A controlled and consistent performance from Jason Pritchard and Phil Clarke saw the Welsh / Anglo pairing top a close fought historic battle in the North Yorkshire forests to claim Trackrod Historic Cup victory.
The penultimate round of the British Historic Rally Championship would see the crews return to the forests of North Yorkshire for the second time in 2023 but this time utilising the additional classic tests of Dalby, Staindale and Langdale, with Dalby also run in the dark on the Friday evening to provide extra spice to a challenging total rally distance just shy of 57 miles.
Pleasingly a mammoth capacity entry list had been put together by the organisers with a more than healthy contingent of historic category machinery and it was George Lepley (with Dale Bowen in the co-drivers seat) who would continue his recent strong form by holding a commanding early lead of over 22 seconds by the end of stage 2!Â
As expected, the all wheel drive Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 was well suited the long straights and 90 degree bend nature of the North Yorkshire stages however it was not to be for the young Nottinghamshire man who encountered gearbox issues in Cropton and was forced into early retirement. Whilst disappointing for Lepley and Bowen, their retirement did however open the battle for victory right up with Seb Perez’s Porsche and Nick Elliott’s Fiat 131 amongst a whole host of Ford Escorts now in with a genuine chance of top spot.
Perez, in the Category 2 Porsche 911, was in sublime form, setting second quickest time through Dalby on Friday evening and then fastest in Cropton to sit less than 1 second from the lead of the historic field after 3 stages. And the Chesterfield man would definitely have been in with a shout of victory had unfortunate engine issues not slowed the Global Brands backed machine through the two long afternoon stages. But with the Porsche visibly smoking through the Langdale finale he and co-driver Gary McElhinney would have to make do with Category 2 top spot and 5thoverall which still represented an excellent result.
Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis would return to action on the Trackrod in their formidable MK2 Escort and after the demise of Lepley would find themselves in the lead of the rally after stage 3. Dropped time in Staindale and Dalby would put pay to their victory challenge however, with fastest time through the 13 miles of Langdale not quite enough to overhaul the eventual winners; the duo ending the event in second just 5 seconds behind the similar machine of Pritchard.
Pritchard and Clarke meanwhile are 3 time British Historic Rally champions for a reason and whilst their speed is unquestionable it is their consistency which has delivered the titles. Having only entered the Trackrod as a pre RAC shakedown, the RS1800 crew were fastest through Staindale to take the lead of the event and quick again in the second running of Dalby to hold a relatively comfortable 8 second lead heading into the Langdale finale. The pairing would not drop outside the top 5 fastest stage times throughout the two days as they went on to claim a second BHRC success of the season.
Another crew returning to action on the Trackrod were Paul Barrett and Gordan Noble and the Omagh based crew were in the mix for a podium position aboard their Ford Escort as they sat in 4th with just one stage remaining. The Northern Irish duo would sadly not emerge from the final Langdale test however but on this showing should be right up at the sharp end come the RAC Rally in November.
This left the evergreen Steve Bannister aboard the infamous red-striped white Ford Escort to pick up the pieces; the ‘Malton Missile’, with Callum Atkinson alongside, taking advantage of Barrett and Perez’s misfortunes to climb from 8th overnight to an excellent 3rd by the end of the rally with 5th, 3rd, 6th, 7th and 3rd fastest times through the Saturday stages.
The RSD prepared Fiat 131 of Nick Elliott and Dave Price is perhaps not best suited to the North Yorkshire stages but were able to keep their championship hopes alive with a solid 4th whilst Gareth James and Daniel Petrie would put in another strong performance to round out the top six  in their MK2 Escort.
In Category 2, Stefaan Stouf and Dai Roberts may well have given Perez a run for his money (having sat 3rd overall overnight) but for their rally coming to an end in Staindale. This left Jeremy Easson and Mike Reynolds to claim the runner up spot with 12th and Warren Philliskirk and Garry Green to round out the podium positions in their similar MK1 Escort.
Meanwhile in Category 1, top spot would go the way of Richard Aczel and Allan Harryman in their Porsche 911 (although potentially listed in the wrong category) whilst Terry Cree and Richard Shores would wrap up the 2023 category 1 BHRC title with second aboard their Mini Cooper S.
Elsewhere, in the Trackrod Forest Stages event Elliott Payne and Tom Woodburn (Fiesta Rally 2) would claim a close fought victory after overhauling early leaders Arron Newby and Jamie Edwards (Skoda Fabia R5) over the afternoon stages, whilst WRC regulars Adrien Formaux and Alexandre Coria would take a poorly supported BRC Rally Yorkshire victory by a comfortable 45 seconds.
The British Historic Rally Championship now moves onto the Carlisle stages in late October where courtesy of dropped scores the overall title is very much still alive with the Ford Escort of Roger Chilman and Fiat 131 of Nick Elliot set to battle it out over what promises to be a grueling encounter in the Kielder Forest complex.
GALLERY
Paul Commons Motorsport 