Historic Plum Pudding Sporting Trial
Sunday 29th December 2024
Plum Pudding 24 Historic Trial Overall Results Amended
Plum Pudding 24 Historic Trial H Class Results Amended
Plum Pudding 24 Historic Trial PH Class Results Amended
It’s a testimony to the popularity of the trials site at Buriton Woods that it attracted a record 64 entries for this year’s Plum Pudding event, of which 44 were in the Historic class & 22 in the Post-historic, with cars coming from as far afield as Cornwall and the Lake District. In the event there were 6 non-starters but it was still a very healthy entry which bodes well for our sport in 2025. With 30+ more cars using the other side of the woods for the modern 750 Club trial, the size of the entry made parking a challenge for all. Surprisingly, though, for the most part the trial flowed well for most of the day despite the huge numbers which shows that drivers have finally learned the art of getting ready to rumble before the previous driver has finished his/her climb, and for the most part they are even managing to keep themselves in number order. Hallelujah!
A couple of car changes were noted. David Bowles and Kevin Pestell were out in the very lovely ex-Mark Howse continuation Cannon and were having to cope with interior fiddle brakes for the first time. David, in particular, adapted very quickly and turned in a very creditable performance over the day. Ian Veale, a multiple winner in both Sporting and Historic Sporting trials and of course part of the team that has responsible for so many good trials over the years, has purchased Martyn Halliday’s Cannon which he plans to share with son Josh.
This year the going was very different from the past two Plum Puddings. In 22 & 23, the sections were best tackled with a gentle right foot where flow and exactly the right pace was more important than outright speed, and not spinning up was critical. This year, the leaves were very damp indeed as was the soil below and the sections were long and relatively straight, so a fair amount of speed was needed almost everywhere. I know that speed is a relative term when applied to sporting trials cars, but nonetheless it was true to say that a fair amount of forward motion had to be achieved without excessive wheelspin on almost every part of every section. Even Ian Wright was caught out in the first round, perhaps seduced by the 120bhp/7500rpm of the very healthy sounding Kincraft, only to be humbled by the leading Cannon with only 40bhp and a single gear!
One of the problems with layout was that sections 2-5 only had one sticking point, and because these were impassable the scores on these hills were broadly speaking very similar amongst drivers of the same level; it was important to pick up single marks where possible and certainly not to drop below par. Both Hill 1 & Hill 6 presented an opportunity to excel, with the winning Cannon being the only car to record a clear on both for all three rounds. At the end of Round 1 Dave Oliver was showing his usual consistency to lead the PH class on 12 marks, with John Fack ahead in Historics also on 12. Steve Courts on 13 and Richard Rowe (14) were also going well in PH with Ian Wright just behind on 16 and Richard Flanagan on 18. Mark Milne in his splendid early Cannon (19) and Jerome F and Paul Faulkner (20) were battling it out for second in Historics. Just a tad further down David Bowles (23), Chris Atkinson (23), Nigel Bennett (24) & Alex Bamberg (24) were having a right royal battle. It was very close – from 3rd down to 20th there was only a difference of 11 points. It was good to see some of the “graduates” from the training school sessions doing so well. Clive Morgan, Chris Atkinson, Sarah Flanagan and Andy Jarvis were all showing good form.
The story in the second round was similar, but Ian W controlled his right boot to put in the best PH score of 6 with Richard R and Dave O following on 9, leaving Dave in the overall class lead – just. In Historics John F extended the lead on 10 marks with Mark Milne closest on 12, but to show how close it all was between the rest of the field the scores for the round between 3rd and 20th position were separated by just 6 points.
A slightly over-long lunch break was followed by a final round where the emphasis was on keeping it tidy. A number of small tweaks had been made to the sections but the result was largely the same. A notable round was posted by Richard Rowe who managed to beat Ian W – maybe for the first time ever?? – by just one point for the round. He tied with Ian on 27 for the day and was unlucky to miss out on countback with Ian coming out on top – he certainly gave the little Honda motor plenty of exercise over the course of the day…Dave Oliver just missed out on 28. A good result was achieved by Neil Hammersley in the ex-Colin Taylor Cannon in just his third (?) PH event to finish on 55 marks – I sense some motorcycle trials experience here. Sarah Flanagan finished just one mark ahead, deservedly winning the Spirit of the Day award and showing some lovely throttle control along the way. In the Historics John Fack kept it tidy on 10 for the round and 32 for the day, with Mark Milne second on 42 despite suffering engine issues for the final 2 sections. Between 3rd and 19th the scores were separated by just 19 points.
Another challenging event from the Southsea club which was enjoyed by all. Lots of marshals, good organisation despite the confusion in the announced results and sections to have a real go at – is there a better way to blow out the Christmas cobwebs?