Mid Wales Stages

Our first visit to Sweet Lamb in 2010 saw us take in the Mid Wales Stages. It was bit of a stop start affair with numerous accidents on stage 1 resulting in many crews taking a notional time. Most dramatic was the excursion of Will Onions & Dave Williams (Escort MkII) who did fly through the 300m warning board in the flying finish, retiring as a result of the damage on landing. Nick Elliott & Dave Price (Escort MkII) had decided caution was the best approach before seeing Onions off from the stop line and they duly cruised to a comfortable victory, banishing the memories of their accident on the 2009 event. Behind them Gareth Lloyd & Ryland James (Escort MkII) took 2nd overall as they continued their comeback after taking time out in 2008 and 2009. Third were Rob Smith & Shaun O’Gorman (Chevette) with Classic cars once again completing the podium.

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Rally of the Midlands

Our local rally hosted the 4th round of the MSA Asphalt Rally Championship, which saw the most impressive field ever to take to these stages. Peter Lloyd & Graham Handley were debuting their Impreza WRC S14 but sadly failed to make it out on day 2. The overnight leaders however were in considerably older technology. In their Escort MkII Simon Mauger & Chris Butcher held a 12 second lead over Damian Cole & Craig Drew (Focus WRC) with championship leaders John Stone & Lee Carter (Fabia WRC) 3rd overnight. All three would feature in the final podium places at the end of the rally as MIRA provided the bulk of the mileage and decided the outcome.

Wheels

A great night down at the Blus Lias pub for the annual Wheels meeting, organised by the Coventry & Warwickshire Car Club. A whole range of cars were down there with a smattering of competition cars amongst the immaculate road cars. As expected there was a distinct British flavour to the cars with a whole host of local classics.

Dukeries Rally

A sad day in the East Midlands as rallying lost one of its shining lights. Martyn Lewis tragically lost his life in an accident on stage 7 of the Dukeries Rally. Our condolences go to his family, including his brother and co-driver Richard who is now recuperating at home. After the events of the day all the crews were very humble and the results took second place. In the rally Steve Perez & Paul Spooner (Focus WRC) took victory. Andrew Burton & Robin Kellard were leading by 15 seconds after stage 4 but they retired from the event as a precaution following the engine overheating during the 3rd and 4th stages. 2nd overall were Charlie Payne & Craig Thorley (Focus WRC) just pipping Damian Cole & Craig Drew (Accent WRC) on the final stage, after steadily increasing their pace all day.

Mini Epynt Stages

The 2nd Mini Epynt stages saw a maiden victory on the asphalt for Jason Pritchard & Dai Roberts (Impreza N15). They had to overcome a 30 second penalty for hitting a chicane but nonetheless came back to win by 6 seconds from the Darrian T90 of Mark Straker & Neil Harrison. Completing the podium were Bryan Davies & Alun Lewis (Evo VI) a further 10 seconds back. There were many entertainers throughout the field and this was an excellent rally using Epynt in one of the most imaginative layouts for many years. Well done Herefordshire Motor Club!

Severn Valley Rally

Another glorious day in mid Wales for dust and midges on the Severn Valley Rally. Whilst the field may have been small in the National rally there was an intense battle for the top spot with Jonny Milner & Ian Windress (Corolla WRC) just beating Roger Duckworth & Mark Broomfield (Impreza WRC) by just over ten seconds, after they exchanged fastest stage times throughout the event. 3rd place was keenly fought too as going into the final pair of stages Tom Cave & Ieuan Thomas (Satris Neo S2000) held third from Stephen Petch & John Richardson (Accent WRC) with Charlie Payne & Craig Thorley (Focus WRC) close behind in 5th. On the penultimate stage Petch snatched 3rd place from Cave with Payne closing in also, then on the final test Payne grabbed the final podium spot by just over a second leaving Petch 4th and Cave a highly creditable 5th in only his 2nd event in the S2000 car against WR cars.