Harry Flatters Rally

The first trip on to asphalt in this years BHRC and a full championship return for the Harry Flatters Rally. It saw an epic battle which led to victory for Gareth James & Steffan Evans (Escort MkII) beating Nick Elliott & Dave Price (Escort MkII) on a rare asphalt outing. The gap was just under 25 seconds but crucially Elliott failed to win category 3 for the first time this year whilst category 2 saw main title contenders Julian Reynolds & Patrick Walsh (Escort MkI) fight back from gearbox issues early on to win the category and finish 3rd overall just under a minute back.

Olympic Mens Road Race

My first taste of Olympic action and my first time catching a stage race in a few years. The atmosphere was electric on Box Hill and well we all know the result. Team GB had a well publicised plan to work for Mark Cavendish and get him to a sprint finish to launch the Manx Missile. But the other riders all knew this plan and ultimately the breakaways won and decided the medal places. It was Gold for Kazakstan with veteran rider Alexandre Vinokourov making a bold move to beat Columbia’s Rigoberto Uran Uran. The remaining pack fought out the battle for Bronze which was taken by Norway’s Alexander Kristoff.

Coracle Stages

The stunning weekend continued over in Wales for the Bill Gwynne Coracle Stages. The first stage at Sweet Lamb caused a number of crews to loose time as an advance arrow was misread by some crews as being on the corner and several crews took a wrong slot. Avoiding this pitfall were Matt Edwards & Will Rogers (Evo IX) who took a slender early lead. On stage 2 Tom Cave & Craig Parry (Impreza) took the lead and they extended it to 42 seconds by the end of the event. Edwards was a fantastic 2nd overall ahead of the Impreza WRC of Bob Ceen & Andy Bull.

Opposite Lock Rally

Another excellent day was had up at the Manby Motorplex. It saw a 2nd win for young Arron Newby in his Impreza, co-driven by Martyn Taylor. After the first stage Newby was 3rd fastest before taking the lead from Andrew Apperley & Joe Lea (Impreza) on stage 2. Apperley then took the lead once more by a single second on the 3rd stage before Newby took the lead on stage 4, one he would not relinquish again. Apperley then dropped back finishing a minute down on Newby and losing 2nd place on the final stage as Craig McIntosh & Mick Quinn (Escort Cosworth) nipped past to take the place by six seconds.

ALMC Stages

The conclusion to a mad weekend saw us take in our first event in Ireland, with the ALMC Stages Rally. The event was dominated by Melvyn Evans & Aled Davies (Impreza WRC) who eventually won by almost a minute and a half but the rest of the podium was not decided until the end of the very last stage. Damien Cole & James Morgan (Focus WRC) were in the box seat but a broken fly by wire throttle saw them drop over a minute, slipping back to 4th overall. This allowed James Belton & Mark Glennerster (Imprzea WRC) to take 2nd place with Steve Simpson & Patrick Walsh (Impreza WRC) a fine 3rd overall.

Nicky Grist Stages

After a break from motorsport for a few weeks we got straight back into the Nicky Grist Stages Rally, held on the gravel stages around the Epynt military ranges. The BTRDA championship is lining up to be a titanic battle with Shaun Gardener & Ben Innes (Evo 5.9) being the consistent scorers but taking the overall event wins are Hugh Hunter & Andy Marchbank (Focus WRC) and Roger Chilman & Bryan Thomas (Impreza WRC). Hunter and Chilman can no longer afford a DNF but it did not reduce the intensity of their battle. It was decided early on though as Hunter was in road mode for most of the 1st stage and then punctured on stage 2. Chilman had the win in hand and still set some fastest stage times through the rest of the event, winning by 17 seconds.