Sunday 30^th October saw the final unsealed surface event of the season, with Daniel Morgan, of Island PC Services, and Neil Glasbey neck and neck for the title the challenge was on. The complete opposite of the event 2 weeks prior at the very same venue as the rain God had given us wet weather for the last fortnight. Very slippery under foot and with a forecast of rain further into the day the dust of the last event was long forgotten.

Andy Williams started the proceedings, getting grip on the slurry was going to be the key to a good time.  With a time of 1:14.89 you could tell Andy had the bit between his teeth. 

The only two to get anywhere near Andy were Martyn Cutler with a 1:16.48 and Neil Glasbey with 1:16.93. Dan Morgan was feeling the pressure as he battled with a sticking throttle, causing a minor coming together with cone and soil causing the tyre to leave the rim. Run over for Dan and round 1 to Neil.

With a patched up car Dan showed his mettle recording a 1:15.49 followed swiftly with a 1:12.61. Now it was Neil who would feel the pressure as his following three times all recording time faults for hitting cones. In fact his 4^th run involved more than just a cone as Neil tried to reshape the front of his mighty Mk2 Golf by adding some concrete girders! Andy Williams efforts to try and keep Morgan honest were dashed when he picked up a puncture on his third run At the half way point Dan was sailing pretty, top of the leaderboard and poised to take the trophy for consecutive years, leaving his rivals hacked off.

Meanwhile the battle for fastest lady was hotting up, at the midway point Vicky Cox best time was 1:19.74 and Rebecca French 1:19.47. The battle lines had been drawn and the coveted award of fastest lady of the day was being hotly contested.

Daryl Turner was also trying to reshape the little red MX5 by drifting into banks and Paul Wills had a go at 4×4 trialling with his MX5 as he tried to mount a bank of rubble.

The slippery conditions were proving very difficult for everybody to master. Turn your head for a second and you would miss a moment of pure glory and amusement.

Back at the top Dan was sitting pretty, nobody had told Darren Taylor the fairytale though. Taking his first ever victory at the last event Darren again popped up with a 1:10.66 to push Dan Morgan back down the table and put himself on top of the tree. Andy Williams had also got to grips with both surface and machinery and he also put himself above Dan with a clean 1:12.20. Neil was struggling, the times were just not coming for him, perhaps it was a little too soon to be racing cars after a bicycle accident earlier in the week.  With his last run Neil recorded a 1:13.59 but it was never going to be good enough to catch Morgan on the day.  Dan, pushing for victory launched the Golf off a bank and was lucky not to roll as it took a very big hit. Returning with a damaged rear beam axle the victory was easing away. Darren could not improve on his table topping time so it was left to Dan with a damaged car to try and snatch the victory. A gallant effort took second place away from Andy with a time of 1:12.08 but was nowhere near enough to threaten first place.

And so the day drew to a close, Darren Taylor once again victorious. Darren will be one to watch out for next season as his times have improved tenfold.  

Dan Morgan taking the Unsealed Surface championship by four points from Neil Glasbey. A closely fought battle that went right to the wire.Well done Dan! Andy Williams finishing both third on the day and in the final standings with 228 points.

Vicky Cox eventually ran out victor as the fastest lady with a very respectable 1:15.47 leaving her in 7^th place on the day. Vicky also takes fastest lady of the championship finishing with 203 points, just 6 points in front of Rebecca French. It is nice to see so many ladies competing this year, long may it continue.

The end of another unsealed championship, closely fought battles, entertaining moments and a lot of drifting from the RWD boys. Looking forward to next season already, bring it on!

I  must thank all the marshals that dedicate their time to these events, without you we could not operate. If there was a podium for marshals then Phil Munday would have scooped it this weekend doing three stints throughout the day. Well done Phil, if you put as much skill into driving as you do marshalling one day you will be at the top of the report for opposite reasons 😉

Next event is the double header Healey weekend, Saturday 12^th November at BAE systems and Sunday 13^th at the IOW College. Another closely fought battle to be settled between Dan Morgan, Dave Goodwin and Dave Dutch. Not one to miss!

See you all there.

Knighton top 5

Darren Taylor 1:10.66

Dan Morgan 1:12.08

Andy Williams 1:12.20

Martyn Cutler 1:12.54

John Dutch 1:13.38

Final championship standings

Dan Morgan  244

Neil Glasbey  240

Andy Williams 228