Champion deposed
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by Carolyn HyaMS • Liverpool has at last got a new champion driver. For the past four years J. C. Kendrick (Paraffin Distributing Co. Ltd.) has won the title but on Sunday J. Frith (Broadhurst and Co. (Gadbrook) Ltd.) edged him out of the top award by one point by winning Class B with the low score of 38 points.
For John Frith perseverance had brought its reward as he had been third in his class in 1966, and second in '67 and '68.
But Kendrick, this 22-year-old "veteran", will probably still create a record by going to the Finals for the fifth year in succession, as he again headed Class C. This, he told me, was definitely the last year he would be entering the competition.
It rained most of the day but without, however, affecting the enthusiasm of the drivers and marshals. Indeed, the standard of driving seemed higher this year, although the loading bay took its usual toll.
It wasn't all smooth running as there were a number of objections. M. Rowden (ShellMex and BP Ltd.) found when he returned from the road route that his indicators were signalling the opposite way round, and that he had been penalized for this. He objected but his protest was overruled. However, this did -not prevent Rowden from winning Class G.
When the ERF artic driven by R. Morrison (Howitt Transport Ltd.) was measured it was found to be 49ft 6in. Because the test lay-out instructions were sent out to the centres before April 1, when the new 15-metre maxi
mum length was introduced, the tests were not big enough to accommodate this outfit, so the stewards permitted him to swap trailers with his colleague, T. Rice, after the latter had competed. Mr. Morrison, a newcomer, also had to contend with a 10-minute wait before attempting the kerb-parking test while a barrier was replaced because the previous driver had smashed it up.
Competition is always fierce at Liverpool in Class H. There were only six points between the first three, with R. Macdonald taking the cup; making a second man going to Bramcote for Shell-Mex and BP.
Two companies who have not entered drivers before in this round are Barium Chemicals Ltd. and John M. Walker (Liverpool) Ltd. The former company gained the Class Eli) award with D. Johnston at the wheel and the latter had third place in this class with a vehicle driven by R. Crones. The only haulage driver to win a cup this year was J. Fleming (National Carriers Ltd.) in class F(1).
Numbers were down six this year to 102 contestants which was a disappointment as 150 were still registered at the beginning of last week. These late cancellations meant drivers arrived earlier than was really necessary and some who had reported at 8 a.m. still had not started the road route three hours later, However, all tests were completed by 4.15 p.m. because they were run in duplicate, but the 40-minute presentation once again made it a long day for drivers.