AGBO Stages – March 2023

March 14, 2023 paulcommons1983 Leave a comment

Huw James and Ian Jones proved to be the class of the field, braving the slippery morning conditions before storming to a second AGBO Stages victory in as many years aboard their Ford Escort MK2.

After heavy snow in the run up to the event, thankfully the Owen Motoring Club organised AGBO Stages was given the green light, paving the way for me to witness rallying at Weston Park for the first time in well over 30 years (not that I have any recollection of my last visit)! The AGBO Stages for one reason or another is an event I have never managed to make previously but with another impressive entry list compiled for 10 short stages within the confines of the Staffordshire parkland estate I was determined not to miss out in 2023.

Having been victorious in 2022, Huw James and Ian Jones would lead the cars away in their Ford Escort MK2 and despite a cautious start were well into their stride by stage 3 to climb to the top of the time sheets. In fact as the stages became drier on what were relatively pleasant early March conditions the pairing really began to stretch their legs and almost cruise to a 23 second victory; an excellent drive, and quite a margin given the total time on the clock was just over 23 minutes!

Behind, having initially lead the event, Oliver Davies and Jack Bowen’s attention quickly turned to their mirrors with a fast charging Lee Edwards, in his recently re-built Ford Escort G3, in hot pursuit. Sitting 8 seconds in arrears after stage 5, the Oswestry man, with Mike Roberts alongside, stormed through the next 3 to trail Davies and Bowen by just 1 second with 1 stage remaining. And with momentum on their side there was no stopping the V6 Jaguar engined Ford crew (what an exhaust note by the way!) as they went on to claim the runner up spot by a mere second!

Class C for 2 litre 2WD drive machinery turned out to be another closely fought affair. And whilst the rapid Peugeot 205 of duo of Andy Corner and Ade Campo were quick out of the blocks (and would top the class times sheets for much of the day), it was the Darrian T90 crew of Dai Dot Davies and Gerwyn James who would come out on top of a final stage shootout to claim class victory with 8^th position overall; in turn making it a special day for Tregaron Motor Club following Huw James’ overall success!

Elsewhere, Tom Bishop and Isobel Mansell, aboard their Vauxhall Nova, put in the giant killing performance of the day to claim class A honours with a fantastic 18^th position overall, whilst Citroen C2 pilot Marcus Ridley (co-driven by Antony Knight) was first home in Class B with a very impressive 26^th position. The 2023 edition of the AGBO stages was also the first time “H Pattern” 4WD machinery were able to compete and the stunning Mitsubishi Evo 3 of Wayne Larbalestier and Matt Endean would go on to claim class E honours with 12^th overall.

All in this had been a fabulous days entertainment for just £8 each and having taken so long to finally attend the event I can categorically state that it will not be my last!

GALLERY

BHRC

RIPONIAN STAGES – FEBRUARY 2023

February 15, 2023 paulcommons1983 Leave a comment

The Riponian Stages rally would once again host the opening round of the British Historic Rally Championship with 6 classic stages in the North Yorkshire Forests following a route similar to that of 2022 but in reverse. And despite the Historic section appearing a little on the light side a relatively healthy overall entry had been gathered for the Thirsk based event.

Possibly suffering from the rising cost of living and in particular the cost of entering rallies at the moment a modest 44 crews made the start of the National event; 1 fewer than hoped for following the late blow of losing last year’s Winners Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis as a result of competition license issues!

However with Robinson joining fellow 2022 BHRC event winners Henri Grehan and Matt Edwards as missing from the entry list and pre-event favourites Martin McCormack and Barney Mitchell suffering an unfortunate early engine failure it did at least open up the fight for victory, with no fewer than 6 crews ending the event within the same minute as the eventual winners.

Indeed it was Nick Elliott and Dave Price who set the early pace in their glorious Alitalia liveried Fiat 131 but courtesy of quickening their pace through the first pass of Cropton and Wass Moor it was the Ford Escort pairing of Roger Chilman and Patrick Walsh who held a slender 5 second lead at the half way point.

A slow time on stage 4 would essentially put pay to Elliott’s victory challenge but with Chilman dropping time in Cropton, just 9 seconds covered the podium positions as the crews headed for the Wass Moor finale; with Tom Walster, who had been away from rallying for several years prior to last year’s outing on the Carlisle stages, just 3 seconds adrift in second.

Walster, a welcome addition to the BHRC in 2023, has clearly lost none of his pace but on this occasion the experience of Chilman and Walsh shone through as the Wales Motorsport duo set fastest time on stage 6 to run out as 4 second victors and take an early championship lead. Second place overall for Walster (with Christopher Ridge on the notes) did however represent an excellent result for the Nottinghamshire man.

After setting a blistering pace over the afternoon loop (Fastest times in stage 4 and 5), Adrian Hetherington and Ronan O’Neill would jump from 8^th at the halfway point to a remarkable 3^rd overall by the end of the event to complete a Ford Escort lock out of the podium positions; with Elliott and Price having to settle for 4^th and the Escorts of Simon Webster / Jez Rogers and Richard Jordan / James Gratton Smith rounding out the top six.

Elsewhere another strong performance from Josh Carr and Richard Wardle would see the Pinto engined Ford Escort MK1 pairing get the better of their more powerful counterparts to claim category 2 victory with an excellent 12^th overall whilst Terry Cree and Richard Shores (Mini Cooper S) were first home in Category 1. The fight for Class D3 was possibly the hardest fought on the day however with the lead changing no fewer than 4 times throughout the event as the RS2000 crew of Mike Reed and John Millington just lost out on victory by a mere second to David Dobson and Brian Hodgson in their MK2 Escort!

British Rally Championship regular Elliot Payne, with Tom Woodburn alongside, would be a hot favourite for the Interclub section of the event and it was no real surprise to see the Fiesta Rally 2 crew end the event on top after setting fastest time on five of the six stages. Behind, Hugh Brunton / Drew Sturrock aboard their Skoda Fabia would come out on the right side of a first stage tie breaker to claim second whilst Alistair Ginley / Craig Thorley would have to settle for third despite ending the event on equal times with the second placed crew. Meanwhile Anthony Hanson and Russel Holdsworth would claim the Interclub 2WD honours with 19^th overall in their Vauxhall Chevette.

I had intended to mix things up on this years Riponian but with Gale Rigg being a personal favourite stage of mine the draw of making the most of relatively recent felling was too much to pass up. Maybe somewhere different on the Trackrod?! Next up for the BHRC crews is Rally North Wales which promises a slight change of route to include a return to Dyfnant forest for the first time in a few years. Let’s hope the massive £780 entry fee is not too off putting! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for similar weather to last year too!

GALLERY

NHRC

Malton Forest Rally – November 2022

November 12, 2022 paulcommons1983 Leave a comment

After a 10 month hiatus, Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis showed no sign of rust as they stormed to Historic class victory on the North Yorkshire based Malton Forest Rally.

With 6 classic North Yorkshire stages within the Cropton, Gale Rigg and Langdale forests the 2022 Malton Forest Rally had attracted a healthy number of local crews and it was Ford Escort stalwart and rally legend, Steve Bannister who held the historic category lead after the first trip through Langdale.

However, Robinson, possibly making a cautious start in the thick fog, was soon up to speed as he and Sam Collis dominated the time sheets for the remainder of the event; the MK2 Escort pairing claiming fastest historic time on each of the remaining 5 stages to take category victory by 17 seconds with an impressive 5^th position overall!

Bannister, yet to show any sign of slowing down at the ripe old age of 71 (per ewrc results), may not have been able to match the pace of the aforementioned Robinson but was more than a match for the rest of the historic field as he and Dave Oldfield claimed the runner up spot in the famous red striped RS1800.

Meanwhile, Richard Jordan had Matt Edwards on the notes for the Malton Forest Rally and the multiple British Rally Champion driver’s experience may well have come in handy as the duo claimed a strong 3^rd in category with an excellent 8^th position overall, just 21 seconds adrift of the ‘Malton Missile’.

In the class for smaller engined machinery, Robin Shuttleworth and Malcolm Smithson, having already claimed the overall HRCR Motoscope Northern Historic Rally Championship in their Ford Escort Mexico, continued their strong form to take a dominant class H1 victory with 38^th position overall. The podium positions on this occasion being rounded out by the Chrysler Sunbeam crew of David Mcleod and Eamonn Boyle and the Lotus Cortina of Bob Bean and Mike Curry.

Continuing the theme of dominance, Elliot Payne and Tom Woodburn were in a league of their own in the open category as they strolled to overall victory by a mammoth 1 minute 48 seconds aboard their Ford Fiesta Rally 2 machine! Respective class 4,3,2 and 1 victories meanwhile would go the way of Carl & Rob Tuer (Renault Clio R3T), Ash Slights / Dave Robson (Ford Escort), Ben Cree & Robert Wiggins (Opel Corsa) and Dom Mernock and John Quinlan (Vauxhall Nova).

It is also worth mentioning Neil Commons who, with Dukeries MC stalwart Bob Draper alongside, managed to claim a second rally finish of the season in the WB Motorport Mini (after a 40+ year sabbatical). This despite a scare at the treacherous downhill 90 left in Gale Rigg where big thanks are necessary to the masses of spectators (tow rope and all) who were on hand to ensure their day did not end early!

FULL RESULTS

Next up for me after yet another thoroughly enjoyable day on the fabulous North York Moors is the NHMC Stages at Cadwell, the second round of the 2022/23 Circuit Rally Championship, to round out the motorsport year.

GALLERY

Motor Racing Legends

Motor Racing Legends – Silverstone – October 2022

October 28, 2022 paulcommons1983 Leave a comment

The Motor Racing Legends Silverstone GP event had a bit of an end of season feel to it, but definitely not in a bad way! More that it was run in a very relaxed manner and had attracted a fair share of current and ex professional drivers to grids. Indeed the entry list for the main event, The Pall Mall Trophy race for Pre-66 GT and Pre-61 Sports Cars, contained the likes of Phil Keen, Oliver Webb, Matt Neal, Andrew Jordan, George Gamble and Rory Butcher to name but a few.

And it was British GT legend, Keen, who would play a starring roll in the 3 hour Pall Mall Trophy race, setting fastest lap on the very last tour aboard the James Thorpe E-Type, to claim a dominant victory of over 1 lap. That’s not to undersell the performance of Thorpe and Phil Quaife however who handed the car over to Keen with an already mammoth lead; in part due to a clever early first mandatory stop under safety car conditions and a relatively early retirement for the pole sitting Michael Birch / Gareth Burnett / Richard Bradley Lotus 15.

Whilst the entry was a little light of contenders for overall victory, this was more than made up for by the battles behind. The tussle for the final steps of the podium being one example as Mark Farmer and Andrew Jordan (aboard the JRT built Elan) somehow managed to claim the runner up spot despite clutch issues throughout the second half of the race. Possibly aided by a late safety car, the pairing just managed to hold off the chasing Harry Barton / Oliver Reuben TVR Griffith who themselves put in an excellent drive to take the final podium position.

The highlight of the race in many respects though was the epic Porsche 911 fight for positions in the midfield. Usually found in their own Peter Auto organised standalone event, several more examples (most of them Tuthill prepared) than usual had found their way onto the Silverstone Pall Mall Trophy grid.

Witnessing the likes of Rory Butcher, Oliver Webb, Seb Perez and George Gamble man-handle the classic German machines around the famous Northamptonshire Circuit was highly entertaining, and as expected the racing remained pretty close with the fortunes of the individual crews fluctuating throughout the 3 hour duration of race, often dependent on how the “AM” drivers were utilised.

In the latter stages, class victory looked to be heading the way of the William Paul / Rory Butcher machine, however a 3 minute penalty for a refuelling infringement put pay to that! This left Guy Ziser, Oliver Webb and Richard Tuthill himself to take class 3c victory with 9^th overall in the #777 machine, just 2 seconds ahead of the Christian Coll / Bonamy Grimes car! More of these machines to be run in the UK please!!

Earlier in the day, courtesy of heavy overnight rain, the combined grid of Historic / Sixties Touring Car Challenge cars faced the age old dilemma of Slicks or Wets for their 1 hour race (where regulations allow). And whilst wets were probably the tyre of choice over the early laps, it was the slick shod Skyline of Ric Wood which held the advantage as the race progressed; the Cheshire man eventually finishing 50 seconds ahead of the similar machine of Jonathan Bailey / Andy Middlehurst.

No such tyre choice was available for the Lotus Cortina runners making up the U2TC element of the grid and they were as spectacular as ever over the early laps. There wasn’t much to choose between the field, but the experience of Mike Gardiner combined with current BTCC ace Josh Cook paid dividends in the end as the #37 crew came out on top with an excellent 10^th overall.

Much like last year, spectator attendance was ridiculously low, which I struggle to get my head around given tickets were only £16 and people seem more than happy to spend a small fortune on Goodwood or the Silverstone Classic each year! But this is only good news from my perspective due to lack of heavy handed security Silverstone love to employ and the full availability of the various catch fencing holes!

The grids may not have been quite as strong as 2021 but you can’t really grumble at 30 cars in each of the 2 historic races on offer, especially during the current economic crisis. Overall a great way to end my Circuit racing schedule for the year with just the Malton Forest and Cadwell Park rallies remaining.

GALLERY

BHRC

Woodpecker Stages Rally – September 2022

September 6, 2022 paulcommons1983 Leave a comment

Local crew, Henri Grehan and Dan Petrie put an end to recent Fiat British Historic Rally Championship dominance by registering an impressive Historic Class victory on the Phil Price Memorial Woodpecker Stages and Cement their place at the top of the BHRC championship standings.

Always rapid in Radnor and Haye Park, Grehan and Petrie would have been amongst the pre-event favourites for rally victory, along with multiple British Rally Champion Matt Edwards (Fiat 131) who had taken a string of Historic victories in recent times. And as expected it was the aforementioned duo who set the early pace; Edwards, with Hamish Campbell alongside, quickest in Haye Park and Cwm Y Gerwyn but with Grehan holding the lead at the halfway point courtesy of an exceptionally quick time in stage 3 which was equal 10^th fastest overall!

The phenomenal battle would then continue throughout the afternoon stages with Edwards marginally quicker in stage 4 and 5 to leave the crews tied on equal times heading into the Stanlo Trump finale. But unfortunately rally followers were robbed of a proper final stage showdown as the Italian machine would suffer a mechanical failure forcing Edwards into a final stage retirement. A disappointing end for the RSD prepared Fiat crew who were looking to make it a hat-trick of BHRC victories but conversely an excellent result for the Plas Lime backed MK2 Escort of Grehan and Petrie who now sit comfortably at the top of the championship standings.

Edwards’ retirement had however paved the way clear for Robert Gough / Sam Collis and Nick Elliott / Dave Price to claim the respective final 2 steps on the Historic class podium. After a relatively steady run through the first pass of Haye Park, Gough and Collis were never outside the top sixteen stage times to claim the runner up spot in their MK2 Escort whilst Elliott and Price were not quite able to match the pace of the 2 Ford crews ahead of them but were rewarded with 3^rd overall and first in class G1 after a strong drive aboard their immaculate Alitalia liveried 131.

Behind, category 2 victory would go the way of Chris Skill and Brian Hodgson aboard their MK1 Escort as they claimed 10^th overall in the National Historic class, with C2 class winners Rory and Paul McCann (Hillman Avenger) just pipping C3 class winners Josh Carr and Richard Wardle (MK1 Escort) to second in category. Elsewhere, Rudi Lancaster and Guy Weaver (MK2 Escort) topped class G2 with 6^th overall, Ford Escort pairing Neal James and Kevin Jones headed class D3 with 20^th and Malcolm and Ron Mounsey were first home in class D2 in their Talbot Sunbeam.

Meanwhile Michael McDaid and Declan Casey (MK2 Escort) would claim BTRDA Historic Cup victory. The Irish pairing managing to keep the similar machine of Richard Gough and Jonny Tad Evans at arms-length throughout the event to claim top spot by 17 seconds. Class H1/2 winners Jonathan Brace and Paul Spooner would defy their seeding to round out the podium positions in their MK1 Escort after yet another strong drive.

After many years away from the Shropshire/Herefordshire forests it was nice to make a return to Haye Park and great to catch up with several fellow enthusiasts! Next up for the BHRC crews is the North Yorkshire based Trackrod Rally towards the end of September where championship leaders Grehan and Petrie will be looking to edge one step closer to a maiden BHRC championship crown.

GALLERY

BTRDA

Rallynuts Stages Rally – April 2022

April 14, 2022 paulcommons1983 Leave a comment

Fresh from Rally North Wales Victory, Matt Edwards and Hamish Campbell continued their excellent form to head a historic Fiat 131 one-two on the 2022 Rallynuts Stages Rally

With the Rallynuts Stages Rally attracting a very healthy contingent of historic machinery, and upon finding myself with a clear diary, it would have been rude not to head to mid Wales (Hafren in my case) on what promised to be a cold but pleasant early April day.

Indeed more than 35 historic category crews would leave the Builth Wells start line headed up by not one but two Fiat 131s; relatively high numbers for a BTRDA round but aided in part by the use of classic mid Wales stages such as Hafren and Myherin and being a qualifying round of the HRCR Stage Masters Challenge and the Welsh Historic Rally Championships.

And the crews would face a tricky opening couple of stages with snow on the ground in parts and the odd wintery shower thrown in too but it was the Italian machines of Matt Edwards / Hamish Campbell and Nick Elliott / Peredur Davies that would find themselves tied for the category lead as the event reached the Mid-day service halt; the pairings each claiming a fastest category stage time before tying the short Cwmysgawen test to leave everything to play for over the drier afternoon loop.

With brake bias issues corrected at service however, Edwards set a blistering pace through Myherin 2 and Hafren Main especially to find himself with a whopping 37 second advantage as they headed back to Cwmysgawen for the final 4.73 miles of the event. This had been yet another excellent drive by the 3 time British Champion who would go on to claim category victory by an impressive 40 seconds.

With Edwards in a league of his own over the afternoon loop, Elliott would instead find himself looking over his shoulders as the leading Ford crews closed in. Indeed Meirion Evans closed the gap to 9 seconds after SS4 and then to 8 following SS5 but with only a short stage 6 remaining Elliott just had enough in hand to register an excellent category one-two for the RSD prepared machines.

A strong afternoon push for Evans and co-driver Gwynfor Jones was however rewarded with 3rd in Category and class H3 victory aboard their MK2 Escort; the Welsh duo leapfrogging the similar machine of Ben Friend, who was suffering with a misfire, and managing to keep stablemates Roger Chilman and Paul Morris at bay.

The combined class H1/H2 victory would go the way of Jonathan Brace and Paul Spooner with 14th overall in the historic section, the MK1 Escort duo ending the day with a 42 second advantage after a seemingly faultless drive. The battle behind was far less clear cut however with David Lloyd Roberts catching and passing both the Fords of Andrew Stokes and Neal James over the afternoon loop to claim the runner up spot in dramatic style.

Elsewhere, Alan Walker and John Connor in yet another MK2 Escort would claim class H4 honours with 11th in the historic category. Meanwhile Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear perhaps surprised some with a very dominant display to take overall rally victory by 31 seconds. Perhaps more impressive still they were an incredible 15 seconds quicker than anyone else through Myherin 1! Definitely a crew to watch out for this season.

Overall this had been another top day out in possibly some of the UK’s finest rallying territory rounded off nicely by the amazing views on the drive out of Hafren forest. It will probably be a couple of months before my next rally but after such a good start to the season it can’t come soon enough!

GALLERY

BHRC

Rally North Wales – March 2022

March 29, 2022 paulcommons1983 Leave a comment

Matt Edwards and Hamish Campbell overcame both challenging conditions and strong opposition to claim a hard-fought Rally North Wales victory aboard the RSD prepared Fiat 131; a first for the Italian brand in the BHRC.

The Wolverhampton and South Staffs CC organised Rally North Wales formed round 2 of the 2022 British Historic Rally Championship and followed the ‘post pandemic’ trend of managing to attract a phenomenal entry (more than 150 if you include the Minis!), which I imagine was partially aided by the use of classic Mid Wales stages such as Dyfi, Pantperthog and Gatheiniog. Amazingly the organisers had also booked the weather with temperatures in the late teens and barely a cloud in the sky!

Desperate to add Pantperthog to the list of UK stages visited but unable to get there in time, we instead opted for an old favourite in Dyfi Main (Stages 2 & 6) and were miraculously able to find spots between junctions 4 and 5 which were new to us. By the time the crews passed by however the incredibly rough nature of the stages had already taken its toll with a number of early retirements and many others battle scarred.

Indeed Edwards and Campbell were already managing a suspension issue but amazingly would find themselves just 7 seconds behind Nick Elliott (with Dave Robson alongside for this event) at the half way point with the MK2 Escorts of Riponian winner Matthew Robinson and 2021 BHRC champion Ben Friend already succumbing to the conditions.

With many a crew electing to take a more cautious approach to the afternoon stages (to ensure a finish), Edwards, with initial problems sorted, elected to press on. And despite the 131 developing a steering problem in the second running of Pantperthog set a blistering pace throughout the remainder of the event to turn a 15 second deficit into a 16 second victory! A fantastic effort by the 3 time British Champion and proof if ever it were needed that the stunning Italian machine can be a match for the Blue Oval stalwarts of historic rallying.

Holding a relatively healthy lead of 15 seconds with three stages remaining Elliott (MK2 Escort) would have been favourite to claim victory but unfortunately suffered a puncture in stage 6 which, combined with Edward’s electric pace, forced the Cheltenham man to settle for second. Meanwhile Roger Chilman and Patrick Walsh just managed to fend off a hard charging Henri Grehan and Dan Petrie to round out the podium positions aboard their similar machine.

Adam Milner and Roy Jarvis (above) thrive on giant killing performances and 5^th overall on the Rally North Wales National event proved to be one of their best yet. The North Yorkshire duo were visibly more committed than most on both runs through Dyfi Main and incredibly went on to claim category 2 honours in the Ralloy Engineering built, 1600 Crossflow MK1 by 23 seconds! Who knows what the pairing could have achieved had it not been for an incorrect morning tyre choice and an afternoon puncture amongst other issues …

On any other day, Chris Skill and Brian Hodgson may have found themselves on the top step of the Category 2 podium but had to make do with C4/C5 class top spot aboard their BD engined MK1 following a strong drive to 6^th. Meanwhile Ben and Steve Smith were first home in class C3 and rounded out the category 2 podium positions with 8^th in the Pinto powered MK1.

Elsewhere in the classes Rudi Lancaster and Guy Weaver (MK2 Escort) would claim FIA Appendix K honours with 7^th Overall, Conrad Bos and Geoff Crabtree (MK2 Escort) would come out on top of a close battle in class D3 with 24^th overall and Dave Hopkins and Tony Vart (below) would claim D1/D2 victory with 32^nd aboard their Sunbeam. Courtesy of being the only category 1 entry on the event Bob Bean and Mike Curry claimed the winners trophy, however just getting to the end of this event in their aging MK1 Cortina was a major achievement in itself. Dyfi Main was difficult enough to walk on in parts!

It was great to be back spectating in Wales having not visited since the RAC in November 2019. And given the relatively sensible finish time we even managed to squeeze in a visit to the best chip shop in the country (Andrews Fish Bar – Welshpool). Well worth the minor diversion on the 3 hour plus journey home.

Having recaptured the rallying bug of late a trip to the Rallynuts Stages in early April is now on the cards and I will probably spend the next two weeks deliberating between Sweet Lamb and Myherin! Chances of similar weather? Very low I would imagine …

GALLERY

MSN Rally

DONINGTON RALLY – MARCH 2022

March 18, 2022 paulcommons1983 Leave a comment

David Henderson & Sion Cunniff dominated the 2022 Northside Truck and Van Donington Rally to claim consecutive MSN Circuit Rally Championship victories aboard their Fiesta R5.

Having not witnessed a circuit rally for almost 8 years or a rally at Donington since the mid nineties for that matter, I was drawn to attend the 2022 Donington Rally, especially given the short commute and it slotting nicely into my schedule between the opening couple of BHRC rounds.

Overnight rain had left a damp tricky surface facing the 85 crews, less of an issue of course for the four wheel drive machinery and unsurprisingly there was a Fiesta R5 lockout of the podium positions after the first 2 long stages of the event, with David Henderson and Sion Cunniff managing the track surface and tyre wear to perfection to open up a massive (in circuit rallying terms) 13 second lead over championship leaders Neil Roskell and Andrew Roughead.

And the lead pairing continued their strong pace over the next loop of stages to extend their lead to half a minute from the now second placed Darrian T90 of Barry Morris and Tom Hutchings. The super lightweight rear wheel drive machine of Irishman Morris was more at home on the drier second loop and now right back in the championship hunt following disaster for pre-event championship leader Roskell; the Garstang and Preston MC man had been doing everything necessary to claim the title on the day but was forced into retirement when his R5 Fiesta suffered a snapped belt and ultimately head gasket failure on stage 4!

With just the 3 shorter anti-clockwise afternoon stages remaining Henderson and Cunniff could afford to relax a little, but if they did it was hard to tell as the Hexham MC man went on to claim a full set of fastest stages times (Stage 7 tied with Andy Scott) and take victory by an impressive 38 seconds, remarkably a third of the season for the in-form Henderson after claiming top spot on the recent Snetterton and East Riding Stage rallies.

Picking up their pace as the day went on, 2019/20 MSN Circuit Rally champions Barry Morris and Tom Hutchings ensured a final round shootout for the 2021/22 title by claiming 2^nd overall whilst the local crew of John Griffiths / Nigel Wetton rounded out the podium positions in their Fiesta R5, the Dukeries MC duo not able to keep the Darrian behind as the track dried out.

In the classes, 7^th overall represented an excellent result for class C winners Josh Payton and Jamie Vaughan (above) aboard their MK2 Escort, the pairing even edging out the Class D machine of championship front runners Martin Hodgson and Tony Jones over the afternoon stages! Meanwhile Class B honours would go the way of Ben Wilkinson and Andrew Wilkinson aboard their glorious Peugeot 106 Maxi with 17^th position overall whilst James and Adrian Hardy put in a mighty giant killing performance aboard their Nissan Micra to claim class A top spot in 34^th.

Being a big Donington Park fan I couldn’t imagine having a bad day at the venue but even I was impressed by the clockwork nature of the Dukeries MC organised event! It would be great the see some of the gravel perimeter roads used, similar to the RAC rallies of old, but I guess this is an asphalt championship and so, along with the logistical nightmare of ensuring us spectators stay where we are supposed to, doesn’t necessarily fit with the needs of the championship.

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable day shooting through, over and around the (not too obtrusive) catch fencing which has left me massively tempted to try and shoe-horn the championship decider at Cadwell into my diary!

GALLERY

BHRC

Riponian Stages Rally – February 2022

February 11, 2022 paulcommons1983 Leave a comment

Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis were in a class of their own in the North Yorkshire forests to claim a comfortable Riponian National Historic Stages Victory and an early lead in the British Historic Rally Championship title race.

Possibly one of the best entry lists on record for a North Yorkshire based rally and full utilisation of the relatively recent road closure regs for UK rallying was all the convincing I needed to head north on a dark early February Sunday morning for the Riponian Stages Rally! Two loops of 3 healthily lengthed stages in the classic Wass / College Moor and Cropton / Gale Rigg forests faced the mammoth 122 crews leaving the Thirsk start line, 50 of which were fully registered BHRC runners gunning for honours in the National Historic Stages part of the event.

Gale Rigg has long been a personal favourite stage of mine but remarkably it had been 5 years since my last visit and the change in tree line combined with new routes opened up by use of Keys Beck Road made it feel like a completely new stage, although it proved just as good as I remembered for viewing!

Any thoughts of a steady start to the season were blown out of the water early on as most crews seemed to be ’on-it’, none more so than local man Matthew Robinson who, with regular co-driver Sam Collis alongside, set a blistering pace from the off and by half distance had developed a lead of more than 20 seconds over the similar machines of Nick Elliott and Ben Friend.

And it was more of the same over the afternoon stages as not even the weather (hail and snow at various points) could get in the way of Robinson and Collis claiming a full set of fastest stage times to claim an excellent 47 second victory and firmly put last years RAC disappointment behind them. Despite not quite able to match the Malton man’s phenomenal pace, Nick Elliott and Dave Price got their BHRC title ambitions off to a positive start with second overall whilst Roger Chilman and Gwynfor Jones rounded out the podium positions after 2021 champions Ben Friend and Cliffy Simmons dropped time on the final stage.

Behind, in the category 3 classes David Brown and Callum Atkinson claimed D4 honours with 9^th overall whilst Ben Mellors and Alex Lee were first home in D3 with 11^th overall aboard their immaculate Toyota Celica. Meanwhile Rudi Lancaster and Guy Weaver would top the FIA Appendix K runners in 10^th.

As usual category 2 contained a wonderful array of pre-74 machinery but was ultimately topped by the Pinto powered MK1 of Ben and Steven Smith who just managed to keep behind the powerful Datsun 240z of combined class C4/C5 winners Jeremy Easson and Mike Reynolds. Meanwhile Mark Tugwell and Steve Pugh claimed top spot in the combined C1/C2 category aboard their MK1 Twin Cam whilst historic stalwart Bob Bean, with Mike Curry alongside, claimed category 1 honours in the stunning Lotus Cortina.

In the Interclub Stages part of the event, Ollie Mellors and Max Freeman defeated a plethora of Ford Fiestas to claim a convincing victory aboard their Proton Iriz R5 with Ford Fiesta R5 pairings Elliot Payne / Patrick Walsh and David Henderson / Chris Lees rounding out the podium positions. With 9^th overall David Mennell and Steven Brown would claim the Historic honours with an excellent drive in their 1600 Escort with the more powerful H2 category machines of Richard Spink / Nigel Hutchinson and Thomas Hewick / Mick Johnson completing the top 3.

Caught out by the cold weather, the traditional stop at Thompsons Fish & Chips Restaurant on the way home went some way to thawing me out but I don’t think I fully warmed up until the following morning! Nevertheless it was an excellent event all-round that seemed to run like clock-work! Bring on the next event which should hopefully be Rally North Wales in March and possibly even the Donington Stages Rally before that. I guess you just don’t know how much you miss forest rallying until you return to the woods …

GALLERY

Uncategorized

Best of 2021 – Words and Pics From the Spectator Banks

December 31, 2021 paulcommons1983 Leave a comment

After the lows of 2020, 2021 promised a return to some sort of normality in the world of Motorsport, however the elongated 3^rd (I think) lockdown postponed any form of none signed-on attendance until late May!

Desperate to return to the circuits after 7 months of crowd-less sport viewing on the box an enormous entry list for the Classic Sports Car Club’s May bank holiday meeting at Donington was just the tonic I had been looking for. The 39 car Classic K race was a personal highlight which saw experienced historic racer Jamie Boot expertly guide his TVR Griffith to victory, however the moderate crowd were also treated to a trio of highly entertaining combined sprints for the Racing Special Saloons / Modsports and Bernie’s Sports Racing / V8 machines which contained everything from the whacky to the sublime!

So good in fact was my first taste of Classic Sports Car club action that a couple of weeks later I would find myself Cadwell bound for a second dose. Unfortunately the grids were not quite so packed but this was more than made up for by perfect early Summer weather. This time it was the Group 1 Swinging Sixties machines that stole the show with Ian Staines, aboard his MG Midget, managing to get the better of pole sitting Turner MK1 pilot Tim Cairns to claim an excellent victory at the undulating Lincolnshire track.

Late June saw a return to Donington for an excellent line up of Historic Sports Car Club grids with the added bonus of a 1 hour race for the GT & Sports Car Cup! Despite a dull day weatherwise the on track action was as good as it gets with Michael Lyons lighting up the time sheets in the Aurora Trophy races aboard his F5000 Lola T400, Dean Forward delighting onlookers aboard his enormous Can-AM McLaren M8F to take a double Thundersports victory and Andrew’s Haddon & Wolfe claiming an excellent GT & Sports Cars Car Cup victory in their Lotus Elan.

After an excellent championship in 2020, a third trip to Donington, this time on the Grand Prix circuit, was lined up in July for the 2 hour British GT race. The series as a spectacle suffered in 2021 however with the removal of GT3 Silver Silver combinations which, combined with somewhat questionable driving standards and poor quality support races, lead to this being the only Modern event attended during the year!

Refreshingly it was back to old stuff in August with the Classic Sports Car Club’s Snetterton Sizzler meeting and the HSCC’s Oulton Park Gold Cup. The Gold Cup meeting was back to it’s very best with Historic F2 machinery making a welcome return (something good to come out of the pandemic!) and it was Matthew Watts aboard his March 782 who claimed the prestigious trophy following an attritional second encounter of the weekend! We were also treated to a pair of Historic Touring Car / Dunlop Saloon Car Cup races which are always worth a watch around the fabulous Cheshire circuit, and best of all the paddocks were finally open to the general public!!

Two trips to Mallory filled the first half of autumn’s action where a torrential morning downpour threatened to de-rail the Historic Sports Car Club meet. Glorious afternoon sunshine and excellent efficiency ensured this only lead to delays and not cancellations however with Ben Simm’s charge through the field (only to be denied victory by Murray Shepherd’s excellent defensive display) in the Formula Ford 2000 race being the pick of the action.

The excellent Classic Touring Car Racing Club would visit the same Leicestershire circuit in Mid October featuring a mouth-watering collection of machinery that included everything from the iconic 60’s Mini to the monster Aussie V8 Ford Falcon. Nothing quite beats a good old David vs Goliath pre-66 touring car race however and the two races on the day provided everything you come to expect from this era of racing; Alan Greenhalgh taking victory in the second race aboard his Ford Falcon after losing out to the much smaller engined Anglia of Robyn Slater (in part due to an off) in a damp race 1, brilliant racing!

Although far from a fan of Silverstone (not the circuit, more the unfriendly Security and archaic ticketing system) I could not fail to be drawn to the new standalone Motor Racing Legends meeting at the end of October. The 1 hour Historic Touring Car Challenge brought back many a childhood memory as Paul Mensley (RS500) managed to fend off not 1 but 3 temperamental Skylines to take victory whilst the excellent 43 car, 3 hour Pall Mall cup race met all expectations as the fabulous James Cottingham / Max Girardo piloted Lister Jaguar Costin managed to hold off a plethora of Shelby Cobra’s to take an unlikely victory. Maybe the unwelcoming nature of the circuit is a thing of the past as this had been a highlight of the season, partially aided by full access to the ‘Wing’ with less than a couple of hundred people in attendance!

And finally, after a pandemic induced year and 9 month period away from rallying, I eventually managed to see a live stage or 2 on the end of season Roger Albert Clark Rally. In an event unfortunately impacted by the devastating storm Arwen (Scotland’s stages completely cancelled), Ryan Champion and Craig Thorley remarkably managed to break the Blue Oval strangle hold on the event by claiming victory in their immaculate Porsche 911. Whilst disappointing not to be able to make the bi-annual trip into the Southern Scotland forests it was great to see action on the stages again.

All in it was year to remember and we can only hope that 2022 brings with it more freedom, definitely more rallying and a return to somewhere near the motorsport life we were all accustom to pre March 2020!