Donny
(13th April)

Martin Nortcliffe's trophy winning Chevy

Keith Atkinson's "Best in Britain" winner

Editorial and pictures by Barry Cornes

I arrived at Doncaster expecting to find a small table stacked with NASC goodies, after a quick wander round the hall, before the public were allowed in, I realised that there wasn’t a stall there! I bumped into Dave Biggadyke - (NSRA Chairman) - and he informed me that he hadn’t seen Mark Ashman at all, so I gave him a quick call on his mobile. It turned out that his father had fallen ill and had been taken to hospital, so Mark just couldn’t make it. Because of the lack of an NASC stand. Dave was good enough to offer me the NSRA stand as my base for the day, thanks must go to Dave and the rest of the NSRA guys on duty, for extending their much appreciated hospitality. Thanks guys, not bad coffee!

We all know that Doncaster can’t host as many rods as they’d perhaps like, such limited space with other sections of the event growing out of all proportion. It’s just another event becoming a victim of its own success. The place was absolutely jumping, it’s a few years since I was last here but man has this event grown. Every corner of the hall was home to a rod, custom or bike. An amazing display of some of the finest machinery around, hence the title – Best in Britain. There’s not a lot more to say about that, just take a look at the pictures. They say that every picture is worth a thousand words, so think of a few thousand superlatives of your own to describe what you see!! Prize-giving was a great laugh as usual, Rico was really on form, joking his way through a difficult time, you just can’t get the staff these days - can you Rico? The Best in Britain winners were as follows, Mike Key in third place, Tim Hammond in second place and Keith Atkinson – Best in Britain. Check out the pictures of the cars to see why. I chose the amazing ’39 Chevy of Martin Nortcliffe (complete with family display) to receive the “NASC Special Pick” trophy.

Donny was without doubt a roaring success, I believe that we should be grateful that the “Best in Britain” still happens there, because in reality the event doesn’t need the rods and customs to be a success, it could do it without us. Thanks lads, see you there next year!