Revolution Series – Round 1, London

Another Winter closes in and the draw of the velodrome is too much to ignore. After taking in the London Six Day last year we swapped it out for the Revolution Series this year. With the opening round down in Lee Valley and the final to come in Manchester, just 6 weeks after, we will be getting closely acquainted with the cycling stars once more. Arguably the cream of the crop were to be found in the Women’s races with Lizzie Deignan making a rare excursion from the road to take on the likes Dani Rowe (nee King), Katie Archibald and Elinor Barker (and that is just the Brits). With Ed Clancy riding in the JLT Condor kit too we were guaranteed good racing.

VSCC Cotswold Trial

Just a week after our first visit to Shelsley Walsh, we made our first foray to Prescott for the VSCC Cotswold Trial. The day started out overcast and okay but soon descended in to light drizzle that refused to budge for the rest of the day. It made many of the hills very challenging, even at Prescott. Still it all part of the challenge and with multiple classes to fight for here are the trophy winners from the event – The Harold Powell Cup to the overall winner – Wiliam McVicker; the Inderwick Cup to the best Vintage Car – Stephen Fathers; the Cotswold Cup to the best Class 0 Car – George Gosling; and the DHO Spirit of the Cotswold Trial Award – Annie Scaldwell.

RAC Rally

A true epic saw the 91 starting crews take in 30 stages across England, Scotland and Wales, in the 260+ stage mile event. It all started st Shelsley Walsh with a run up the hill climb and a historic first ever competitive run down the hill to follow. Jason Pritchard & Phil Clarke (Escort MkII) lead by a single second after the opening pair of stages before the real meat of the rally began. Roger Chilman & Bryan Thomas (Escort MkII) set fastest time by 18 seconds through Radnor, to lead Pritchard by 9 seconds with Steve Bennett & Osian Owen (Escort MkII) third overall. Pritchard was joint fastest with Matt Robinson & Sam Collis (Escort MkII) on Gwibedog but fastest on the Epynt stage put Pritchard back in to the lead as the crews headed up to Carlisle. Chilman was 2nd overall, just 9 seconds back with Rudi Lancaster & Guy Weaver (Escort MkII) just over half a minute back in 3rd place.

Neil Howard Stages

Our 3rd trip to this rally saw overnight rain play havoc on the opening stage. Paul Swift & Cat Lund were the surprise early leaders, beating the numerous 4WD crews in their RWD Escort MkII. Kevin Procter & Derek Fawcett (Fiesta R5) then took over the lead on stage 2 and through a series of fastest stage times took victory by a very comfortable minute and a half. Swift kept high up until his gearbox started to develop issues, forcing his retirement on the penultimate stage. Steve Simpson & Patrick Walsh (Fiesta R5) had snatched 2nd place from Swift mid event but in the 2nd half of the event came under increasing pressure from Chris West & Keith Hounslow (306 Maxi) who got to within 4 seconds of 2nd overall.