I would also like to thank Anton at Difflock.com for his support over the last 12mths, sponsoring the wholes series. Our thanks also go to the individual round sponsors, Ian at West Mids 4x4, Andy at Allisport, Richard at Superpro Europe, Dave at Ashcrofts Transmissions, David at Goodwinch and Justin and Liz from OEC International for their support and offering the prizes, vehicle stickers and extra goodies for each round.

Above all, over a difficult financial year for most a big thank you goes to the competitors for continuing to come along to see what hair brained ideas we could come up with next. I hope you have enjoyed the year and hope to see you all back for 2011 for the 'different' events we are currently planning. They will kick off with the March Madness at the end of March, a 2 vehicle team Special Stage event.

The series took the format of six events with the best four counting for the series championship. The events consisted of three traditional punch hunt events and three special stage orientated events.

The traditional ‘hunt the punch’ events were a great success and certainly kept all the on their toes. Renown for our technically difficult punches there was certainly enough there to keep the modifieds going all day. By using a wide range of difficulty for the punch layout it also meant there was plenty for the standard and standard +1 vehicle to keep themselves occupied.

For the special stage events we ‘borrowed’ an idea from Manby and put the competitors into groups of three. One from each class being the aim. These groups then visited the stages together but competed in the stages in their own right. This was a sure way of promoting comradeship within the series and made for a great social atmosphere as people got to know each other – something that can be lacking on a one day punch hunt event where you can spend the day without seeing anyone else!

Following the theme of comradeship, camping was also made available the night prior to an event to not only help reduce competitors costs but to also give the opportunity for the various courses to be recced the day prior to the event. This promoted the good atmosphere of the event which certainly proved itself time and time again and was commented on by many who attended.

The standard class trophy was duly fought for between Simon Parsons and Bob Smith from an early stage. Simon was plagued with mechanical issues giving Bob the edge, which combined with Bobs excellent punch hunt style and point gathering certainly helped him gain a lead. Simon was soon back in the fold though with the special stage events where he put in some sterling times and kept both the +1s and the modifieds on the lookout. Jeroen Van De Hooft and Steve Gooding deserve credit for entering the series in pretty standard non caged non simex’d/insa shod vehicles and still doing well with minimal damage after a hard year competing. Kevin Luxton, in his first year of competing with Jason Midgely codriving also deserve a special mention for their commitment to the events throughout the year. Literally in at the deep end they approached and tackled everything with an excellent attitude that was commented on by spectators, marshalls and competitors alike. It is not surprising that they walked away with the Spirit of the Event award on more than one occasion.

The standard + 1 class was dominated from the start by the 2008 teaming of David Webber and Mark Walford. In their element during the punch hunt events they quickly amassed points to take them to a podium finish. The special stage events, which as they openly admit are not necessarily their cup of tea they maintained their lead despite a memorable tree climbing episode on SS9 of round 6!!!

The Modified class was a different ball game. There were several new names to the series to keep the ‘new for 2010’ Team D44 of Jason Farr and Rich Sims on their toes (2008 Series Joint class Winners). Notably Tim Jones in a new (to him) truck which proved more capable and reliable as the season progressed; Marc Dyer and Austin Jewitt, in their nearly unstoppable td5 trayback (now for sale!) along with Bert and Dan Smith who having overcome some of their earlier reliability problems were back to snap at their heals in Bert’s faithful ‘Doris’ If only the vehicle had been running for the last round and their scores could have counted they would have had a stronger finish. Martin Gilpin and Mark Gray were also out to prove Hydraulic winches can work and be quick with their ‘homebrew’ very quick front winch. After some disappointing early mechanical issues in the year the pair certainly came into their own towards the end of the series with some highly creditable scores and placings. As luck would have it though the steady and reliable truck of Farr and Sims proved too much for all of them as Jason and Rich walked away with a well deserved 2010 Class Win.

Series Results

Modified
1st Team Devon4x4 Jason Farr and Rich Sims 55
2nd Tim Jones and Ben Procter 48
3rd Mark Gray and Martin Gilpin 47
4th Bert and Dan Smith 42
5th Austin Jewitt and Marc Dyer 41
6th Andy Dawkins and Carl Davies 34
7th Carl Davies and Andy Dawkins 29
8th Sue and Eddie Hart 16
9th = Alastair and Phil David 12
9th = Martin and Derek Hounsell 12
11th Scott Benwell 11
12th Tony Cordell and Les Brock 8
13th Mike Cuff and Kevin Williams 7
14th Neil Brooklyn 6

Std + 1 (Slightly Modified) - two aids (eg 2 winches, 2 lockers or 1 winch and 1 locker)
1st David Webber and Mark Walford 16
2nd Paul Radford and Josh Jacobs 13
3rd Tom Salt and Ian Moulsdale 10
4th Shaun Houghton

Std - 1 aid (eg 1 winch, or 1 locker)
1st Bob and Dawn Smith 27
2nd Simon Parsons and Ian Hawes 25
3rd Kevin Luxton and Jason Midgley 23
4th Jeroen Van De Hooft and Kevin Williams 20
5th Steve Gooding and Chay 11
6th Dave McLahan 6
7th Steve Hardcastle and Simon Elvins 2