Mid Wales Stages - Mar 14

WWRS R.A.C. Rally Championship award winners announced

Posted: March 5, 2014 1:51 PM

The special award winners for the second round of the West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Rally Championship have been announced following the Mid Wales Stages (2 March).

Robert Cholmondeley and Dave Evans were unfortunate enough to post the first retirement of the rally when their Ford Escort Mk2 developed problems on the way to the opening stage. The last retirement was the Ford Escort Mk1 of Chris Browne/Ali Cornwell-Browne, which went off on the final stage of the rally. Both crews will receive a £100 voucher from West Wales Rally Spares, as will Toyota Starlet crew Layton Waters and Kevin Bowcott after their number came out of the hat in the draw for a third voucher.

Meanwhile, Ford Anglia crew Peter Stimson and Mark Butler will receive a cheque for over £300 from Holton Homes after their number came out in the draw for a refund of 50% of the event entry fee.

The new Kumho Clubmans Challenge was another great success, with 28 crews electing to contest the Challenge for cars using no more than six tyres during the event. Once again, the top overall finishers in the Challenge were Tim Freeman and Paul Wakely (Ford Escort Mk2) who finished just outside the overall top 10.

Category winners in the Kumho Clubmans Challenge were
Gwilym Roberts/Don James (Lotus Cortina) in Category 1,
Terry Cree/Richard Shores (BMW 2002) from Category 2,
Freeman/Wakely in Category 3,
Tom Coughtrie/Calvin Cooledge (Ford Escort Mk2) in Category K and
Layton Waters/Kevin Bowcott (Toyota Starlet) in Category O.
Tim Freeman won two tyres from Kumho for his Ford Escort Mk2 in the draw for Challenge contenders.

The ‘Spirit of the Rally’ product award from Fuchs Lubricants goes to Darren Moon and Alan Walker for a tremendous sixth overall in their Ford Escort Mk2. It was Walker’s first time co-driving for many years and his first time on route notes, so their performance was all the more creditable and they had a lot of laughs with other crews in the process.

Mike Tomkinson and Shaun Whitehurst won the Best Improvement on Seeding, which is a set of axle brake pads from Mintex, after an excellent run in their Ford Escort Mk2.

Owen Murphy won the ‘Hard Charger’ award of a 20-litre jerry can from Green Valley Industrial Supplies. His pace in the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus was outstanding and he finished fourth overall, right up among the fastest Ford Escorts.

Elliott/Price win WWRS R.A.C. Rally Championship round two

Posted: March 5, 2014 1:44 PM

Nick Elliott and David Price took a resounding victory on the Mid Wales Historic Stages (Sunday 2 March), the second round of the West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Rally Championship. It was their fourth win in five years on the rally that takes in classic stages in the Myherin and Hafren forest complexes.

Once again, Ray Cunningham and Gary McElhinney (Mini Cooper) were the stars of Category 1 as they saw off a very strong field to take the spoils and maximum points in the Aldon Automotive Mini and Imp Cup. Meanwhile, David Stokes and Guy Weaver (Ford Escort Mk1) made a strong championship debut to win Category 2. Other category winners included Darren Moon/Alan Walker (Ford Escort Mk2) in Category K and Simon Crook/Alister Crook (Opel Manta) in Category O.

With 75 registered contenders starting the rally, the Newtown-based event set a new record for the R.A.C. Rally Championship and fans packed the stages to watch the action despite poor weather.

The classic Welsh forest stages were made slippery and extremely challenging by steady rain, but Elliott and Price took control from the opening stage at Pikes Peak. With a 28s lead going into the final stage, Elliott took a steady approach and that helped Matthew Robinson/Sam Collis to pull back 10s to leave the margin of victory at 17.6s. Meirion Evans and Iwan Jones made it three Ford Escort Mk2s on the overall podium before the flying Sunbeam Lotus of Owen Murphy/James O’Brien.

Right from the start, Elliott stamped his authority on the event. He went seven seconds ahead and then extended his lead with another push in Myherin. The long 15-miler that started in Sweet Lamb and then moved into Hafren added another 10s to Elliott’s lead and, after the shorter Hafren South, he headed out of the second service for the final Pikes Peak stage with a 28s margin.

As co-driver Price pointed out, it was a repeat of the Red Kite scenario and that had ended in disaster. Elliott admitted to feeling under some pressure, but he drove within himself and allowed Robinson to nibble back 10s.
“I just wanted to get through that one cleanly and I did back off a bit,” said Elliott.

“It’s been a tough day and there was very little grip,” added Elliott, who had a scare on Saturday when an ignition problem developed during a shakedown test. Fortunately, it was finally traced to a faulty rotor arm and all was well for the start on Sunday morning.

However, Robinson was content with second and another strong result.
“We had a steady day: the last stage was mega and I loved the downhill section,” said Robinson. He had 40s in hand over Evans and Iwan Jones, but it was another result that showed just what rapid progress road rally ace Evans is making on gravel.

Meanwhile, Murphy drove a fine rally to get right up among the Escorts on stages he’d not seen before. “The stages are great, but we just don’t know them,” said the Irish driver. “But we’re getting there,” he added of the ever-improving Sunbeam project, which also topped class D4.

Early championship leader Richard Hill and new co-driver Steffan Evans had an average day and a minute lost on Myherin to what Hill described as pilot error left them down in fifth and just clear of Darren Moon/Alan Walker, who had a great run as Walker delivered notes for the very first time. “The co-driver has been faultless,” said Moon. They topped the FIA class for Appendix K cars, and edged Tomas Davies/Eurig Davies back to seventh overall by two seconds.

Notable retirements in Category 3 included Jason Pritchard/Phil Clarke with a broken halfshaft and Terry Brown/Den Golding with a broken anti-roll bar in the Sweet Lamb bowl. Brown had been well on the pace over the first two stages.

Once again, one of the drives of the rally came from Ray Cunningham and Gary McElhinney as they claimed Category 1 victory in their Mini Cooper S against some serious opposition. “Absolutely brilliant,” said the Galway driver. “Pikes Peak was something else: I loved it!”

Simon Wallis and Graham Wride made the initial Category 1 pace and still set the best time as they finished Myherin on three cylinders. That was down to a suspected dropped valve and they retired the Lotus Cortina at first service. Meanwhile, Bob Bean and Malcolm Smithson went out with steering damage in their Cortina.

Following up their impressive pace from the Red Kite, Gwilym Roberts and Don James ran home an excellent second in their Lotus Cortina with newly-registered Graham Waite/Gill Cotton third after a misfire in the ever-spectacular Volvo Amazon. Father and son Bob and Dale Gibbons (Ford Cortina Mk2) were also in the mix, while Stephen Higgins/Don Bramfoot (Saab 96) won class B1 despite dropping seven minutes in Sweet Lamb after a detached throttle spring sent them into a ditch.
“Too many hills for the Saab, but going down Pikes Peak was awesome,” said Higgins.

Category 2 was the domain of championship newcomers David Stokes and Guy Weaver (Ford Escort Mk1), who had to change the clutch release bearing at second service. Stokes won the category by 48s from the hugely impressive Stanley Orr and Brian Cairns in their Pinto-powered Escort Mk1. The Northern Ireland crew loved the quality of the stages and headed many BDG-powered cars in the process.

Behind the flying Irishman, Peter Smith and Patrick Walsh forged the Opel Ascona into second and went clear of a mighty battle for third as 25s covered Terry Cree/Richard Shores (BMW 2002) and the Escort Mk1s of Steve Magson/Darren Smith and David Kirby/Chris Rixon. “Good rally, good stages but tricky conditions,” reported Peter Smith.
“We lacked a bit of commitment in the morning,” admitted Kirby, while Cree reported a catalogue of dramas. The gear lever jumped out of its socket on the first two stages, making gear changes difficult, they spun twice on SS3, stalled and got the handbrake jammed on. But it all came together on the final stage. “Absolutely mint: loved it,” said Cree. Magson agreed: “I could go down Pikes Peak all day long,” he said.

Warren Philliskirk/Eurig Evans ran third in class C5 despite stopping in Hafren to assist Jonathan Brace from his upended Escort Mk2. In class C2, for the 1600cc cars no-one was ever likely to trouble the Escort Mk1 of Robin Shuttleworth and Ronnie Roughead, but they were frustrated to drop three minutes limping out of Hafren South with a puncture.

Bouncing back from a first stage gearbox failure on the Red Kite came Graham Thatcher and Robert James to clinch class D2 in their Hillman Avenger, while Shawn Rayner and Declan Dear were the class of D3 in their Pinto-powered Escort Mk2 ahead of Gareth Lewis and Dan Holley.

In the Open category, brothers Simon and Alister Crook were top in their Opel Manta after a day that started badly on the wrong tyres but ended well. Layton Waters and Kevin Bowcott took second in the Toyota Starlet, but the loss of power steering left Waters exhausted at the end of the 15-miler in Hafren. Geraint Davies and Chris Williams ran strongly in their Peugeot 205GTi for third as Dave Hemingway, rallying in Wales for only the second time, took fourth with Simon Ashton alongside in his Escort Mk2.

The West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Rally Championship is the only championship that runs historics first on the road on all events. Round 3 is the Tour of Hamsterley on Saturday 26 April.

The Mid Wales Stages was organised by Newtown and District Automobile Club and supported by Viking Motorsport and Links Electrical Supplies Ltd.

In Car

Posted: March 5, 2014 1:41 PM

Nick Elliott & David Price (Ford Escort MkII) SS2


Alex Allingham & Chris Williams (Subaru Impreza N10) SS2

Video Clips

Posted: March 5, 2014 1:27 PM

Results

Posted: March 5, 2014 1:27 PM

Results available at: rallyroots.com Results Service

Seeded Entry List

Posted: February 25, 2014 7:08 PM

Mid Wales Stages – 2 Mar 14 - SEEDED ENTRY LIST

WWRS R.A.C. Championship heads for Mid Wales Stages

Posted: February 25, 2014 9:17 AM

The epic stages of Pikes Peak, Myherin and Hafren will form the perfect setting for the second round of the West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Rally Championship, the Mid Wales Stages (Sunday 2 March).

By any measure, the hugely popular event has attracted a fantastic line-up including many of the fastest drivers in historic rallying. The rally will also set a new record for the R.A.C. Rally Championship with no less than 77 registered contenders gathering in Newtown. It marks the biggest field of historic championship entries for up to five years and underlines the enduring popularity of historic rallying.

Sadly, the Mid Wales will be missing a key part of the historic rallying fraternity following the recent death of TV film-maker David Winstanley and his absence will be felt very strongly on what was always one of his favourite rallies. The organisers of the R.A.C. Rally Championship plan to honour David’s memory during the rally.

Heading the field away from Newtown on Sunday morning will be another tremendous line-up of 18 pre ’68 cars in the Walker Diecastings Category 1. This includes contenders in the Aldon Automotive Mini and Imp Cup, which got off to a flying start on the Red Kite Stages. On round one, the competition in Category 1 was incredibly fierce and it took a tie-break to split Ray Cunningham/Gary McElhinney (Mini Cooper S) from Simon Wallis/Graham Wride (Lotus Cortina) after nearly an hour of competition. Battle will be rejoined as soon as the leading crews attack the Pikes Peak stage on Sunday morning.

However, this is far from a two-way battle as newly-registered Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride (Porsche 911) and Graham Waite/Gill Cotton (Volvo Amazon) are more potential winners, as is the redoubtable Bob Bean in his Lotus Cortina. For a rare foray into Wales, veteran Bob will again be partnered by Malcolm Smithson, while the similar car of Gwilym Roberts/Don James was right on the pace on the Red Kite.

Chasing Cunningham in the Mini and Imp Cup will be his elder brother Frank, co-driven by Arron Forde, and Clive King/Russ Joseph, while the Sunbeam Imp Sport of Geoff Taylor/Steve Greenhill is a welcome addition to the R.A.C. Championship to head class B1. In class B3, the Ford Cortina Mk2 GT of Bob and Dale Gibbons should set the standard.

In the Capital Construction Category 2, husband and wife crew Chris Browne and Ali Cornwell-Browne got their R.A.C. campaign off to a perfect start on the Red Kite, but they face a fresh challenge this time around in the form of new R.A.C. contenders David Stokes and Guy Weaver in their similar Ford Escort Mk1 within class C5. The newly-built Escort Mk1 of Warren Philliskirk and Eurig Evans is another leading contender, while welcome championship newcomer Jeremy Easson tops class C4 in the Datsun 240Z owned by co-driver Mike Reynolds.

The pace of Northern Irishmen Stanley Orr and Brian Cairns on the Red Kite suggests that they will be close to the overall Category 2 pace and are strong contenders for class C3 in their Pinto-powered Escort Mk1. However, there is plenty of opposition in this super-competitive class including Terry Cree/Richard Shores (BMW 2002), Peter Smith/Patrick Walsh (Opel Ascona), David Kirby/Chris Rixon (Escort Mk1) and Steve Magson/Darren Smith (Escort Mk1). Heading class C2 will be the 1600cc Escort Mk1 of Robin Shuttleworth/Ronnie Roughead.

Last year’s Mid Wales winners Nick Elliott and Dave Price head a sensational entry for the Rob Smith Rallying Category 3, with most of the very quickest Ford Escort Mk2s packed into the top 10. Running second on the road will be Red Kite winner Richard Hill and his new co-driver Steffan Evans, while Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis run at number three and head to Wales fresh from two victories in February.

Out for the first time in 2014 to chase overall glory are crews like Jason Pritchard/Phil Clarke and Kevin Davies/tba, while Terry Brown/Den Golding, Tomas Davies/Eurig Davies and Meirion Evans/Iwan Jones add to a fabulous field. Ranged against the Escorts is the Sunbeam Lotus of Owen Murphy/James O’Brien, which heads class D4 and is joined by two more examples in the very capable hands of Guy Anderson/Kim Baker and James Stait/Mike Harris.

Another strong field will contest class D3 for the Pinto-powered Escort Mk2s and the pack is headed by Shawn Rayner and Declan Dear, who will hope for a clear run after problems on the Red Kite. It was Gareth Lewis and Dan Holley who took maximum points on the Red Kite and they will be very strong along with other contenders like Adrian Young/Gwynfor Jones, Paul Fry/Mike Steele and Ben Friend/Sean Kennedy.

Class D2, for the 1600cc cars in Category 3, has an encouraging entry and is headed by championship newcomers David and Nenah Goose (Ford Escort Mk2). They will go up against the Hillman Avengers of Graham Thatcher/Robert James and Keith Davison/Henry Richardson and the Talbot Sunbeam of David Hopkins/Tony Vart.

The Holton Homes Category K for FIA specification cars has more support this time around as the Escort Mk2 of Tom Coughtrie/Calvin Cooledge is joined by two more examples for Rob Smith/Alun Cook and Darren Moon/Alan Walker. Smith and Moon will both be chasing top six overall finishes, though Moon has a novice co-driver who is more used to driving than reading the notes.

Running alongside the historics are the cars in R.A.C. Category O for open two-wheel drive cars and heading the pack is the spectacular Toyota Starlet of Leyton Waters and Kevin Bowcott. Rivals to the flying Welsh crew include Escorts for Barry Stevenson-Wheeler/John Pickavance and Dave Hemingway/Simon Ashton and the Opel Manta of brothers Simon and Alistair Crook.

The rally will be based in Newtown with the central service area at Sweet Lamb. The first historic car will start at 9am on Sunday and return to the finish at 3pm. The Mid Wales Stages is supported by Viking Motorsport and Links Electrical Supplies Ltd.

Regulations / Details

Posted: January 24, 2014 10:06 PM

Mid Wales Stages

• Newtown And District Automobile Club