Swansea Bay Rally - 16 Jul 11

Posted: July 19, 2011 4:36 PM - 4635 Hits

Round 5 - 2011 Welsh National Forest Rally Championship

Water End Gravel Cup, round five: Swansea Bay Historic Rally

Posted: July 19, 2011 4:36 PM

Round five of the Water End Properties Gravel Cup ran on the Pro-Art (Signs) Swansea Bay Historic Rally (Saturday 16 July) and delivered a debut overall victory for Richard Lane and Frank Richer in their Ford Escort Mk2.

This was a new event to the championship and, after a start at the Liberty Stadium, took in stages in Rheola and Walters forming legs one and two (with service after each pair of stages). Crews would then head east of the A465 to take in two runs over a 7.5-mile test in Rhondda, prior to returning to the finish at the Liberty Stadium.

As forecast, high winds and heavy rain hit the Neath Valley overnight and continued into the morning of the rally. Crews reported that Rheola and, particularly, Walters Arena were very slippery indeed. Returning from their roll on the Severn Valley, Nick Elliott and Chris Brooks had a comfortable lead of 24s over Will Onions and Dave Williams as the two Ford Escort Mk2s arrived at service. David Stokes/Guy Weaver headed Category 2 and Rikki Proffitt/Phill Harrison (Porsche 911) had taken 22 seconds from Graham Waite/Gill Cotton (Volvo Amazon). However, the Porsche then suffered a misfire over the following stages.

Positions were, by and large, unaltered after the next pair of stages. Elliott was pleased to be back on the pace after the upset of the previous round. Onions had driven out of Rheola 2 on a puncture and the 15s lost dropped them behind Richard Lane and Frank Richer (Ford Escort MK2). Further back, a tight battle between the Ford Escorts of James Potter/Bob Duck, Wayne Bonser/Richard Aston, Mark Holmes/Tony Lindsay, Peter Egerton/Alun Cook and Jeremy Wells/Ken Bowman had all five crews covered by a minute.

Rhondda was the favourite stage of the day for most competitors. Fast and flowing roads, plus improving weather conditions meant that the pace was picked up and it was to prove to be a sting in the tail. Wells/Bowman went off on stage five, hitting a tree with sufficient force to push back the front corner and bend a TCA, leading to retirement on the spot. But on stage six Elliott went off the road, stuck in soft ground. "I must have been asleep," said Nick after later driving the undamaged car back to Swansea.

Onions/Williams therefore took the lead but then suffered a second puncture of the day and had to stop and change the tyre. They could not afford the three minutes delay so Lane/Richer swept through to take their first Category 3 overall win. Ever the quiet man, Richard reported no problems with the car and was delighted with the result. Jonathan Brace and Tim Samuels were also sufficiently close to pounce and took runner-up position in the category with Shawn Rayner and Declan Dear taking a fine third in the D3 car. Shawn reported that this was by far his and Declan's best rally since his return to the sport after a fifteen year lay-off. "I really felt like I was driving like I used to and Declan was so confident on the notes,"said Rayner. Behind the recovering Onions/Williams, Bonser/Aston and Polly Patti/Chris Dewsnap completed the points scorers with their Escort RS2000s, with Patti wishing he had more engine power in the cloying mud.

In Category 2 Stokes/Weaver have a trouble-free run to the end in the RS1600. - Job done - 31 points,- said Stokes at the finish. Mark Holmes and Tony Lindsay had a great rally to take finish Category 2 runners-up spot from Peter Egerton and Alun Cook in their RS2000 Mk1.

Waite/Cotton took Category 1 in the Volvo, having overtaken Proffitt/Harrison on the penultimate stage. Once again their skill in the big saloon had been a joy to watch but everyone was left wondering how much closer it would have been if the Porsche had continued to fire cleanly on six cylinders all day.

The final round of the Water End Properties Gravel Cup is the McRae Stages in Scotland on Saturday 1 October. The title is still to be fought over between Proffitt/Stanger-Leathes, Stokes/Weaver and Waite/Cotton. Meanwhile, Onions/Williams are not yet safe in their Category 3 lead.