WOOLBRIDGE Motor Club saw two double-driven vehicles at the heart of a ferocious battle for overall honours in their Autotechnics Trophy Trial contest, which took place at Hogcliff Farm, near Maiden Newton.

The race brought about a stern competition which saw a saloon and a sports car vying for the overall win which Weymouth’s John Kirby eventually claimed.

The ultra-dry ground conditions provided close competition with one or two penalty marks or errors destined to differentiate the winner and the runners-up, and so it proved.

The first round of six tests saw most competitors accumulating penalties as they became accustomed to the levels of grip available but the Reliant Scimitar of David Robinson and Jack Selwood was amongst those who were penalty free and in fact remained that way up to the lunch break after 12 tests.

Multiple Woolbridge and British Trials Champion Mark Hoppé, who having taken victories in recent seasons with a Citroen Saxo and Dutton Melos is currently using an 1800cc Ford Fiesta.

Hoppé dropped a single point on the fourth test and two on the following section as he battled with the Bristolian Shawn Franklin, who had forsaken his Saxo to share the Fiesta drive with Hoppé.

At this stage in the event, Franklin was one point up on his rival and doubled that to two points at the end of the second round, by which time Kirby from Maiden Newton had split the pair with some spirited driving in his Citroen Saxo.

Following a number of amendments to the sections during the rest period, drivers needed to be alert at the restart and it was the first few sections of the two afternoon rounds which had a great impact upon the final result.

Sports car driver Robinson lost two points on the third and a single point on the fourth test while his partner in the Scimitar, Jack Selwood, was penalty free on test three but gained two penalty points on the next climb to take the lead in the sports car class from Robinson.

Selwood completed the fourth round without more penalties whilst Robinson fell foul of the third test again to lose two more points.

In the front wheel drive (ballasted) class, the battle raged on between Kirby, Hoppé, and Franklin, who both dropped five points on the third stanza of six tests.

This provided Kirby with a window of opportunity which he duly took advantage of dropping only three points to put himself one point up on Franklin and three on Hoppé as they commenced the final six tests.

The Fiesta drivers were still very much in the hunt for victory and Hoppé maintained the pressure with only a single penalty point from the final six climbs against Kirby, who just failed to climb two sections and collected two points to secure the class victory by a brace of points from Hoppé with Franklin slipping down the order to finish third.

The class also saw two strong drives from Citroen AX pilots Graham and Elliott Timbers who claimed the honours of best novice and best junior drivers.

Having calculated the scores using an index of the relative performances of all drivers across the classes Selwood was declared the overall victor and received the Autotechnics Trophy.

Vauxhall Corsa driver Garry Morris from Bridport won the front-wheel-drive (without ballast) class taking a win by three points from the duelling David Moss (Ford Fiesta) and Kirby at the wheel of a Corsa, who finished with an identical total of penalties.

Moss secured the runner-up position as he recorded more penalty free climbs.

CONTACT US:

t: 01305 830990

e: sport

@dorsetecho.co.uk

twitter: @Dorsetechosport