Close Finish at York
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ONLY 2+. marks separated the champion of the day from the runner-up in the, deciding heat at the York round of the Lorry Driver of the Year competition last Sunday. After the usual road circuit, oral examination, and-driv:ing tests had taken place, class winners, entered a final with each successive-1y driving the, same •yehiele. The -best proved to. he D. R. Simon (S.P.D.,, Ltd., Thames) from class C with 31 poinfs lost. His nearest rival was Dvr. • Maddison -(Royal Air Force, Leyland) —with 39-i, who, had been hand
ling a Hippo six-wheeler previously and suddenly found himself at the wheel of a Bedford 3-tonner. Third man was the class B winner, J. Slimmon (S.P.D., Ltd., Austin), who dropped 58 marks.
Although they entered only one team, F. Shepherd and Son, Ltd., carried off the team award. Their Thames drivers R. Hart, G. Cawthome and R. Jones incurred ,a total penalty of 422. Next places on the team list were filled by C. H. and I. E. Rooke, Ltd., and Whitby C. Oliver and Sons, Ltd.
Operations started at 9 a.m. from Knavesmire Road, York, and continued with tests at Acaster Malbis R.A.F. station. Many of the 82 competitors went through the Highway Code examination without losing a mark, but nearly all had debits on their road performances. For a long while the only driver to retain a clean sheet was J. Norburn (Messrs. A. Moss and Son, Morris Minor) who finished second in class A.
Outstanding in the parking test was D. Bartle (Universal .Tyre Co., Thames) who lined up his vehicle without loss of points. Width-judging brought out C. G.
B22 Woodcock (Messrs. G. A. Woodcock, Bedford) as best. Then reversing into the bay gave R. Stirk (York Co-operative Society, Ltd., Thames) the advantage, his closing score being 68 against 91 by Norburn.
Faultless parking was achieved in class B by P. Hopwood (Messrs. J. Bartram, Bedford). Slimmon proved best at judging width, and in reversing G. A. Rollinson (S.P.D., Ltd., Austin) shed only a point In class C, Cawthorne had the top parking figure, and A. Clayton (Messrs. Wilson's Transport, Thames) did well in reversing into the bay. However, Simon returned an unbeaten average, with 88 marks lost to Clayton's 113 and Cawthorne's 128.
There was a close finish in class D. A. number of contestants went cleanly through the first test, among them G. F. ' Corn (S.P.D., Ltd., Austin), R. E. Wilson (Messrs. W. D. Mitchell, Albion) and C. • Pickering (Messrs. G. D. Sleightholm, Morris).
There were wide margins between the scores made by the leaders in the classes for articulated outfits. The event was organized by the York Sub-area of the Road Haulage Association in conjunction with York Motor Club. An otherwise good programme was rendered almost useless by a long list of late entrants.