on the gravel test before moving onto the tight tarmac test at
the former municipal caravan site on the links nestling between the
golf course and the tennis club. A favourite of many crews the narrow
tarmac road snakes around the links where it is too easy to put a wheel
on the grass and spin off across the beautifully manicured lawns. Not
surprisingly the Simmonds set the time to beat but Bertram/Thompson
equalled them and several crews were only a second down. Howdens Yard
was the final Dunbar test where the Simmonds again set the pace.
The
final test, South Belton, just off the A1 saw a dramatic end to the
event. As the Simmonds Midget pulled off the start line there was an
ominous clunk from the gearbox and the car coasted to a halt as Archie
searched frantically for a gear. After a nail biting ten seconds it
snicked into seconds and off they went. Not surprisingly they
weren’t fastest on this test and luckily it involved no
reversing as second was the only gear working. Tot and Maureen Dixon
were quickest on 1.35 from Stuart and Linda Cariss and Dougie
Humphrey/Josh Davison on 1.37 with the Simmonds languishing just inside
the top ten on 1.44.
Results were quickly worked out
at the finish whilst crews had an excellent carvery meal. Archie and
Richard Simmonds had clocked up another convincing and popular event
with an amazing sequence of test times in their Midget. All the more
amazing given Archie’s two broken fingers sustained in an
accident at work earlier in the week. Returnees to classic events after
two years of Formula 1400 Stuart and Linda Cariss were very pleased
with their second overall in an RS2000 whilst locals William Thompson
Jnr and William Thompson Snr were equally chuffed with third in their
Avenger only four seconds in arrears.
Results:
| Posn | Car | Driver | Co-Driver | Car | Time | | 1 | 33 | Archie
Simmonds | Richard Simmonds | MG
Midget | 17:22 | | 2 | 37 | Stuart Cariss | Linda Cariss | RS2000 | 18:00 | | 3 | 38 | William Thompson Jnr | William Thompson Snr | Avenger | 18:04 | | 4 | 18 | Dougie Humphrey | Josh Davison | Cooper S | 18:05 | | 5 | 34 | Andrew Burns | Mike Ogram | Escort Mexico | 18:27 | | 6 | 25 | Tot Dixon | Maureen Dixon | Mini | 18:35 | | 7 | 39 | Ross Butterworth | Bob Hargreaves | Escort Mexico | 18:50 | | 8 | 29 | Graeme Galloway | Jeff Malthouse | Ford Anglia | 19:00 | | 9 | 12 | David Marsden | Mike Garstang | Cortina GT | 19:20 | | 10 | 26 | Trevor Barnes | Andrew Smith | Rover 2000 | 19:50 |
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| Updated 17 May 2011
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