Tour of Flanders - 8-9 Sep 07

Posted: September 12, 2007 5:19 PM

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BHRC report, round seven: Historic Tour of Flanders
It took Jimmy McRae and Andy Richardson more than a dozen stages to get to the head of the British contingent on the Tour of Flanders in Belgium, but once ahead of Gareth Lloyd/Ian Oakey they took a well-deserved victory after a fabulous battle. Round seven of the 2007 Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship was a cracking event on the slippery asphalt of the Flanders region and many crews explored ditches. However, with title contenders David Stokes/Guy Weaver and Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride both winning their categories, the overall title will only be settled on the final round in Yorkshire.

  Category 1
Nutt/McBride put their Porsche 911 into control of category 1 right from the start and were never really troubled as they turned in a typically slick performance. The Porsche ran like clockwork and a commanding victory means that they are now the only crew capable of coming between Stokes/Weaver and the 2007 BHRC crown. "We've had a good clean run; we were just keeping it tidy," said Dessie who arrived at the end of the opening led with a lead of more than two minutes. A nicely controlled run through Sunday's eight stages completed a perfect result. Neil Calvert/Arlene Cookson tried to chase the Porsche, but found the nature of the Belgian stages not terribly well suited to the Lotus Cortina and had to accept that B4 victory and second in category 1 was their destiny after another strong run. The B2 contest was a very topsy-turvy affair, with three of the leading contenders experiencing varying degrees of drama in ditches. Clive King and Bob Ward put their Mini off on Saturday and were out for the day before the car could be retrieved. They restarted on Sunday with heavy penalties. Meanwhile, James Stait and Gill Cotton had the MG Midget flying and were on target to win, only to slide into a ditch on the De Ruiter stage on Sunday and roll out of the rally. Instead, Terry Cree/Richard Shores, who had also lost time in a ditch on Saturday, claimed class victory in their Mini Cooper S. "There was no damage, we were lucky," said Cree of their ditch visit. B1 was a close run thing, with Gordon Cameron/Sheila Grimshaw winning in their Mini Cooper.  

Category 2
A mighty contest raged over category 2 and it was only settled on the penultimate stage of the rally when Stokes/Weaver battled ahead of Frank Cunningham/Arron Forde to claim a great victory. However, through Saturday it was a four-way contest as Steven Smith/Howard Pridmore headed Jeremy Easson/Alun Cook, Cunningham/Forde and Stokes/Weaver. Less than half a minute covered four cars overnight as the Porsche 911 set the pace. "I can't believe how competitive it is," said Easson on his first rally since the Robin Hood. Stokes, meanwhile, had lost time early on with brake dramas and was working hard to recover. Unfortunately, the opening two stages on Sunday pit two crews out as Smith had a gearbox input shaft failure and coasted to a halt. At about the same time, Easson suffered head gasket failure so it was now a two-way contest. Stokes, knowing that a category win was very important for his title bid, was throwing everything he had into catching Cunningham, but Frank was on a mission and driving a superb rally, reveling in new front brakes. As they came back to rally HQ for the final time, Stokes had done it by just seven seconds, having grabbed the lead on the penultimate stage, the final run at Zoning. Stokes had clearly given all that he had to give and the effort showed as he climbed out of the car. "Congratulations, you old fart!" said McRae, accepting that category 2 victory for Stokes had removed McRae's chance of winning the BHRC this year. "I couldn't do much more," said Cunningham after his best BHRC performance to date. A tightening gearbox had troubled him over the final leg of stages, but it had been a magnificent and sporting contest throughout. Behind the two leading crews, Craig Salter/Preston Ayres took third as Chris Browne/Ali Cornwell recovered to take fourth. Their rally had started badly when the gear lever broke off, with Chris waving the lever at his partner and asking for advice mid-stage. Top of class C4 and leading Porsche home was reward for a great run from Peter Lythell/Keith Fellowes, even though stopping to change a puncture on Rumbeke cost them three minutes and two places overall. "We're fighting back," said Lythell at the end of the leg. Peter Egerton/Russ Langthorne turned in a very tidy run to take C3 spoils in their Escort Mk1, while John Worthing/Bill Robertson (Escort Mk1) claimed a great victory in C2. Ken Forster/John Stanger-Leathes hit clutch failure early on Saturday, while Vince Bristow/Dean Mitchell had clutch trouble of their own later in the day but still took second in class, more than two minutes adrift.  

Category 3
The rally started badly for McRae/Richardson when the intercom failed on the first stage at Zilverberg. A resulting overshoot cost 10s and they ended the first leg 24s down on Lloyd/Oakey. It was to be the start of a mighty chase. "It's incredibly slippery," reported Lloyd after the opening leg, knowing that McRae would be attacking on every stage. Little by little the gap came down and by the end of the day's 12 stages, Lloyd had just five seconds in hand. "He's hanging in there," said McRae with a smile, knowing that he had eight more stages on Sunday to go after the WWRS car. Sure enough, the lead changed hands on the 12km Izegem stage, the second on Sunday. "We had a bad stage and Jimmy took 10s off us," said Lloyd, who continued to push but accepted that McRae just had the edge on pace. "The car has been faultless; we were just nibbling away all the time," said McRae. "It's been a fantastic event," added Lloyd as they congratulated each other at the finish. While McRae and Lloyd had battled, Martin Freestone/Michelle Calvert (Escort Mk2) slotted into a secure third place. "We just keep sliding off at the corners," said Freestone with a smile. The contest for D3 lost Chris Shooter/Bev LeGood with engine dramas on Saturday and it was Mark and Brett Clifford who set a scorching pace to win the class and finish in the top 10 overall. "We had a high revs misfire on Saturday, but swapped the coil and it's been okay since," said Clifford as they headed Richard Lane/Frank Richer to the class win.

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Full Results & News -
Tour of Flanders

• 2007 Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship

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PRE EVENT NEWS

• List of Entries to Date - Main Field and Historics
• BHRC preview, round seven: Historic Tour of Flanders
• BHRC asphalt awards to be settled in Belgium

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03/09/07
List of Entries to Date - Main Field and Historics

Tour of Flanders

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BHRC preview, round seven: Historic Tour of Flanders
Round seven the 2007 Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship is the third and final asphalt event on the schedule, the Historic Tour of Flanders (8/9 September).

The closed roads of the Roeselare region of Flanders in Belgium provide a unique challenge for the crews and the trip across the channel is always a popular event on the BHRC schedule. With only the Trackrod Historic Rally to follow Flanders, the championship battle is finely poised.

Current overall championship leaders David Stokes and Guy Weaver will be seeking maximum points in their Escort Mk1, but they know that good results for their two major rivals will keep the title race wide open when they head to Yorkshire in early October.
With six strong scores already recorded, Stokes/Weaver really need to win category 2 to improve their overall total as final positions are decided on the best six results. If Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride Porsche 911) win category 1 on both of the remaining events, they could win the title back, while two more category 3 wins for Jimmy McRae/Andy Richardson (Escort Mk2) could also grab the title. It really is too close to call just now.

Each of three title contending crews face significant rivals in Belgium and it is Nutt/McBride who perhaps face the biggest task against the Sunbeam Tiger of Patrick Watts/Elgan Davies. Having posted two retirements on the previous two asphalt events this summer, Watts will hop across the channel from his home in Kent determined to win in Flanders.

Leading the chase of the Tiger and the Porsche will be the Lotus Cortina of Neil Calvert/Arlene Cookson, and they should bag maximum class B4 points if they don’t hit problems. Meanwhile, a tremendous battle is in prospect in class B2 as the Mini Coopers of Clive King/Bob Ward, Terry Cree/Richard Shores and Mike Barratt/Jody Watson take on the MG Midget of James Stait/Gill Cotton. In B1, Gordon Cameron/Sheila Grimshaw return to the championship in their Mini Cooper.

Stokes and Weaver have two key rivals in category 2, and either could come between the championship leaders and a maximum score. Having missed the Harry Flatters Rally due to holiday commitments, Steven Smith is back in his Porsche 911, with Howard Pridmore on the pace notes as John Nichols is away on holiday. It’s been a rather mixed year so far for Smith, so he will be looking for a strong finish in Belgium.

Meanwhile, making a welcome return to the BRHC for only his second rally of the season will be Jeremy Easson, with Alun Cook on the pace notes in his Escort Mk1. He should be quickly onto the pace and will be right in the contest for category 2. Other strong runners in the category include the Escorts of Craig Salter/Preston Ayres, Frank Cunningham/Arron Forde, Neil Parsons/Chris Parsons and Graham Samuel/Tony Phillips. Adding strength to the Porsche contingent in category 2 will be the 911s of Peter Lythell/Keith Fellowes and Paul Drinkall/Roy Brown.

The Escort of Peter Egerton/Russ Langthorne heads class C3, while the C2 battle could be one of the highlights of the rally. For the first time on asphalt this year, the big three C2 crews will go head to head and it could be any of them taking the spoils when the rally finishes early on Sunday afternoon. Ken Forster/John Stanger-Leathes, John Worthing/Bill Robertson and Vince Bristow/Dean Mitchell are all tremendous competitors and there will probably be very little to choose between the trio of Escort Mk1s. However, the BHRC return of Robin Shuttleworth and Mark Midgley in their Escort Mk1 could make it a four-way contest.

In category 3, two crews stand out as the major threat to McRae/Richardson. Fresh from victory on the Harry Flatters a month ago, Gareth Lloyd will be very strong in his Escort Mk2. With regular co-driver Ryland James away organising an international event, Ian Oakey will partner Lloyd and they will be bang on the leading pace. Meanwhile, a dark horse could be the category 3 Porsche 911 of Adrian Kermode/Liz Jordan, which rejoins the BHRC for the Belgian event. Martin Freestone/Michelle Calvert will lead the chase in their Escort Mk2.

Finally, class D3 looks set to be a two-way contest between the Mk2 Escorts of Chris Shooter/Bev LeGood and Richard Lane/Frank Richer.

With a number of non-BHRC registered crews from Britain and a strong local entry, a field of over 70 historic cars will start the Tour of Flanders on Saturday morning.

The Historic Tour Flanders is organised by the Autoclub Midden Vlaanderen. For more details about the event

Tour of Flanders

• 2007 Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship

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22/08/07
BHRC asphalt awards to be settled in Belgium
The first major award in the 2007 Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship will be settled on the next round, the Tour of Flanders, when Dessie Nutt, Gareth Lloyd and David Stokes battle over the Water End Properties Asphalt Cup.

In addition to all the usual championship awards, Water End Properties is backing trophies for the best performance on asphalt rallies and the best performance on gravel rallies during the season.

The Tour of Flanders (8/9 September) is the third and final asphalt event on the calendar, so the destination of the asphalt trophy will be decided on the Belgian rally.

Heading into the seventh round of the BHRC, Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride (Porsche 911) are tied on 62 asphalt points with Gareth Lloyd/Ryland James (Ford Escort Mk2), and they are just one point ahead of David Stokes/Guy Weaver (Ford Escort Mk1). It is highly probable that one of these crews will win the award, although James is out of the running as he is missing Flanders while away organising an international event. Ian Oakey will take Lloyd's place in the ex-Roger Clark Escort for the trip to Belgium.

Water End Properties is a Bedfordshire based developer that specialises in providing high quality office buildings in unusual locations, usually rural areas or at the edge of towns.

"There are crews who are very good on the one surface who cannot get the recognition they deserve in the overall points' standings, and Water End Properties wanted to recognise their achievement," said managing director, Jeff Streule.

• 2007 Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship