Malton Forest Rally report.
Posted: November 11, 2014 10:05 AM
Overnight rain had made the mostly re-graded stages in Gale Rigg, Cropton and Langdale forests extremely slippery,
but unfortunately for Ollie Mellors, defending his title, this made little difference. With his car overheating on the start of
stage 1 (Bogg Brothers Gale Rigg) due to insufficient ducting, he had to drive through just in the hope of making it to
the end. He only made it as far as junction 15 before stopping, leaving the way open for Stephen Petch in his Fiesta
R5+ to lead the rally at the end of stage 2 (Calvert Carpets Cropton) by just 4 seconds from Charlie Payne in his
Fiesta. Mellors made it back to service under his own steam, and, following ‘adjustments’ to the airflow in the bumper
and sump guard, was able to make use of the scheduled timing rules to rejoin after lunch and get some more miles in
the car. Paul Street and Jim Goodman were also overheating but, as they said, “it is old – the car not the driver”.
Shaun Wilson in his Subaru claimed he needed some green underwear as he had “been off in the undergrowth”,
perhaps the cause of his broken driveshaft, although he did make it back to service. Also with early problems was
Matt Smith in a Proton who had to complete stage 1 in first gear due to a broken linkage. Leading the Historics at this
stage was Matt Edwards in his Escort, with Julian Reynolds in his magnificent Fiat 131 Abarth 27 seconds away from
breaking an Escort’s usual stranglehold of the class. Another non Escort driver enjoying himself was Tim Mason in his
Porsche, leading H5 and up to ninth overall – “I love this rally” was all he could say! Rob Carr in his Escort seemed a
little confused saying that “there is a real lack of grip”, but then adding “oh yes...just remembered, it’s the forest”. In
the lead of the 1400s by just 2 seconds from Christopher Roe in his Nova was Amanda Cornforth-Smith in her Ka, in
spite of admitting to a stall on the start line of SS1.
At the half way point after stage 3 (SM Autocare Langdale) Matt Edwards maintained his 27 second lead in the
Historics, but the battle behind for 2nd place was very close with Julian Reynolds leading both Tim Mason and Charlie
Taylor by just one second. Indeed, in stage 3, the top 4 Historic drivers in the stage all recorded exactly the same time
with Tom Hewick and Ben Mellors joining Edwards and Reynolds on 8mins 39secs. In 1400s, after his stage 1
problem which had cost him nearly 2 minutes, Matt Smith beat the class leader by 17 seconds in stage 2 and 29
seconds in stage 3 leaving him just 1 second behind Amanda Cornforth-Smith by the start of the afternoon stages.
After stage 3 the battle for the overall lead intensified when Charlie Payne beat Steve Petch by 5 seconds in Langdale
to take a slender 1 second lead into the half way point. Lunch was evidently critical for Michael and Josh Davison who
turned up at the ‘’service in’ control with burgers, having found the drive through café - they claimed to be starving.
Another competitor able to rejoin for a couple of stages
Williams with Josh Pulleyn in their Escort.
In the afternoon Matt Edwards increased his lead and, after stage 4 (S&A Doughty Spiers bank) and stage 5
(Watermark Wardle Rigg), he was 1m 27 seconds in front of Julian Reynolds who was just 4 seconds in front of Tim
Mason (“it’s nail biting”) who, in turn, had just 1 second over Charlie Taylor, so the battle for podium places was set for
an exciting climax on the final stage. In 1400s, by the end of stage 5, Matt Smith had converted his 1 second deficit
after stage 3 into a lead of 1m 12 seconds over 2nd in class, such was his superior pace. He was clearly showing his
wife who was boss! In spite of this Amanda said she was “still smiling!” The battle between Stephen Petch and Charlie
Payne continued, with Petch taking back the lead by gaining 7 seconds from Payne in stage 4 and another 2 seconds
in stage 5, leaving an exciting climax for the overall win to the times in the final stage 6 (Dave Fisher Windows
Darncombe) – Petch holding a slender 8 second lead. Lying in overall 3rd position at this stage was Peter Stephenson
in his Focus WRC. It is worth noting that Ollie Mellors posted the 6th and 3rd fastest times respectively on these stages,
despite continuing overheating problems.
After the final stage Matt Edwards in his Escort Mk2 comfortably held on to the Historics lead winning by 1minute 20
seconds from Julien Reynolds in his Fiat 131 Abarth. His second place was hard fought beating Tim Mason in his
Porsche by just 3 seconds who, in turn, prevailed by just 1 second over Charlie Taylor in his Escort. In 1400s, Matt
Smith in his Proton beat Amanda Cornforth-Smith’s Ka by 2 minutes and 4 seconds, with Gavin Spencer an excellent
rd in his Nova. The close fight for the overall win was nearly ruined by both the leaders just beating the bogey in the
3
final stage, although Petch’s actual time was just 4 seconds quicker than Payne’s so it would not have made any
difference anyway. So Petch took the very close fought win by just 8 seconds from Charlie Payne, with Peter
Stephenson 3rd a further 49 seconds behind. A noteworthy performance too, with an 8th place overall finish, from Tony
Jardine with Peta Todd navigating. We wish them both the best of luck in the forthcoming Wales Rally GB.
The overnight rain turned into a sunny and mild day of excellent rallying in the best forests in the country!
Seeded Entry List
Posted: October 27, 2014 8:02 PM
MEM MALTON FOREST RALLY – SUNDAY 2nd NOVEMBER 2014
Posted: October 23, 2014 10:29 AM
With a short time to go before the event, and entries still coming in, a strong field of cars is entering for the Malton Forest Rally. Charlie Payne and Stephen Petch go head to head in Fiesta R5s and they are likely to have a close fight with Ollie Mellors in his Proton and Peter Stephenson and Paul Benn in their Ford Focus WRCs.
A strong historic entry is assembling too. Julian Reynolds has entered his Fiat Abarth, Charlie Taylor is in his Escort Mk2 and Ben Mellors is in his Toyota Celica, to name a few.
The event is a counting round of several regional championships. Stages in Langdale, Cropton and Gale Rigg forests will be used, and the entire event, with the service area, will be based at the ‘Rally Village’ at Adderstone Field in Dalby Forest.
Spectators are welcome and there will be signed access into the stages, getting close to the action, for just £10 PER CAR, which will include the cost of the programme.
Further information is available, and regularly updated, on the club’s website where stage maps will also be posted nearer the event.
Entries Received / Regulations / On Line Entry
Posted: September 12, 2014 8:52 PM
6 different stages in Cropton, Gale Rigg and Langdale.
Posted: May 30, 2014 9:21 AM
Planning is well underway. Cropton, Gale Rigg and Langdale forests will be used as usual and we will run 6 different stages, with the route being quite a lot different from last year’s event. The stages are currently in excellent condition with several regraded sections. An innovation this year is that the event will be entirely based at Adderstone Field in Dalby Forest, thereby eliminating the problems associated with using the Visitors’ Centre. This start location will enable a compact event with reduced public road mileage whilst maintaining the usual 40 miles of stages
Regulations are due for publication on 1st August. We are holding the entry fee as low as possible, but this year it will increase slightly to £475 including use of Rallitrak.
Anyone who would like to marshal please e-mail
marshals@maltonmc.co.uk
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