Dan Mennell and John H Roberts claimed a maiden British Historic Rally Championship victory with a sublime drive on the season opening Riponian Stages whilst Adam Milner and Roy Jarvis stormed to Category 2 victory and Baz Jordan and Arwel Jenkins were last crew standing in Category 4 to leave a 3 way tie at the top of the championship table.
The 2025 British Historic Rally Championship may once again have started with a traditional trip to the North Yorkshire forests for the Riponian Stages Rally but behind the scenes it was all change. For starters, a much reduced calendar was on the cards with more of a gravel focus. A calendar which was then shortened further by Mother nature’s impact on the Welsh Forests (Rally North Wales and Severn Valley Stages cancelled) but then rescued by the legendary Roger Albert Clark Rally Motor Club who brought back the Carlisle Stages as a late replacement.
It was in the small print where perhaps the most exciting developments had taken place however with the BHRC deciding to embrace the latest FIA Historic regulations for cars homologated all the way up to 1999 for the first time. Thus, not only allowing all wheel drive machinery a shot at the title, but opening up the overall championship to all classes too, meaning there is just as much chance of a category 1 Mini taking the crown as there is a Group A Mitsubishi Galant.
The Riponian Stages rally itself also had a different feel for 2025 with the organisers forced to make changes following the unavailability of Wass. This would instead see a return of the short Boltby test combined with maximising the available mileage in the Cropton / Gale Rigg complex. But despite the efforts of Ripon Motor Sport Club historic entries were a little on the disappointing side with numbers falling just shy of the 40 mark and missing the likes of Mark Higgins, Nick Elliot and 2024 champion Seb Perez.
The aforementioned crews would have struggled to beat the in-form Dan Mennell and John H Roberts however. After rounding out 2024 in style with historic victory on the Malton Forest Rally, the Anglo / Welsh pairing started 2025 in much the same manner, setting a blindingly quick time in Cropton before another fastest historic time in Boltby to hold a commanding 17 second lead at the Thirsk service halt.
David Crossen and Ben Teggart were back after a partial campaign in 2024 and it would be they who were quickest out of the blocks on the day though. In fact the Northern Irish pairing, aboard their Ford Escort, were 2 seconds quicker than anyone else in the opening Gale Rigg test and would have kept Mennell in check during the afternoon stages had it not been for dropping 12 seconds in Boltby!
Having done all the hard-work in the morning, Mennell and Roberts followed this up with a well controlled afternoon drive to keep the chasing pack at bay and claim an excellent maiden British Historic Championship victory. A winning margin of 20 seconds after just over 40 miles of rallying proof if ever it were needed that the Carr Prep prepared Ford Escort duo will be strong championship contenders and most definitely the current Kings of the North Yorkshire forests.
The story of the afternoon stages however was the red-hot battle for third which saw the category 3 MK2 Escorts of Ben Friend, David Henderson and Adrian Hetherington separated by just 1 second after the second running of Gale Rigg. Cropton 2 (SS5) looked to be the decisive stage as Ben Friend failed to emerge and Henderson edged ahead but Hetherington, with Ronan O’Neill alongside, capped off an impressive afternoon run by setting a time 6 seconds faster than anyone else through Boltby 2 to snatch third at the final opportunity.
Despite being only 4th quickest over the afternoon loop, Crossen and Teggart had more than enough in hand to claim a best British Historic Championship finish to date with second. A great drive through the slippery morning conditions providing the opportunity for a steadier afternoon run.
The Ford Escort Mexico of Adam Milner and Roy Jarvis made a welcome return to action on the Riponian Stages and the Yorkshire pairing had clearly lost none of their pace. Never outside the top 12 stage times the 1600 Crossflow powered MK1 crew were rewarded with an excellent 7th overall after a great drive and better still a share of the championship lead courtesy of winning their category by a whopping 1 minute and 2 seconds.
Category 4 honours meanwhile would go the way of Barry Jordan and Arwel Jenkins aboard their Mitsubishi Galant VR4. Last year’s victor George Lepley, this time with Dafydd Evans alongside, was expected to dominate but engine issues in stage 1 curtailed their event early.
Elsewhere class victories would go the way of Matthew Stroud and Josh Carr (H6) with an excellent 5th, in turn claiming maximum HRCR Northern Historic championship points and the honour of first non BD powered crew home. Further back Tim Pearcey and Ifan Devine would take class H3 with 11th overall in their Ford Escort MK1, Rally2 honours would go the way of Martyn Hawkswell and Nick Welch aboard another MK2 Escort whilst Terry Cree and Richard Shores would claim H1 and Category 1 honours having swapped their BMW for the Mini Cooper S on this year’s event.
In the Interclub event, Elliot Payne and Patrick Walsh proved too quick for the opposition, setting 4 fastest stage times on their way to a 57 second victory aboard their Ford Fiesta Rally2. Andy Davison and Tom Murphy (Sunbeam VXR) meanwhile would just edge out the BMW E36 of David Wilson and Owen Paterson to claim 2 wheel drive honours with 12th with Mat Smith and Derek Cornforth the first front wheel drive crew home in 14th.
Having decided on Cropton, junction 2 proved an excellent watch. Hearing the leading crews flat in top on the long approach was something else. Just look at the metrics on this in-car of David Henderson and Chris Lees!
Unfortunately, as a result of the cancellation of Rally North Wales, that’s probably it as far as forest rallying goes for me until the late summer but hoping to take in plenty of rallying on the black stuff over the coming months.
GALLERY
Paul Commons Motorsport 