Carlisle Stages

Constant drizzle and rain blanketed Kielder forest for the final round of the British Historic and Scottish Rally Championships. In the BHRC it two way battle with Matt Edwards & Hamish Campbell (131 Abarth) needing to win and for Henri Grehan & Dan Petrie (Escort MkII) to finish lower than 4th. Edwards was fastest through the opening 3 stages but Grehan was 2nd overall. It all fell apart for Edwards on SS4 though as he retired and Grehan went on to take the BHRC victory and the 2022 title, in 6th overall. Tom Walster & Glyn Thomas (Escort MkII) were the 2nd 2WD crew home with Adrian Hetherington & Ronan O’Neill (Escort MkII) completing the 2WD podium.

Malcolm Wilson Rally

A total of 124 crews started the opening round of the 2022 BTRDA Rally Champiosnhip. Stephen Petch & Michael Wilkinson (Fiesta Rally2) set a total of 4 fastest stage times but it was a close run event as Ian Bainbridge & Will Atkins (Fabia R5) went fastest on the final two stages, closing in to just 16s. It was a tight rally overall as Jock Armstrong & Tom Woodburn (Fabia Proto) grabbed 3rd place on the final stage from Perry Gardener & Jack Bowen (Fiesta R5) by just 1s, with just 24s covering the top 4. Richard Hill & Pat Cooper (Evo IX) completed the top 5.

Cambrian Rally

The BRC and BTRDA kicked off their 2020 seasons at the Cambrian and it was local ace Matt Edwards, co-driven by Darren Garrod, who took his Fiesta R5 MkII to another win. It didn’t start out plain sailing though as Edwards was 4th, just over 3 seconds off early leaders Tom Cave & Dale Furniss (i20 R5). Edwards then went fastest on the 2nd stage to climb to 2nd place and this was followed up with another fastest time in Penmachno which would change the face of the rally. Cave dropped three and a half minutes, one of a number of crews to hit issues in the challenging stage. Edwards then continued setting fastest times on all but the final stage to take victory by just under 40s.

Grizedale Stages Rally

Wet and windy conditions gripped Grizedale forest as Ollie Mellors & Ian Windress (Iriz R5) took a 45s victory from Jock Armstrong & Cameron Fair (Impreza) but it has been far as simple as that. On the openong stage Mellors was the only competitor under 10 minutes some 23s faster than his nearest rival but 40s dropped on the following stage saw Armstrong leading from Thomas Preston & Carl Williamson (Fiesta WRC). Mellors had slipped down to 3rd place before the crews tackled the two runs of Dunnerdale with Preston closing in to just 7s of Armstrong, whilst Stephen Petch & Michael Wilkinson (Fiesta WRC) had closed in on Mellors for 3rd, just 3s behind.

Nicky Grist Stages

Grey clouds hung over the Epynt military ranges for the Nicky Grist Stages. Euan Thorburn & Paul Beaton (Focus WRC) were on the cusp of taking the championship with a perfect score, but they had 8 tricky stages to complete. The first stage went to plan but stage 2 saw Stephen Petch & Michael Wilkinson (Fiesta WRC) go fastest to close in on Thorburn. Stage 3 saw Thorburn attack and he took 14 seconds out of Petch and by the service break he held a 21s lead with another fastest stage time. 3 more fastest stage times across stages 5-7 saw Thorburn extend his lead to over a minute and a 3rd fastest time saw Thorburn & Beaton home to victory and a perfect score to confirm the 2019 championship title.

Thorburn thunders to Rallynuts Stages victory

Scottish rally driver Euan Thorburn continued the perfect start to his 2019 rallying season at the Rallynuts Stages today (13th April 2019) by taking a start-to-finish victory in his Ford Focus WRC with Paul Beaton on the notes.

Thorburn, from Duns in the Scottish borders, stunned his rivals by taking fastest stage time on each of the event’s six special stages, to win the Builth Wells based event by winning margin of 59 seconds. This victory ensures the duo maintain their 100% winning record this year, winning each of the four events contested.

Tyneside Stages Rally

On what will be our only visit to Otterburn this year, Peter Taylor & Andrew Roughead (Fiesta WRC) took a dominant win by over a minute. A total of 9 fastest stage times sealed the victory but after the first loop of 3 stages it was Rory Young & Allan Cathers (Fiesta R5) who were leading, courtesy of fastest times on stages 2 & 3. Young steadily drifted back through the rest of the rally, as expected in an R5 up against a WRC machine. He was caught up in an intense battle with another Fiesta WRC, this one driven by Stephen Petch & Michael Wilkinson.

Nicky Grist Stages Rally

The only mixed surface event on the BRC calendar saw Fredrik Ahlin & Torstein Eriksen (Fabia R5) take victory, regaining the championship lead in the process. Osian Pryce & Dale Furniss (Fiesta R5) had lead after the opening days 8 gravel stages but they stopped on the 4th stage of the tarmac stages and with that the championship lead too. Matt Edwards & Phil Clarke (Fiesta R5) took 2nd place, 47.6 seconds behind Ahlin, to back up Edwards fine 2nd place in Ypres. Completing the podium were Rhys Yates & Alex Lee (Fiesta R5) after a tight battle with Martin McCormack & David Moynihan (Fiesta R5) with just 3.7 seconds separating the pair. In the BRC Junior category Callum Devine & Keith Moriarty (Adam R2) took overall honours.