The Trial to beat all Trials. The quarry, in the Caroni Arena Forest, is either bone dry or knee deep in mud. Today it was knee deep.
The quarry affords many vantage points as shown in the photo above.
The course was easy enough...
Just start at the top left and make it all the way across!
Number were drawn and off they went. The photos that follow give a little taste of some of the competitors driving styles. Many thanks to John Lyder and Rick de Souse for the excellent shots.
Talking of John here he is in action.
Check out the mud on the front bumper. It didn't take him long to get really
dirty.
But what everyone really was really taking about was John's activities a little
later.
What were you up to John?
The other photographer, Rick de Sousa, put in an excellent
performance in his Toyota as these shots show...
But like everyone else except for one, he came to a a sticky end right here.
The man to watch, who nearly made it across before a blown
differential put him out, was Roland. Check out the second shot.
He was almost out of the bog!
Roy came, saw and declined....
Shane put on a spirited performance as well...
Sham, who had "repossessed" his beloved Toyota, "bust some
style" before trying to hide behind a tree while waiting for a tow...
..then just to make sure no one had any lunch he promptly went and got seriously
stuck on a section which just a hour earlier, Tony Quintyne had been urging the
organizers to use!
Two Suzuki's couldn't pull him out so it was down to Shivanad's 15,000 pound
winch to do the job.
Taking of Shiv here he is in action...
See the "Blue Beauty" in the background? Barrie Landreth-Smith
did yeoman service all day pulling people out of the mud. Definitely the "Man of
the Match". Here's a close up...
The were lots of other competitors...check out Wellesley
posing here..
(did you notice ole "Air Up" Lyder in the background?)
"Wes" gave it his best shot but ended up being towed out
(but not before his ever loyal wife had shared a few
'thoughts" on the course with one of the organisers!)
There was Tony, determined to seek revenge after last years
showing.
.....but it wasn't to be.
He even suffered the indignity of being the only vehicle that had to be pulled
out by man power!
..check him out being consoled in this next shot..
(Is that "Air Up" Lyder trying to dazzle the camera man?)
There was the King of St. Vincent who had flown in specially
for the event....
(If the marshal was scratching his head watching some of the
other competitors antics, it was nothing compared to the look on his face when
the said Geoffrey Haddaway tried the course in two wheel drive!)
But the "King of the Mud" award definitely went to Paul Tiah.
Surprisingly he didn't make it up this slope but in the afternoon session, he positively "flew" through the course, clearing one hill which had defeated everybody. Indeed it was while doing some "flying" that he burst his axle mount on the front left and came to a jarring halt, otherwise he would probably have finished the entire section.
WELL DONE PAUL
and a very big THANK YOU to our Event's Manager
KEITH BILLOUIN for making the day a sucess.
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