SEAC Club Trial Mt Burr/Glencoe - 20th June 2009

The Wherearewe Trial 

Before I start the report of the event, a special thank you to the sponsors of the event; Bruhn Limestone, Hy-craft Cabinets, Linfox and Telford Constructions.
Some wise person told me that the secret to a successful event is a little stress before it happens. Well we were destined for a ripper event!
After approval was given at 4:30 pm Wednesday afternoon, the event could finally be set. Both Matt and I were ably assisted by some great volunteers, which made our job very easy, although, it was a very long day on the Friday. We had to finish the set up on Saturday morning. I would like to offer my thanks to all who helped on the night: all the controllies, passage personnel, spectator marshals and our Stewards Lionel and Neil. My two good friends, along with Matt’s wife, kept the van supplied with hot food, soup and drinks, well done also to the event secretary, and to Wendy and Jenny for their invaluable help with check in. A big thank you to Metho and Ken for being sweep and also to let them know that their application for the next navigation school has been accepted.
A special thanks to Greg and his crew from the South East Radio Group; they never say no.
Congratulations to all the crews who took part. I know that you all enjoyed the night and to see everyone home was very pleasing. It’s the first time I have ever seen that so we must be doing something right. The comments that I overheard at the spectator point were very positive and it was great to see Chris and Aaron get spectator four right. They were the only ones that did!
We were lucky to have Bill Davis to be course checker, with Dee’s help. I learnt a lot from Bill’s experience gained over the years that he has competed. Now that the event is all over, Dee will once again have a father who does not snap and be grumpy when things don’t work out the way ‘he’ thinks they should. Without Matt’s help and input the event would not have worked so well, and without Mick’s efforts to clean out the soot and cobwebs in the old Bluebird hire car, Matt’s smile would not have been so pronounced.
A very special thanks to ‘Nanna Helen’. Although she doesn’t mind getting behind the wheel of the 4WD, she is still not sure about the green mossy roads or pot holes hidden in the bracken ferns. Again, a big thanks to all who helped. I can assure you that we had a ball, both setting and running this event.
Regards, Poppy Tom

The Wherearewe Trial Report 

The Wherearewe Trial, directed by Tom Telford, was conducted in the Glencoe/ Mt Burr/ Wandilo forest areas on Saturday the 20^th of June. The fast flowing white metal roads, with their greenish tinge, made for some very interesting driving for the nine crews that completed on the night. The event consisted of five competitive sections with a total of 120 km, with a total of 30 km transport.
A large number of spectators were treated to four spectator points, one of which with the cars passing twice in short succession, while another point was a very hard to see sharp left hand turn. Only one crew managed to get it right the first time, with all other crews treating the spectators to some thrills with their overshoots.
The A grade crew of Ross Shepherd/Ken Moore were first home ahead of Chris Beimans/Aaron Bowering. Close behind in third were Jason Sims/Bev Shute ahead of Peter Becker/Ian Hutchesson taking out fourth. Adam Branford with his regular navigator on the sick list, teamed with his state round driver Paul Heenan came in fifth, only one minute ahead of Michael Smaling and speedway driver Anthony Beare in a rather loud Falcon. The Smaling/Beare crew were first in B grade. The brothers Becker, Adam and Dion were second B grade in seventh, while Bob Brown and Phil Wilson came eighth in their EB Falcon. Only a mere seven seconds behind were Simon Feil/Kevin Raedel who completed the event in ninth. There was only 21 minutes between the first and last crews, which made for a great but even event.
A big thanks to all who the volunteers who helped the directors Tom Telford and Matt Pritchard with the running of the event.
Poppy Tom