DEAN Partington drove smoothly to earn himself the prestigious President’s Trophy at the Hardy’s Classic Trial.

Competing in the ultra-competitive Class Eight for specials, he was pitched against five other crews, all of whom had designs on winning the event, which has been the only classic trial in Dorset for more than 40 years.

Heavy rainfall in the 24 hours preceding the trial, which was a national championship qualifier, gave the drivers an added challenge.

Undeterred, the entry of more than 70 motorcycles and cars departed the start with the prospect of 13 testing observed sections utilising old county roads and farm tracks all with a steep gradient.

The object of this sporting exercise being the further up the section the vehicle goes the less penalties accrued.

All the contestants of Class Eight went clean on the first section at Telegraph Hill but the following two tests at Hogcliff ensured that all drivers had penalty scores prior to their departure to Nick’s Pits.

Green along with Paul Mason (Shopland Mk2), Ian Davis (VW Buggy) and Dorchester’s Chris Tite (Ford Jago) all dropped six points whilst Partington in his DP Wasp was a further point in arrears.

As the event progressed, all the drivers regularly added to their penalty count with the exception of Partington who only collected a further six penalties at Meerhay near Beaminster.

Such a performance netted the Wasp pilot the overall victory and the President’s Trophy by a margin of 11 points from Davis with Mason a further two points in arrears and in turn six points clear of the Gruffalo pair Mel Oliver and Stewart Green.

This was the second successive victory on the Hardy for a Wasp chassis.

Previous double winner of the trial, Dudley Sterry, was denied a hat-trick with his venerable MG J2 but, the 1930s machine was still good enough for Sterry to win the modified production car category.

The most popular class within the car divisions was that of Class O, for more standard machines, and it was this category which provided the closest battle of the event with a mere three points covering the first three finishers.

Again the sections at Hogcliff started to shape the event with Dean Tite and Dave Cheshire from Dorchester dropping the least points in their two-litre Ford Jago on the first test with the similar but smaller engined vehicle of Stephen Tite and Zak Lane just one point adrift.

On the second test it was all change with Dean dropping 11 points against Stephen Tite’s six and the consistency of John and Jenny Tite in another Jago coming to the fore with only eight penalties.

Shadowing the South Dorset drivers were the pairing of Lee Peck and Stephen Price in their 1600cc Dutton Melos.

Having taken 11 penalties at Hogcliff they would add a further 24 to finish one point ahead of Tite and Cheshire who in turn gapped Tite and Lane by two points.

Henstridge Volkswagen Beetle driver Anthony Young, with John Radford, won the rear engine class.

The four-wheel drive division also saw more local success with Simon Webb/Marcia Hodder only dropping 14 points throughout the day in their Suzuki Jimny to be rewarded with the award for the best performance by a member of the Woolbridge Motor Club.

In their wake another Bridport pairing, that of Graham Forsey and Daniel Hathaway claimed the class win in another Jimny with a total of 33 penalties.

More than 30 motorcycle entries from the Weymouth and Bridport Motorcycle Club led the cars through the sections and tests with Dorchester’s Dan Barratt claiming victory in Class A on his 350cc Matchless G3L by five points over the Royal Enfield Bullet ridden by Richard Miller from Blandford Forum.

In Class B2, an even tighter battle was enjoyed by a Dorset pairing who finished five points in arrears of the overall winner of the motorcycle event but with just a single mark splitting them.

With the event victor removed from the class results, Richard Dunning from Wareham took the class win aboard his Scorpa SY250f ahead of Weymouth rider David White who campaigned a Honda RTL250.