Matthew Stroud and Sam Spencer recorded a superb maiden British Historic Rally Championship (BHRC) victory on a drama filled Trackrod Rally Yorkshire whilst Ben Smith and Damien Tourish wrapped up the respective 2026 BHRC Category 2 and Category 3 titles with 1 round still remaining.
With the wildfires leaving Langdale unavailable for 2025 the stage was once again left off the schedule in 2026 as the organisers managed to find all of the necessary mileage from the Dalby and Cropton forest complexes. This would lead to possibly the most compact Trackrod route on record that still delivered on it’s promise of single use stage mileage throughout Saturday.
Friday night however did not go to plan; the 12 miler scheduled for Dalby cancelled after the Mini Challenge runners following multiple accidents! This would instead leave blasts through Gale Rigg and then Cropton on Saturday morning as the opening tests for the National Historic crews with a now much shorter 42 mile event in-store.
Despite some recent rain the North Yorkshire Forest tracks would remain relatively dry and the all wheel driven turbo charged Mitsubishi’s of George and James Lepley appeared to revel in the mega fast conditions; James, with Simon Jones on the notes, 1 second quicker than his brother in the category 5 Mitsubishi Evo IV through Gale Rigg before George and co-driver Dafydd Evans (Galant VR4) set a stunning pace in Cropton to establish a near 7 second lead as the crews headed for the Filey service halt.
Dan Mennell (Ford Escort MK2) meanwhile had kept the leading Mitsubishi crews honest with 3rd fastest time on both morning tests to lead the rear wheel drive challenge with the similar machine of Matthew Stroud, the BMW M3 of Martin McCormack and further MK2 Escorts in the hands of Richard Hill, Paul Thompson and David Henderson rounding out the top 8.
The bulk of the rally distance would however lie ahead of the crews on the afternoon loop with 28 miles back to back starting with the dauntingly fast Givendale and followed up by blasts through Housedale and Staindale. And whilst the morning was relatively drama free the afternoon was anything but as the Dalby forest complex took it’s toll on the leading crews.
First to suffer were Martin McCormack and Barney Mitchell who were forced to park their BMW E30 M3 less than a mile from the end of stage 4 with a coil lead failure. And shortly after, and somewhat more dramatically, Dan Mennell’s day would come to a premature end also; he and co-driver John H Roberts rolling out of the rally after a nasty compression. Ford Escort MK2 pedallers, Richard Hill and David Henderson would also have stories to tell with Henderson emerging with significant co-driver side damage but able to continue whilst Hill was forced to retire before the start of the next stage with a worrying vibration.
With their closest challenger now condemned to the retirement list you could have been forgiven for thinking the Lepley brothers had it in the bag but this was proving to be a very tough rally. Indeed James Lepley and Simon Jones would in fact never make the start of stage 5 with a fuel related issue whilst George Lepley and Dafydd Evans made it all the way to the last 3 miles of Staindale before their Galant VR4 succumbed to a prop shaft failure! A gut wrenching story of what might have been for the Newark based brothers!
Minding their own business on the morning loop but sitting in a strong fourth at service Stroud and Spencer would never in their wildest dreams have imagined they would top the time sheets by the end of the day! However a rapid time in Givendale coupled with issues for seemingly everyone else put them in prime position to take advantage of the leading Mitsubishi crews’ misfortunes and take an a excellent, well deserved, first BHRC victory by a healthy 25.6 seconds! After all, as the age old saying goes, “to finish first, first you have to finish”.
Despite a minor excursion in Givendale, David Henderson and co driver Jack Bowen, had climbed 4 places by the end of stage 4 and would climb all the way to second by the end of the event, topping off a strong drive with fastest time in the Staindale finale. Not a bad return at all considering it was Henderson’s first outing since last year’s RAC.
Never really in contention for victory throughout, Damien Tourish and Kevin Duggan had the championship in mind and set their pace accordingly. And with all the troubles encountered by their leading rivals it proved a rewarding strategy; the Irish duo bagging third overall in the Historic event and with it the Category 3 BHRC title. A fantastic achievement considering 2026 represented their first foray onto English and Welsh gravel!
The top 5 would be rounded out by the Ford Escort MK2 of Paul Thompson and Josh Davison and the gorgeous RSD prepared Fiat 131 of Jack Mathewson and Tom Spencer. Whilst just 1 place further back Ben and Steven Smith would claim their 6th maximum score of the year to wrap up the BHRC Category 2 title aboard their Porsche 911 RS.
Suffering with an overheating issue for most of the day the Dansport prepared Porsche crew would have been happy just to make the finish and ecstatic to have come away with the championship. Inter category competition may not have been as strong as seasons past but the father and son duo proved their credentials with some excellent results throughout the season and deservedly sit in pole position to take the overall title on the season ending Anglo Caledonian Rally.
Elsewhere Historic class victories would go the way of Baz Jordan and Arwel Jenkins (H16) in their Mitsubishi Evo VI, Gary Cooper and Jon Riley (H3) in their Ford Escort MK1, the Ford Escort MK2 of Carl Studdard and Richard Wise (H6), Bradley Howlett and Nick Vandevenne (H5) in their Talbot Avenger, the Ford Escort Mexico of Robin Shuttleworth and Malcolm Smithson (H2) and Phil Hall and Nathalie Rutten (H9) aboard their Skoda Favorit.
Meanwhile Elliot Payne and Patrick Walsh would take a second victory in as many events aboard the IN Sport prepared Skoda Fabia RS Rally2. Despite a seemingly comfortable 24.7 second wining margin the Anglo / Welsh pairing did not have it all their own way as the Similar machine of Daniel Sigurðarson and Ásta Sigurðardóttir held top spot after the morning loop. However a slow time in Housedale for the Icelandic crew, combined with a step up in pace over the afternoon loop for Payne and Walsh ensured the number 1 seeds would take the Trackrod Forest Stages spoils.
GALLERY
