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Nicky Grist Win Blasts Bird into Title Contention

July 13, 2015 paulcommons1983 Leave a comment

Paul Bird and Aled Davies ended David Weston’s BTRDA winning streak by taking Nicky Grist Stages victory for the second consecutive year; as a result putting themselves firmly back in the title fight.

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A Mammoth 169 car entry had been compiled by Quniton Motor Club for the 35th running of the Nicky Grist Stages rally, where David Weston and Kirsty Riddick were looking to claim their fourth consecutive BTRDA victory of the season. However, the Scottish duo would face tough opposition in the form of 2014 victors, Paul Bird and Aled Davies, and 2015 Malcolm Wilson Rally winners Euan Thorburn and Richard Cooke.

While there was little to choose between the three main protagonists on stages 1 and 2, the longer stages 3 and 4 proved decisive. In the space of 13.5 miles, Bird and Davies had leapt from third to first, taking a 19 second advantage into the Builth Wells service halt; the Cumbrian setting a particularly impressive time in Crychan to go 9 seconds quicker than anyone else.

Thorburn set about closing the gap straight after lunch with a very quick time in Monument reducing the gap to 15 seconds, but braking issues in Route 60 dropped the Scotsman to third; his push for victory fading as he sat 29 seconds adrift of Bird and Davies with just 2 stages remaining. And while they were back in form on Halfway 2, ultimately the Amigos sponsored Focus crew would end the day on the final step of the podium.

Weston meanwhile was setting a strong pace over the afternoon stages; joint quickest on Route 60 promoting the championship leader to second while a sensational time in Crychan 2 secured the runner up spot. Weston and Riddick ended the event just 14 seconds behind the winners; a story which may have been very different had they not lost 18 seconds to Bird over the first pass of Crychan and Halfway.

Behind, Charlie Payne, Stephen Petch and Jamie Anderson all started the day well; Payne and Petch joint fastest on stage 1 while Anderson claimed stage 2 victory to leave Payne and co-driver Carl Williamson in the lead of the event after the first pass of Route 60. But while Bird set Crychan alight, Payne, Petch and Anderson began to lose touch; Payne sitting 24 seconds behind the Focus pilot at the Builth Wells service halt, while Petch and Anderson were 9 and 11 seconds further back respectively in 5th and 6th.

Whilst both Petch and Anderson were quicker than Payne on certain stages of the afternoon loop, their inconsistency ultimately allowed the Amigos Fiesta to wrap up 4th position. Anderson had gone into the final stage just five seconds adrift of the Yorkshire man, but instead of challenging Payne, a slow time relegated the Mitsubishi driver back to 6th. Petch had earlier fallen behind Anderson courtesy of a couple of overshoots in route 60, however 4th and 5th quickest times in stages 7 and 8 were enough to re-gain 5th by the time the cars arrived back at Builth Wells.

Further back, 10th overall would secure Dylan Davies and Llion Williams top spot in class B13, beating the older specification Subaru of Sara Williams and Mark Glennerster to class honours by 51 seconds.

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All this leaves David Weston and Kirsty Riddick sitting pretty at the top of the BTRDA points table with a whopping 173 points from their first 6 events of the season. However it is not over yet as three wins for Bird over the final three events would guarantee the Gold star crown.

HYUNDAI GENPOWER PRODUCTION CUP

Ever a close battle, the Nicky Grist Stages proved no different with the Mitsubishi Evo 9s of Roland llewellin, Tom Naughton and Patrick Naylor fighting it out for event honours in the top show-room class.

While regular front runners, Russ Thompson and Andy Murphy appeared off the pace, Roland Llewellin and Jamie Edwards were most defintiely not; recording 10th and 11th quickest times overall on the opening two tests to open up a 2 second class lead over the chasing pack. And while Naughton was able to fight back in Halfway, Llewellin and Edwards were faster in Crychan leaving them returning to Builth Wells with a 3 second lunch time lead.

Llewellin was again quicker on stage 5, but Naughton took stage 6, leaving the pair separated by just 2 seconds with 13.5 miles remaining. The great battle would however come to a premature end in stage 7 as Llewellin and Edwards left the road in Halfway, sadly bringing to an end what had been a great performance.

As a result the path was clear for series stalwarts Tom Naughton and Andi Mort to claim victory by 11 seconds from the chasing Pat Naylor and Ian Lawrence. Russ Thompson and Andy Murphy meanwhile made up for their slow start to the event, recovering to claim third in class by the finish.

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After a morning battle with Tony Simpson, Ben Crealey and Phil Hall dominated class N3 in their Fiesta ST, climbing 22 positions over the afternoon loop to finish the event in 61st overall, taking class honours by 1 minute and 17 seconds.

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RAVENOL SILVER STAR

In a packed 2 wheel drive field it was the front wheel drive Citroen DS3 of Callum Black and Paul Wakely who got the better of their rear wheel driven rivals to claim the Nicky Grist Stages Silver Star honours.

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Rudi Lancaster had started the event well and found himself leading the Silver Star category after stage 1. However a quick time for Black in Crychan left the DS3 driver with a 10 second lead at the the Builth Wells service halt. In fact Lancaster, accompanied by George Gwynn, had an up and down day in terms of stage times but ended on a real high to jump from 4th to 2nd on the final stage of the event; claiming top historic honours in the process with 24th position overall.

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Meanwhile Black and Wakely were consistently the quickest 2 wheel drive machine over the second half of the event, taking 19th position overall and extending their Silver Star lead to almost 1 minute by the end of the rally.

Fourth place in the Silver Star section went to Max Utting and Mike Ainsworth in their Fiesta ST. After a day long battle with the MK2 Escort of Boyd Kershaw, Utting and Ainsworth claimed class B11 honours after turning around a 27 second deficit on the final stage; Kershaw and co-driver Bryan Hull unluckily suffering from a double puncture on the longest stage of the event.

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It was all Ford affair in class B10, as Mike Harris and Steven Davey overturned a 10 second lunch time deficit to claim a 4 second victory over championship class leader Rhys Yates. 28th quickest time on the final stage, 7 seconds quicker than Yates, rounded off a great afternoons work for the Southern England based crew.

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Meanwhile, within the Historic cup, David Lloyd Roberts and Dei Jones defeated the fellow Escort crew of Neal James and Kevin Jones by 16 seconds to claim class H2; a lead grasped on stage 2 and never relinquished although a slow time on stage 8 somewhat narrowed the final class margin.

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And last but not least, Barry Jordan and James Gratton-Smith claimed top spot in class H1, bringing their Hilman Avenger home in a very credible 63rd position overall, a result that would have been even better but for a slow time on the final stage.

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KICK START 1400

Ash Slights and Alex Lee claimed a very well deserved first ever 1400 category victory on the Nicky Grist Stages, bringing their Toyota Yaris home in 30th position overall, 4th two wheel drive across the line.

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David Bennett and Alistair McNeil would have been many observers pre event favourites, however the Vauxhall Corsa crew were out of contention before the event had really gotten started, suffering from drive Shaft issues as early as stage 1.

Instead it was Dave Brick and Ryan Weston who mounted the main challenge, with both crews in front of the Yaris after 3 of the morning stages. However, as with many of the classes, Crychan was the turning point as Slights leapt into the category lead with 24th quickest time overall.

From then on, the York man never looked back, setting fastest class time on all remaining stages to take 1400 victory by 26 seconds. Weston in his Proton meanwhile had the beating of Brick’s Nova over the afternoon loop to claim 2nd in class and cement his place at the top of the championship points table. This could yet turn out to be a very good year for the Weston family.

Fourth position overall in the 1400 class represented yet another fantastic result for Keith and Mairi Riddick in their 1400C specification MG ZR; the Scottish duo claiming class victory by a massive 2 minutes and 41 seconds!

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VITAL EQUIPMENT RALLY FIRST

Nick Carr and Joe Sturdy claimed overall rally first victory in their 1400cc VW Lupo, beating 1600cc class victors, Matthew Thompson and Charlotte Banner by 24 seconds. Meanwhile John and Duncan Freeman claimed top spot in the 1 litre class with their Nissan Mica.

RESULTS

FULL RESULTS

The Ludlow based Woodpecker Stages is next up for the BTRDA crews, where Bird must win again to keep the pressure on David Weston. Having claimed Woodpecker victory in 2014, the prospects look good for the Focus WRC man …

IMAGES

Standard prints are available HERE

For JPEGS or any other enquiries please get in touch via paul.commons@yahoo.co.uk

All images © Paul Commons (Paul Commons Motorsport Photography)

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Riponian Rally Victory No.9 for Payne

February 25, 2015 paulcommons1983 Leave a comment

Charlie Payne and Andrew Roughead were in a class of their own on the 2015 Riponian Stages; claiming all but 2 fastest times to take victory by over 2 minutes from mighty impressive historic winners, Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis. This being the 9th occasion the Ripon man has claimed victory on the event following successes in 92, 93, 2000, 01, 09, 11, 12 and 13!

Having missed this event in 2014 it was good to heading back to the little used forests surrounding Helmsley for the Riponian Stages Rally; a collaboration between Ripon Motor Sports Club and Whitby and District Motor Club resurrecting the event from what seemed like the end after last years running. Disappointingly, an entry list that was lower than anticipated meant that the competitive mileage was cut from 44 to 39, achieved however without the loss of any of the 14 stages, allowing the unique nature of the event to be maintained.

It was positively Baltic at the Thirsk rally HQ for ‘sign on’ and unsurprisingly the conditions in Wass for stage 1 were a tad on the slippery side. While Robinson and Collis were without doubt the most spectacular through the final part of the stage, it was Payne who went quickest setting a time that was 3 seconds faster than both the Focus WRC of Peter Stephenson and Ian Windress and the Escort Cosworth of Ian Joel and Graeme Wood. This trend would then continue over the morning loop with stage wins in College Moor, Pry Rigg, Waterloo, Riccal Dale, Roppa and Boltby allowing Payne to eek out a 19 second lead over Stephenson at the halfway service point with Joel a further 11 seconds adrift.

As anticipated the heavens opened after lunch which made the afternoon loop of stages a completely different challenge for the remaining crews; torrential rain where we were in Waterloo, but snow and sleet for the stages on higher ground. And while Payne continued to take stage victories, a string of second quickest times brought Ian Joel ever closer to the Focus WRC of Peter Stephenson; eventually snatching second on stage 10 after the event sponsor was only able to register 34th quickest time in Pry Rigg and subsequently forced into retirement.

Robinson and Collis were clearly revelling in the conditions; the pair never outside the top four stage times over the afternoon loop, even clocking fastest time overall on the second running of Roppa to end Charlie Payne’s clean sweep of stage victories! They were even gaining on the 4WD Cosworth of Joel and Wood, as the number 3 seeds only managed 16th quickest time in Riccal Dale and 5th in Roppa, leaving them separated by just 32 seconds heading into the Boltby finale.

The gap appeared unbridgeable but Robinson clearly had the bit between his teeth and went on to set second quickest time in the final stage. A time which Joel was not able to match; in fact he lost 1 minute and 21 seconds to the Ripon man, dramatically dropping to the final step of the overall podium. Payne and Roughead meanwhile had a controlled run through Boltby, registering only the 4th quickest time but still achieving a winning margin of 2 minutes and 15 seconds over the MK2 Escort of Robinson and Collis.

HISTORIC

Robinson and Collis utterly dominated the historic section of the event; setting top six stages times all day to claim victory by almost 3 minutes. However the battle behind was a much closer affair.

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While David Goose and Dick Wardle started well, they gradually slipped back as the pace heated up, leaving a 3 way battle for the runner up spot between the MK2 Escort of Charlie Taylor and Alan Ward, the similar machine of Paul Street and Jim Goodman and the Opel Kadett of Peter Smith and Matt Edwards.

The trio remained close in terms of times throughout the day but it appeared as though the final order was all but settled after the penultimate snow covered Roppa test; Taylor managing to increase his margin over Mansfield man, Paul Street, to 21 seconds with the Swift Caravans backed Kadett 10 seconds further back. However, Street and Goodman put in a sensational final stage performance to set fastest time overall and come within 2 seconds of snatching second in class from Taylor and Ward; their stage time a whole 6 seconds quicker than the 4WD Fiesta of Charlie Payne!

Behind the raging H3 battle, Barry Jordan and James Gratton-Smith in the combined H1 & H2 class had a less pressurised run to victory. The Avenger crew putting in some solid times, especially over the final two tests, to end the day in 16th position overall.

Jordan

CLASS D

After the morning loop of stages the class was lead by the Porsche Boxster of Ian Jemison and Dean Kellett who were holding a 29 second lead over the BMW of Jon Finch and Paul Vasey. Citroen DS3 crew, Richard Sykes and Simon Taylor, were clearly one of the quickest in class but were 2 minutes 36 seconds behind Jemison courtesy of a 3 minute penalty for an early arrival at Pry Rigg.

Again quicker in the afternoon, a joint fastest time overall in Waterloo was the turning point for Sykes and Taylor; still sitting 5th in class but now less than a minute behind new class leaders Finch and Vasey. 5th soon became 2nd after 4th fastest time overall in Riccal Dale; and with the FWD machine clearly working well in the wet and snow the amazing fight back was completed on the very last stage of the event. The Black Country man managed to overturn an 8 second deficit to take class victory by a mere 3, ending the day in 21st position overall. Had it not been for the penalty they would in fact have finished 10 places higher.

Sykes

CLASS C

Class C, as always, was one of the most competitive on the event and while Nick Dobson and Steve Pugh went 7th quickest overall on stage 1, a spin in College Moor dropped them back. Instead it was the consistent Nick Cook, with Jemma Champion on the notes, who held the lead at the halfway service point with Dobson 20 seconds adrift. Chris Haigh and Sally Peacock in their MK1 were another 20 seconds back while the MK2 of Andy Gibson and Chris Pattison was lying 4th.

Ilkley based Dobson, keen to make up for lost time, put in a string of good times after lunch to get within 14 seconds of Cook’s MK1 with just 3 stages remaining. However disaster struck in Riccal Dale as an off in 4th gear ended he and Steve Pugh’s charge. With the pressure off, Cook and Champion upped their speed, registering 3rd, 4th and 3rd quickest times overall on the final 3 stages to come within a whisker of dislodging the Evo 2 of Andy Rowe and Cat Lund from 4th place overall!

Cook

CLASS B

From the outset it was clear that Class B would become a duel between the Peugeot 206 of Barry Lindsay and the 205 of Ben Cree. And by the halfway point the duo were separated by just 13 seconds in 14th and 16th overall respectively. In fact try as Cree and co-driver Richard Shores might they couldn’t quite match the speed of Lindsay’s 206; the margin between the pair growing to 33 seconds by the end of the event. Barry Lindsay, with Caroline Lodge on the notes, ending the day with a 7th fastest time to claim 11th position overall.

Lindsay

CLASS A

Smith

Mat Smith and Giles Dykes put in a dominant performance in their Proton Satria; the current BTRDA 1400 champions registering 3 top 5 stage times on their way to a fantastic 6th position overall and a 2 minute 41 second class win. Behind, Daniel and Matthew Thompson had a great run in their Peugeot 205 registering a phenomenal 5th fastest time in the tough Boltby finale to claim a very well deserved 18th overall and 2nd in class.

IN SUMMARY

Along with Peter Stephenson, Charlie Payne probably had the highest specification machine on the entry list but given the changeable, tricky conditions, it was far from a case of just driving round the stages to take the victory. In fact the large winning margin represented a mighty fine, controlled drive and a great way to follow up his 4th overall on the previous weeks Wyedean Forest Rally.

From my perspective It was great to back in these little used stages; Wass being another new stage visited to tick off the list. Prior to the event I had been worried about what to expect in light of the MSA’s open letter regarding spectator and media problems and the cancellation of stages. However the organisers handled the difficult situation perfectly. This event has to stay alive as rallying cannot lose these stages. We can only hope that 2016 will bring a few more entries.

RESULTS

FULL RESULTS

For digital images, professional prints or any other requirements please email me at paul.commons@yahoo.co.uk.

Paul Bird and Aled Davies ended David Weston’s BTRDA winning streak by taking Nicky Grist Stages victory for the second consecutive year; as a result putting themselves firmly back in the title fight.

HYUNDAI GENPOWER PRODUCTION CUP

RAVENOL SILVER STAR

KICK START 1400

VITAL EQUIPMENT RALLY FIRST

RESULTS

FULL RESULTS

IMAGES

HISTORIC

CLASS D

CLASS C

CLASS B

CLASS A

IN SUMMARY

RESULTS

Motorsport Reporting & Photography