STACKSTEADS COMP. SAFARI.

I was in somewhat of a panic the day before Stacksteads.
Ivor had rung to say that he couldn't make it, due to having
to man the Pennine Rally/Rescue Unit. The other crew
members having gone to either the Scottish Hillrally or the
British Grand Prix.

My second call to Dave McGivern saw him working on
Sunday morning, so it was down to my third trusty lift - Keith
Normanton. When I rang him he was in none too good a
mood as he'd spent all day at Stacksteads setting up with no
help from the Lancashire side and only one other young
helper. Where are you, all you lot, you just expect it to happen

and give nothing in return. It's about time some of you did your share !!

Anyway, back to Keith; he was so annoyed that he'd decided
not to go on Sunday, but seeing I was stranded he very kindly changed

his mind and gave me a lift - Thanks Keith, that's the true Pennine spirit

for you.

We arrived to find just four comp. motor's - a dismal turnout.
Still it was one better than another local club who only got
three !! Richard Roper and Nigel Calvert were sitting out in
their deck chairs, drinking coffee and said that they weren't
bothered whether they entered or not, as they were enjoying
the weather.

However, they made an effort and a few more members gave a

hand to finish the course and the event started. Gayle
(your Treasurer) and myself did the finish line, which was
very nice sitting out in the sun. Unfortunately the clouds rolled

in and rain threatened.

Richard and Nigel broke down near to the finish and Dale
(Bottom Box Ed.) towed them back to the paddock. Gayle
asked him if he would come and pick us up if it rained, but
where was he when the heavens opened? That's right, down
in the paddock nice and dry in his motor, leaving Gayle and
I up at the finish soaked to the skin and looking like a couple
of drowned rats !!

Keith Tidswell finally rescued us having seen us on his way
back from the petrol station, but not before guffawing loudly
at our plight. We dried off during our dinner break. By this
time we had two retirements - Richard and Nigel and Richard
Sagar with a duff wiper motor. The heavy rain had made the
course like a skating rink, but at least it settled the dust.
The two gallant finishers were Richard Kershaw in his coil
sprung motor and Duncan Smith in his leaf sprung.
Many thanks to Keith and Matthew who set up on Saturday,
and everyone who pitched in on the Sunday morning to
finish the course, to the marshals and anyone who helped
clear up and tow the trailer home and finally a special thanks
to Keith for my safe journey there and back.

Joy Holland
(Membership Secretary)

STACKSTEADS '97.

It was early Saturday morning when I headed toward
Mytholmroyd to meet Matthew. When I got there he jumped
into his new 88" coiler and we set off for the Stacksteads site.
Just the other side of Bacup we caught up with Keith Tidswell
hauling the club trailer, we overtook him and shot up to the
site to open the gates so that he could have a decent run up.
We got the trailer parked and Keith said that he couldn't stay
as he was taking his son to compete in a motorbike trial that
afternoon. Me and Matthew loaded some sticks into the
backs of our motor's and made a start.

We decided to work backwards from the finish line so that
we could see anyone else arriving on the site. Being a quarry
there are some big drops on the site so we stayed well clear
of them to avoid any accidents.

Matthew decided to take a look at the long pond as it wasn't
as deep as it usually is he drove straight through. I followed
only to find that he'd got stuck across some deep ruts just at
the other side. I reversed off and got my long rope out, we
attached it to Matthew's rope and hitched it up. One gentle
pull and he was off.

No one else had turned up yet so we left the middle section
of the course and started working from the start line. The start
was a long rocky straight up the hill and into a dip before a
steep rise to the top of the quarry. Matthew suggested putting a "boggy bit" in to slow thing's down a bit across a rather flat and boring area, so we found a small marshy pond on the outskirts and ran the course through the middle. By this time we were running out of sticks so we banged in what we had left and headed back to the trailer.

Still no-one else had turned up and we were both rather
brassed off, I told Matthew that if the competitors wanted a
comp. they'd have to finnish the course themselves - so we
locked the trailer and headed home.

When I got home I went to Dale's house with my booking form
for Tong. Dale was at work so I had a chat with Gay Ie and
tole her what had gone on and that I probably wouldn't be
at the event because of it!!            

Later that night Joy phoned me up and asked if I could give
her a lift to the event as Ivor was on the Rescue Unit and
wouldn't be there. So it looked like I was going after all!!
Sunday morning and Joy arrived in her new car, we loaded
up the landy and headed for Stacksteads. When we got there
I parked my motor out of the way to make room for all the
competitor's motors !!! I grabbed my lump hammer and
walked up onto the course to help knock some more sticks
in. I found Duncan and helped him for a bit before we met up
with Dale and Keith Tidswell. As time was getting on a bit we
decided that it would be a good idea to join the course at this
point and get thing's rolling.

Once back at the carpark, Dale decided that due to the huge
turnout of four motors there would be enough time for 10 runs
and that the drivers could have a run-round before they
started.

Out of the four motors to start, the NORC motor was the first
to drop out with technical problems. Next it was Colin and
Nigel's motor which suffered "altitude sickness" and had to
be towed back to the pit's by Dale.
The others were still flying round when it began to rain, and
did it RAIN - one part of the course ended up looking like
glass!".

Richard Kershaw completed all 10 runs before lunch which
just left Duncan to finish his. As soon as he'd done everyone
rallied round and pulled all the sticks in.

This was the true Pennine spirit which was lacking on the.
Saturday !!!

Keith Normanton.

Haggate '97 - part 1

It was a wet Friday afternoon when I met Nigel on the main
road above Sowerby Bridge. When we set off my gearbox
sounded like a bag of steel ball's but it soon quietened down.
When we arrived at the site, Colin was already there so we
dodged the rain and pitched out tents. Penny arrived and we
set up the wind break and prepared the camp fire. The fire
was so hot that it melted the side of Colin's metal tray !!!
Saturday came and by the time the gymkhana was due to
start we had only 2 entries so Ivor rallied round and got most
of the spectators and officials to enter.

The first task was to reverse around a simple trials section -
just about all of us got clears on this one.

Task 2 was a row of canes with small cones on their tops.
The idea was to drive down one side of the sticks and your
passenger had to remove the cones as you went by then a
quick turnround and put the cones back on. Quite simple but
if your passenger had short arms you had to get closer to the
sticks - and if you hit any penalty points were given!!!
Next we had to reverse into three 'garages' which were
positioned next to each other - this was harder than it looked
as the garages were quite tight.

Task 4 was to reverse your towball as close to a road cone
as possible -1 was 62cm away !!!!

Then it was back to the sticks and cones for another run - this
time the driver was blindfolded !!!! So it was on with Colin's
ski-hat and hope that your passenger was a good navigator
- it was fun if nothing else (especially for the spectators who
kept having to run for cover!!!)

Next was another blindfolded bit - drive the same trial section
that we did in task 1 - another calling for good navigational
skill. Ivor got a clear then mangled his exhaust backing off
from gate 1 - ouch !!!

Last in the gymkhana was to drive a tricky trial section with
a bottle balanced on the end of a stick. This was difficult as
the gates were tight so you had to lift the stick above the
canes !!! only 2 got clears but most of us only got one point.

By K. Normanton .........part 2 to follow in the next B.Box.

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