Three drivers to watch
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by Derek Moses • A record entry for the final eliminating contest at Pressed Steel Fisher's Cowley plant in Oxford provided plenty of interest to spectators, and plenty of speculation as to whether the Lorry Driver of the year would hail from the Oxford contest. Unfortunately, one thing was overlooked-the simple equation Oxford plus Moses = rain, and a steady downpour somewhat damped spirits in the afternoon.
There were, in fact, three drivers to watch as possible candidates for the national championship. One was R. A. Absolom, who has been a consistently good performer for some years. Mr. Absolom won his Class (El) ) with only 62 penalty points conceded.
The second man to watch is S. G. Shepherd, who earned a place in the finals by winning Class D with 52 points. Last year Mr. Shepherd's score of 80; points led him to Bramcote where he won Class D in the final with only 20 penalty points; he was also the champion of the Oxford eliminator.
My money, however, is on R. Ellis, who competed at Oxford for the first time, driving a Bedford articulated outfit with a box van semi-trailer of Plessey Co. Ltd. Last year Mr. Ellis 'entered the Newcastle-under-Lyme round when he was driving for Howard Tennens Transport and came third in Class G with 112 points.
On Sunday Mr. Ellis won Class H with 79 penalty points. In the run-off to select the champion driver of the day, he improved 71 per cent over his first go at the driving tests and became champion with a -score" of 34 after a superb performance. The driving tests only are taken into account when determining the Oxford champion and Mr. Ellis scored 58 in this part of the competition.