Geoff Twigg and Graham Carter continued their victorious run by achieving best scratch performance and maximum Azorie/HRCR championship points on the Targa Rusticana on 2nd September. From 70 starters, the winners on the event's traditional handicap system were Frank Fennell and Kevin Savage from Twigg & Carter. Other non-championship competitors in the leading positions were Mini crews Peter Barker/Willy Cave and John Larkin/David Holmes who finished 3rd and 4th. The event's new single day format proved very popular and was still a real challenge to cars and crews. Particularly tough were the long tests in the Builth Wells Showground and the many miles of regularity on loose forest roads.
Ann Locks navigated Andy Gibson's MGBGT to 5th overall for second placed championship points, beating fellow post-historics Richard Hudson-Evans/Lee Vincent who were 7th in the RS2000. Colin Hewitt & Andrew Swann brought their Vitesse home 8th. Newcomers Challenge crews, Brian Hodgkins/Steve Freeman (Mini) and Terry & Sue Pickering (Healey 3000), had very good results, finishing 11th and 12th overall respectively to consolidate their positions in the Challenge.
Despite being fastest on the tests, a missed code board dropped Worth Birkill/Dave Harris to 16th overall. Worth needed a better score to maintain his challenge on the Championship and may now have to settle for second place to Geoff Twigg.
Graham Carter has displaced Stan Appleton to take the lead in the Navigators championship, but this may be short lived, as Graham is unable to do the next round, the Ilkley Jubilee on 17th September. Hodgkins and Freeman hold their lead in the Newcomers Challenge, where the most active crews are now dropping scores as only the best 5 are counted.
Visit the official website of the 27th Targa Rusticana