Tour of Epynt

In the end it all came down to who was fastest first on the 2013 Tour of Epynt. Steve Simpson & Patrick Walsh (Impreza WRC) almost threw away a 24 second lead they had steadily built up through the opening 3 loops of stages. On the penultimate loop Damien Cole & Craig Drew (Focus WRC) equaled the time of Simpson and then an indiscretion on the final stage almost changed the rally on the final stage. Simpson held on and denied Cole a first ever Tour of Epynt victory. Paul Bird & Aled Davies (Focus WRC) had dramas of their own dropping half a minute mid event but held on to clinch the final podium place.

Mid Wales Stages

There was a chill wind blowing on Pikes Peak and through Myherin as the Mid Wales Stages saw the start of the British Historic rallying season. A truly epic battle saw Nick Elliott & Dave Price (Escort MkII) take victory over Martin McCormack & Phil Clarke (Escort MkII) by just over 3 seconds. Both times we saw the crews McCormack was up and on the final stage it was clear to us there was a battle on from the pace of the top crews. Ryan Barrett & Barry Ferris (Escort MkII) completed the top 3, just over a minute further back. This was the RAC Rally Championship and back in the BHRC Championship David Stokes & Guy Weaver (Escort MkI) took a comfortable victory, also taking category 2. 2nd were Gareth James & Steffan Evans (Escort MkII) taking category 3 from Shawn Rayner & Declan Dear (Escort MkII). In category 1 Rikki Proffitt & Phill Harrison were victorious in their Porsche 911.

Malcolm Wilson Rally

Another long day up in the Lakes following the Malcolm Wilson Rally, (with camera issues for the 2nd year running too!). With a stunning WR car entry, dominated by Fords, it was difficult to pick a winner. In the end it was Euan Thorburn & Paul Beaton (Focus WRC) who came out victorious after a superb pair of stage times through Grizedale. Paul Bird & Carl Williamson had led up to the end of stage 3 in their considerably newer Focus WRC, but Grizedale was their undoing and whilst they went fastest through the final two stage, the damage had been done. Connor McCloskey & Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) completed the podium after losing 3rd place on stage 3 to Hugh Hunter & Andy Marchbank (Focus WRC). Hunter then duly retired before stage 4 and WRC Crew Mark Cronje & Robin Houghton (Fiesta WRC) briefly held 3rd before McCloskey regained it after the pair of Grizedale stages.