Tweeds Sporting Trial Report
7 October 2017
The first round of the STCC Championship took place in the beautiful rolling hills of the North East coast of Ulster. Peter Flack was Clerk of the Course (COC) for the day, swapping with Michael McBratney who had, along with others, set up five excellent sections on a very good site. Although a couple of top A class competitors were missing, numbers were boosted by few new members who were made most welcome by the club.
After a fast-flowing lap one, things were tight at the top with John McKinney on 3 and leading by I point from class B leader Michael McBratney closely followed by Andrew McKinney on 5 and David Webster and Harry Barr on 6. Peter Frost was also well in the picture on7. A few small tweaks and lap 2 saw the Class B men shine with David Webster, Peter Frost and Harry Barr dropping just 2 penalties, closely followed by John and Andrew McKinney on 3 and Trevor Aston on 4. Class B driver Geoff McKay was debuting his new mount, the ex-George Burton Crossle and was quickly coming to term with the change in machinery. Relative newcomer Drew Wylie was having some technical problems with his car that would eventually lead to retirement from the event. Newcomer Alister Morrison was ‘feeling’ his way into the world of ‘mudplugging’ slowly and surely.
The COC made further changes to all sections at the rather long tea break with 2 of the 5 hills being changed at the 10 gates. This would prove to be costly for some drivers but most of the field were able to cope with the changes with the terrain being the reasons for marks lost rather than tight gates. There was no excuse for hitting a post on the day on the purposely wide sections. Lap 3 saw Andrew McKinney move into the overall lead with a superb score of 3 closely followed by Chairman Harry Barr on 5 moving into 2nd place overall and 2 points adrift. Several competitors scored big penalties on this lap although all was still to play for.
On the final lap 4, an excellent round of only 2 lost for John McKinney and an equally impressive 3 lost for Peter frost but a solid lap of 6 saw Andrew McKinney hold on to the Class A and overall win by I point from John McKinney in second. A mistake by Harry Barr in the lap cost him the Class B win with Peter Frost storming home for the class honours and a fantastic 3rd overall. Next home was the ‘consistent’ Trevor Aston and the ‘frustrated’ David Webster. Results were completed on site very efficiently and results sheets duly distributed to competitors.
Onwards and upwards to Round 2 of the Championship on 14th October at Stewart’s Farm, Cairncastle.
Thanks to the landowner Campbell Tweed and Peter Flack for COC duties
Posted by PMcCollum on 20/10/2017; Last updated by PMcCollum on 20/10/2017