Mud, mud, glorious mud
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood
So follow me, follow, down to Knighton
And there let us wallow in glorious mud
Round 10 being an USS event was originally scheduled to be at the ever popular Atherfield, however, due to a very wet start to autumn the flat grass field became flooded and a last minute venue change was required. Thankfully the owners of Knighton sandpit are always accommodating and the day was saved.
With the bad weather and change of venue, the number of competitors was a little disappointing but the competition and action was still fierce.
Josh Finch was the only car in class 2 and was driving his MGF, gaining 50 class points and 42 overall points. Josh not only enjoyed a day of grass roots motor sport but also went home with plenty of points towards his championship total.
Marion Brett and Steve Brett were also the only competitors in class 3, however not the only classic mini, as Dan Young was campaigning his newly acquired class 5 autocross classic mini.
Steve Glass should have also been in class 5 in his highly anticipated rear engine Fiat Cinquecento, however, quite wisely chose not to perform its initial shake down at Knighton. Instead he used his trusty Toyota Corolla, he was joined in class 4 by Steve Wells sharing Ricky Sheppard’s 205, with the latter claiming class honours.
Chris Lee struggled to master the twisty course in his class 5 special and incurred quite a few wrong tests for not driving around the course in the right order. He went, however, not as spectacularly wrong as Dan Young who after queuing up and watching (or apparently not) each car start ahead of him turn left, he turned right. As funny as this was for the spectators Dan soon mastered the course and was challenging Andy Williams in his class 5 special for the overall lead of the event.
Not a single competitor finished the day without either a wrong test, time penalty or a DNF and every point was hard earned in these challenging conditions.
After the final run, Steve Brett took possession of the 3rd step of the podium with Andy Williams in 2nd. Dan Young wowed his peers by taking his first event win with an astonishing 1.43 second lead and celebrated by drinking his Champagne from his wellington boot.
The next event is also the final Unsealed Surface event of the year and will also be held at Knighton Sand pit on the 22nd of October.