The third in the present series of Navigational Exercises saw 9 crews gather at the Leisure centre for 30 odd miles of challenging lanes to the North of Barnstaple. It was good to see the seasoned pairing of Courtney Barrow and Lee Gordon out again heading a field of 3 Experts. Under pressure from the organiser Mike and Gary Wood and John Bartlett/Keith Squance were persuaded to move up to the Expert class following very good showings on previous Nav. Ex's.

Griffins were well represented - a warm welcome to Tim Liddy who had the improving Gareth Drayton on the maps. Tims' brother Laurence had a try at navigation in turn with Jack Drayton, ably guided by Griffins liaison man Russ Drayton. Robert "I-thought-you-said-90-right" Cocker was again partnered by our chairman Arthur Cole whose enthusiasm and gained experience is beginning to pay dividends. The romantic entry was Neil Partridge and Karen Gerring. Apparently, Karen had been receiving Expert tuition in the last few days but the writer is unable to ascertain if this had anything to do with navigation.

These events would be nothing without the very encouraging father/son entries with Martin and Steve Moore - Martin making a return to the lanes after too long an absence. Sporting an exceptional Metro 6R4 were Ben and Jason Byrom; Bens' frightening pace together with Jason ability with the romer make them a formidable pair.

The organiser had a photocopy of the route for crews to plot and special allowance was made for the Novices. It does seem that this form of route instruction is popular, allowing novices a chance to plot the route to the map without too much trouble. At control 3 a hand out directed crews round the notorious Beara Down then Little Comfort, Winsham Down and finishing at Braunton Down. Before this however, we lost Tim and Gareth, Russ, Jack and Laurence and Martin and Steve. Some suffered worse, none more than John and Keith who lost 17 marks following a puncture.

The aforementioned tuition paid off as Neil and Karen finished without penalties in the Novice section. Neil stated that road conditions were difficult with standing water and wind blown foliage a hazard. Ben and Jason were second despite pre-emptive marks and GPS failure in 6R4 produced a wrong approach that the organiser should have penalised more harshly. The remaining novices were grouped as 3rd equal to share points.

The evergreen Courtney and Lee demonstrated that even after a long lay-off they were still the head of the field. Mike and Gary were second, showing they can handle Expert route instructions and if it had not been for an exhaust failure would have had lower marks. John and Keith finished an excellent third, they again showed ability with the harder route instructions and their marks reflected the wheel change.

I am very grateful to Tim and Nicky Williams for manning control 3 and vehicle checks - without them I would have struggled to obtain a result. Gemma Drayton also deserves thanks for marshalling and results.

Derek Drayton

Results:
1st	Neil Partridge / Karen Gerring
2nd	Courtney Barrow / Lee Gordon
3rd	Mike Wood / Gary Wood
4th	Ben Byrom / Jason Byrom
5th	Keith Squance / John Bartlett
DNF	Russ Drayton / Jack Drayton
DNF	Robert Cocker / Arthur Cole
DNF	Martin Moore / Steve Moore
DNF	Tim Liddy / Gareth Drayton