Derwydd @ Disgarth Farn

Event Report

A last-minute change of venue was forced upon the team at Bala MC, and they did fantastically switch to a nearby venue, new to many. Atop a giant hill – or was it a mountain? – were 8 sections on very dry, very steep short grass with plenty of site undulations to create a challenging day.

It was a shame not more of the contenders made the trip North – but those of us that did had a fantastic event. Class 3 was numerically dominant with 7 cars – all of which were in with a chance on the day. Class 1 was back to just the 4 after Rupert managed to strongarm Dave Toft into a guest appearance in the Alto, joining my season long adversary Trevor Moffatt and local hotshot Jon Turner.

Class 2 saw new Motorsport UK champ Garry Preston make another car swap and appear with a Mini Clubman which he double-drove with Paul Myatt. The 3rd member of the exclusive class 2 was Ifan Roberts – fresh from a fantastic 2nd overall at the previous day’s trial in the venerable Cinquecento.

With 8 hills laid out Class 1 started at hill 1 and it soon showed it was going to be a close day with Trevor and Rupert matching each other point for point – but not necessarily on the same hills. Dave Toft was knocking off the rust – it’s 8 years since he trialled – and keeping them both honest. At lunch Rupert and Trevor were equal.

In Class 2 Garry was getting to grips with the 10” wheeled Mini and gradually eking out a few points on Ifan who was in turn putting in some good climbs to stay ahead of 2021 Bronze star champ Paul Myatt.

In Class 3 the battle looked like it was going the way of Aled Charles, who was on 2 at lunch, 4 up on Sion Rhisiart in the ex-Jeff Buchanan MX5 having a pair of amazing rounds – and being a couple ahead of Mark Hoppe – who thought he had done quite well!! The points were being dropped in different places on different hills – so the clerk was very pleased.

After lunch Aled Charles was running early in the order with Hoppe running at the tail and the points started to just turn back towards Hoppe, who was claiming a better score on several hills and was back on level terms. Aled then misrouted at an 11 and in an attempt to rescue the situation clipped a 10 marker – handing the lead to Hoppe who didn’t need asking twice before he quickly grabbed a few more points on the next hills and in the end secured the overall win with an 8 point margin.

Double driving with Aled was Will Rowlands who really got to grips with the car and had a great afternoon to come in 2nd in class ahead of John Charles, Sion Rhisiart, Ian Nute and Nigal Jones.

In Class 1 the battle slid towards Rupert when Trevor made a couple mistakes and handed Rupert a 5-point margin, to take a first in class.

In Class 2 Garry kept it together and headed to another class win a few points ahead of Ifan.
Overall, a fantastic event with such a mixture of sections, bumpy, smooth, loose, rocky but overall, fantastically challenging.

Some great awards for the winners and a not too late finish time – certainly trialling at its best. I for one think it rates as one of the best trials I have done in recent years with an all day challenge from both the drivers and the clerk!

The inter association was also up for grabs and resulted in a very close win for the AWMMC team over the ANWCC team. Well done to Ian Nute, Trevor Moffatt and Mark Hoppe on landing this award.

MH
8/8/22