Wyedean Media Day

Almost 2 months after our last outing we finally chalked up our first event of 2010, the Wyedean Media Day. This year the event returned to Chepstow Racecourse with guests able to sample the Piercefield Park stage, in the reverse direction to how it is run on the actual rally. A number of local crews were there, with a large number of Escorts (MkI & MkII) dominating proceedings. Our thanks go to all at FODMC for arranging the day and Graham Waite who took us out for a spin in his Volvo Amazon.

Grizedale Stages

The delights of Grizedale forest were the destination for our final event of the year. Once the seeded entry list was completed everyone expected a victory for the Focus WRC of Paul Bird & Kirsty Riddick but they still had to deliver. They did this with applomb and their final victory margin was just shy of two minutes. Alex Allingham & Mark Glennerster (Impreza) took second place by just 10 seconds from the Focus WRC of Mike O’Brien & Patrick Walsh. The historic section was won by Nick Woodman & Simon Mills (Escort MkII) whilst 1400 honours went to the Nova of Graham Gaskell & Dave Gibson.

Premier Rally

Our penultimate outing of the year saw us head to Mansfield for the Premier Rally. The rally started much later than usual ensuring that the second half of the rally would be in the dark. This was an interesting variation to the rally which allowed a more leisurely start to the day. Michael O’Brien & Patrick Walsh took a dominant victory in their Focus WRC from the similar but older model of Robert Swann & Darren Garrod. Completing the podium were Phil Brown & Andy Bull (Impreza).

RAC Rally

Another epic 3 days in Northern England and Southern Scotland was had by all, even if the weather conditions proved a little trying. Now in it’s 6th year the Roger Albert Clark had it’s sixth different winner as Gwyndaf Evans took a comfortable victory, only letting the pace ease in the final two stages. He was co-driven in the Viking Motorsport Escort MkII by the 2008 winning co-driver John Millington. Behind them was an impressive Jeremy Easson & Alun Cook in their Escort MkI, who kept the car on the road and out of any major dramas. The main battle on the final day was for 3rd place. Paul Griffiths & Sam Collis (Escort MkII) just held on by 3 seconds from the hard charging Steve Bannister & Kevin Rae (Escort MkII).

Tempest Rally

Our annual trip to the Aldershot/Farnborough area saw us take in the 2009 Tempest Rally. Now in it’s familiar format of two rallies, one for 4WD and one for the 2WD crews, we managed to take in several stages. In the 4wd rally Will Nicholls & Nick Broom (Impreza WRC) took a comfortable victory once the attentions of Marcus Dodd & Alun Cook (Accent WRC) disappeared with retirement at the mid-point of the event. It was the Focus WRC pairings of Andrew Barnes & Guy Simmons along with John Lloyd & Adrian Cavenagh who took second and third respectively.

Rally GB

It all came down to the final round where it was winner take all between Mikko Hirvonen (Focus WRC) and Sébastien Loeb (C4 WRC). The Frenchman took the lead early on and two crucial stages on the Saturday morning loop saw his lead grow to almost half a minute, then when the bonnet flew open on the Finn’s Focus WRC on Sunday morning, Hirvonen had a fight on his hands to take second place let alone the win he needed. Congratulations to Sébastien Loeb & Daniel Elena on their sixth consecutive World Championship title. Mikko Hirvonen & Jarmo Lehtinen were runners up for the second year in a row in the title race and took second on Rally GB by just a second from Dani Sordo & Marc Marti (C4 WRC) who impressed with a good result on the gravel and mud.

Cambrian Rally

With a host of extras out testing from the WRC, as well as all the titles still to be decided, the 2009 Cambrian Rally promised to be something special. Taking the victory laurels were Mads Ostberg & Jonas Andersson in the final works specification Impreza S14 WRC after a scintillating drive, swapping times with the 0 car of Mikko Hirvonen. Everyone else was battling for second place overall and initially Andy Burton & Shelley Rogerson (Peugeot Cosworth) held that place, even beating Ostberg by one second on stage 2, a fair achievement for the home built car now over 12 years old! It all came to nought on stage 4 though with retiremnet in Penmachno North. 2008 Cambrian Rally winners Hugh Hunter & Andy Marchbank (Focus WRC) had edged in front of Steve Perez & Paul Spooner (Focus WRC) to hold second place at the end of stage 4. A small slide on the final stage for Perez ensured the 2008 BTRDA Gold Star champions finished with second place overall.

Gareth Hall Memorial Rally

Not too bad a day up at Trawsfynydd this year which saw the second running of the Gareth Hall Memorial Rally, as a stage event. After the overnight dampness passed by the broken tarmac dried up and the crews could really attack the stages. Gavin & Aled Edwards took victory by 25 seconds in their Escort MkII, with Ken Pugh & Gwawr Hughes second in their Lancer Evo 3. Completing the podium, just a further two seconds back, were Richard Lewis & Emma Davies (Escort MkII).

Trackrod Rally

A glorious day was what North Yorkshire delivered for this years Trackrod Rally, where the culmination of several championships would make it a decisive event. In the Historic Cup the overall victory was played out by the Escort MkII’s. It was the controlled but fast pace of Julian Reynolds & Ian Oakey that took a 35 second victory from the flambuoyant Martin McCormack & Jim Goodman, who won on the entertainment stakes. Completing the podium, and wrapping up the Classic category, were Darren Moon & Chris Parsons. Behind them though was a great non-Ford battle for 4th place. In the end Steve Magson & Geoff Atkinson (Ascona 400) pipped Rob Smith & Shaun O’Gorman (Chevette) by less than a second.

Woodpecker Rally

It all turned out well on this years Woodpecker as the Gravel championship joined the BTRDA series for the first time in a long time. With Haye Park running twice and the ANCRO crews using it a third time we buried ourselves in their for the day. Overall the National event was won comfortably by Steve Perez & Paul Spooner (Focus WRC) after the main challenge of Roger Duckworth & Mark Broomfield (Impreza WRC) subsided following a stage maximum on one of the runs through Radnor. 2nd went to Nik Elsmore & Craig Drew after an impressive run in their Evo IX. Completing the podium were Alan Cookson & Julian Wilkinson giving ‘Daisy’, the cow liveried Impreza WRC, a good final result before being sold. In the BTRDA, or the clubmans event, top spot went to Will Nicholls & Nick Broom (Impreza WRC). If the total times of the National field are included then Nicholls would have been leading Perez by 9 seconds, at this stage.