Images from Quinton Stages rally

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Will Nicholls won the Llandovery based Quinton Stages rally from Hugh Hunter. Dave Wright took third place to maintain his BTRDA championship lead. Martyn Lewis won the 1400 category and Terry Brown won the Historics.

Wright keeps up title challenge on Quinton Stages rally

Bentham rally driver David Wright kept up his BTRDA championship hopes on last Saturday’s Quinton Stages event when he finished third overall and first in class in his Giles Philips Motorsport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9. The Llandovery based rally was the sixth in the championship and it took place on the gravel tracks around the Epynt military ranges.

Wright and co-driver Michael Wilkinson got their event off to a good start with fourth fastest time on the opening Halfway stage. This was followed up with two second fastest times on the Route 60 and Crychan stages which saw Wright move into second place behind the Subaru Impreza WRC of Will Nicholls at the first service halt of the rally.

“I was pleased with the start we made, I had only competed on this event once before in 2002 so I didn’t really have much knowledge of the stages,” said Wright.

“We didn’t have any problems at all, I was trying to drive neatly to avoid getting on the loose gravel at the side of the tracks and it seemed to pay off.”

After service the crews headed for the Monument stage at the northern end of Epynt. Wright kept up his pace with fourth fastest time on both this and the fifth stage although the Ford Focus WRC of Hugh Hunter passed him on the overall leaderboard, Wright dropping to third.

Wright pushed hard on the next two stages, second runs through Route 60 and Crychan, taking fastest and third fastest times but going into the last stage of the event he was still ten seconds behind Hunter and twelve ahead of fourth place man Damien Cole so he decided to back off slightly to ensure a finish.

“Our car doesn’t have the pace to keep up with the top World Rally cars on the twisty uphill sections of the stages so it’s good to finish third. I enjoyed the event, especially the Crychan and Route 60 stages.”

“I decided to drive for a finish on the last stage as we were too far behind Hugh Hunter to pass him for second place and I didn’t want to risk throwing away a good result.”

“We’ve got a bit of a gap to the next championship round now so we’re going to do a fair bit of work on the car to try and get nearer to Nicholls and Hunter. The championship allows crews to drop two scores so we need to try and go for overall wins if we’re going to take the title. Hopefully we’ll have a new engine, gearbox and a few other bits fitted in time for the next round. I’d like to thank Grove Hill Garage and Kumho Tyres for their support and GPM for once again preparing a reliable and quick car.”

The next championship round takes place in September with the Ludlow based Woodpecker Stages rally.

BHRC Preview: Isle of Man Historic Rally

The unique challenge of the Isle of Man marks round five of the Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the Isle of Man Historic Rally on 9/10 July. The annual trip across the water to the Isle of Man is always one of the highlights of the BHRC schedule.

Two full days of intense competition on the island roads makes the Isle of Man Historic Rally a fitting event for this prestigious championship and the 2009 edition should be a cracker.

Category 1: Heading the category one entry is the Sunbeam Tiger of son and father crew Jonathan and Graham Gale. This is the car used so effectively by Patrick Watts over the last two seasons and Gale is now driving it with panache. This is the car that is likely to set the pace out of the blocks, but the Isle of Man represents perhaps the best opportunity for Dessie Nutt and Geraldine McBride to really take the fight to Gale. They know the island incredibly well and their Porsche 911 is always strong there, so they will be chasing hard to add another Manx victory to their tally. Adding further strength to the class B5 field is former Escort crew Rikki Proffitt and Phill Harrison in the ex-Steven Smith Porsche 911. This is a new venture for Proffitt, and his pace will be the major talking point in category one. In the other classes in category one, BHRC title contenders Paul Mankin/Desmond Bell will be leading B4 runners in their Lotus Cortina, while the Isle of Man debut for Alan Honess/Tim Sayer in their class B3 Ford Cortina GT will be interesting to watch. Isle of Man veterans John and Stephen Moxon are back with their Volvo Amazon 122S to contest their 36th rally on the island.

This event always brings out a contingent of very quick Mini Coopers from the island and Ireland, including the car of Stephen Higgins/David Corlett, while a welcome return is made by son and father crew, Matt and Dood Pearce in their Cooper S. Then, all the way from Japan come Shinobu Kitani and Makoto Mizoi to compete in their Mini Cooper S. In class B1, Gary and Jane Edgington will again deliver a heroic performance in their Singer Chamois.

Category 2: Category two is for the cars from 1968 to 1974, so this is all about Ford Escorts and Porsche 911s. Heading the field will be BHRC title contenders Rupert Lomax and David Alcock in their Escort Mk1. Rupert will be one of the most spectacular drivers on the island and if it all holds together, he will be very tough to beat. Out to stop the North Wales driver will be David Stokes/Guy Weaver and Ernie Graham/Ashley Trimble in two more very quick Mk1 Escorts, while Bob Bean and Malcolm Smithson are out again in their Mk1. However, the island has always been good to the Porsches in category two and at least four of them could feature strongly. Most notable is the car of reigning BHRC champions Steven Smith and John Nichols, out for the first time this season to contest their favourite event. They are a bit out of practice, but will surely feature as the event progresses. Irish veteran Derek Boyd and his daughter Roisin will be very strong, as will Peter Smith/Graham Wild and Peter Lythell/Gill Cotton.

Class C3, for the Pinto-engined Escort Mk1s is one of the most competitive of the BHRC and another mighty contest is in prospect. The key players are XS Racing stable mates Drew Wylie/Howard Pridmore and Andrew Siddall/Captain Thompson along with Ken Forster/John Stanger-Leathes and James Slaughter/Phil Peak. With category pacesetter Tim Jones electing to miss this event, his rivals will take the chance to narrow the points' gap.

Category 3: Category three is for the most recent cars up to 1981. This is all about Escort Mk2s and the top D5 cars will surely set the overall pace. Star entry is the Escort of Gwyndaf Evans/Huw Lewis, the car built by World Champion co-driver Phil Mills. Their rivals include Darren Moon/Chris Parsons and Will Onions/Tim Hobbs, but the arrival of Mark Solloway and Den Golding in the entry list could really spice up the action. Solloway has limited experience of the island, but will surely be very quick indeed. However, there is massive strength in the D5 field, including and local crews Conor Corkill/Howard Allison and Ian Corkill/Rivka Corkill. The Corkill dynasty is steeped in Manx rallying history and young Conor is showing tremendous pace as he competes against his father Ian.

But category three is not just about Escort Mk2s. Roger Kilty and Lynette Banks are getting quicker and quicker in their Vauxhall Chevette HSR, while the Lotus Sunbeams of Adrian and Daniel Seabridge and John Kirkpatrick/Martyn Quine are capable of mixing it with the Escorts. Then, there is the glorious Opel Ascona 400 of Phil Collins/Derek Brannigan, as the Welsh ace makes a welcome return to the island. Adding to the category three mix is the Porsche 911 of Mike Anderson/Mark Perryman, which could be a real darkhorse for a top result. Finally, a great contest is in prospect among the Pinto-powered class D3 Escorts of Mark and Brett Clifford, Guy Woodcock/Iwan Jones and Chris Shooter/Bev LeGood.

The Isle of Man Historic Rally is organised by Manx International Rally Ltd. For more details about the event, please visit the website at: www.mir.co.im. The historic rally starts from Douglas on Friday morning (9 July) and finishes on Saturday afternoon.

By Paul Lawrence
Image by Songasport

Shelley hopes for better luck on Quinton Stages

Lancaster based rally co-driver Shelley Rogerson is hoping for a change of luck on Saturday (4th July) when she contests the Quinton Stages rally with Andrew Burton in his Peugeot Cosworth.

Shelley has had her fair share of bad results in 2009 with three retirements in five events but with the car fixed again hopes are high for a good finish on the Quinton, the sixth round of the BTRDA championship.

“It was very disappointing to retire again on the recent Dukeries rally, we were heading for a good result which would’ve kept us in the championship battle,” said Shelley.

“It's going to be difficult to challenge for the title now but it would be great to have a trouble free run and to get a finish.”

“The car has been repaired after the problems on the last event so hopefully it will be reliable and we’ll be competitive. A repeat of the win we got in 2007 would be ideal. I’d like to thank Co-ordSport, Nicky Grist, Songasport and Gilletts Spar for their support.”

The rally is based in Llandovery and it consists of eight competitive stages totalling 45 miles on gravel tracks in and around the Epynt military ranges. The action kicks off around 10am with the leading crews returning to Llandovery at 4.30pm.

For more information on Shelley’s rallying please visit shelleyrally.com.

Higgins targets more Rally Isle of Man history

Three time British Rally champion Mark Higgins will bid to make yet more history on next weeks 46th Rally Isle of Man.

Having last year taken a first ever win on the event for a ‘showroom’ group N car, and after in 2005 becoming the first driver to win every stage of any British Championship round, the mid-Wales based Manxman will return to home soil aiming to become the first ever five-time winner of one of the British Isles most prestigious rallies.

If he is to achieve the feat, he would move ahead of the illustrious company of Russell Brookes and Tony Pond who currently also appear on the roll of honour four times.

Bryan Thomas, who co-drove Mark to victory on two of those four victories (2000 and 2005), will also be bidding to join Derek Ringer as the only co-driver to score four wins.

The Pirelli TEG Sport Subaru team are unlikely to have it all their own way however when they roll off the start ramp next Friday morning for two action-packed days.

The event features as the fourth round of the MSA British Rally Championship, and 22 year-old series leader Keith Cronin will follow Higgins away from the TT Grandstand with Greg Shinnors alongside in a Mitsubishi Evo 9 that has already scooped victories on the North Wales and Pirelli international events.

While Higgins warms up for the event by tackling a week-long charity bike ride the length of Wales, Cronin just last weekend scored a crushing victory on the Ravens Rock Rally, beating most of Ireland’s leading national WRC drivers in his group N car.
It has all the ingredients for a great battle, though in truth there are several other ‘young guns’ who could well be in the fray. Northern Ireland’s Alistair Fisher and Jonathan Greer (both in Evo 9’s), Bristol’s Adam Gould (Pirelli TEG Sport Subaru), Dumfries’ David Bogie (JRM-Lico Evo X) and fellow Scot’s Euan Thorburn (Revolution Wheels Subaru) and Dave Weston Jnr (Subaru) will all be hopeful of improving their title challenge.

The event is also a round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, and five of the top seven group N drivers will be in action, headed by Ballymena’s Alan Carmichael (Evo 9), the series leader.

Throw in the usual strong local challenge, headed by the Mitsubishi’s of Steven Quine (Douglas) and Nigel Cannell (Santon), and the close competition of the Citroen C2R2 Cup, Suzuki Swift Sport Cup and Fiesta Sporting Trophy crews, and the action should be fast and furious.

In total 135 rally crews are set to tackle the islands famous closed roads stages on Friday 10th and Saturday 11th July, spread across the International, Historic, Challenge and Trophy events, offering something for everyone.