Having not contested a round of the REIS MSA Asphalt Rally Championship since the Tour of Epynt in March, which he failed to finish, Peter Lloyd returned in fine style on the Eventsigns Mewla Rally to record an outright win.
Partnered by Devonian Carl Sorensen for the first time, the Welshman had to give best to the similar Subaru Impreza WRC of Steve Simpson/Patrick Walsh on the opening stage but, by the end of the second, had moved into a lead he maintained for the rest of the day. At the finish of the rally at the Royal Welsh Showground, in Builth Wells, Lloyd said that the changeable weather had made it a difficult day but that, having also retired from last year’s Mewla, he was delighted to have come out on top this time.
For his part, Steve Simpson’s miserable season shows no sign of abating and, after early promise, the Manchester driver was on his way home after his Impreza’s gearbox input shaft broke prior the fourth stage.
So, the statistics show that 37 of the 96 starters on the Mewla were REIS Championship-registered contenders and, with all due respect to all the others, the main focus of interest was the battle between Damian Cole/James Morgan (Ford Focus WRC) and Simon Mauger/ Brian Cammack (Ford Escort MkII). If Cole were to take maximum points and Mauger finish lower than third, the MSA Asphalt title would have been heading to Abergavenny for the second consecutive year. Indeed, it was following the 2010 Mewla that Damian was declared the champion, but there was to be no repeat this year and attention now moves to the penultimate round of the Championship at Caerwent in a month’s time.
Fourth fastest on the opening stage, four seconds behind Mauger, Cole was on the back foot right from the off and his cause was not helped by a puncture on SS2. However, in typically determined fashion, he knuckled down to the task and, after five of the nine stages, had moved up to second behind Lloyd but, more importantly, ahead of Mauger. Then, on the final stage, the Focus overshot a junction and the time taken to sort itself out was enough for the Escort to squeeze in front, making the final top three Lloyd, Mauger and Cole in that order - great from a Championship point of view but frustrating for both the leading title aspirants!
John Indri/Dave Engwell were 4th in their Darrian T90 GTR but the gearbox was ‘hanging off’ by the finish and wouldn’t have lasted much longer. Rounding off a Championship Top Five, Graham Coffey/David Gamblin had an excellent run in their Impreza WRC, moving them up the points table at this critical point in the season.
Another crew not seen since the previous visit to Epynt, Ranges experts Bob Fowden/ Jason Sugden were 7th overall in their Impreza and David Hardie/John McCulloch overcame a fuel starvation problem to take 10th in theirs.
While Mauger/Cammack took the honours in the Millington Escort Challenge, Chris Lloyd/Gerwyn Barry’s run not only brought them a maximum in the up to 2.1 litre Millington class, but top Class B11 points as well. Chris, who now leads both, was awarded the John Horton Motorsport Management ‘Star Performer’ award for his efforts. After a fraught time on the Saturday afternoon waiting for his car to arrive when it became the victim of Bank Holiday traffic on its way across to mid Wales from Essex, Pete Rayner’s weekend improved significantly as he went on to take 2nd Millington points in the up to 2.5 litre class.
Classification:
Richard/Clews/Barry James Subaru Impreza 19th
Julian Wilkes/Andy Ballantyne Vauxhall Nova VXR190 20th *
Neal Arden/Giles Corbett Subaru Impreza 22nd
Phil Turner/Simon Anthony Subaru Impreza 27th
Phil Sprason/Andy Boswell Ford Escort MkI 31st
Andy Davison/Mike Curry BMW M3 32nd
Craig Jose/Nigel Hewett Peugeot 205 37th
Tim Daltry/Emma Morrison Peugeot 205 38th
Geoff Glover/Bob Brown Vauxhall Astra RWD 40th
Richard Felgate/Mark Mason BMW 325i 41st
Rod Bennett/Henry Richardson Fiat Punto S1600 44th *
Kev Monaghan/Chris Purvis Vauxhall Corsa S1600 47th
Stu Spyer/Pete Williams Vauxhall Corsa 52nd
Kevin Harbour/Dave Tortoishell Peugeot 205 61st
George Cooke/David Millard Citroen Saxo VTS 65th *
* denotes class winners.
Retirements:
David Kynaston/Andy Russell Audi A3 Quattro Driveshaft – SS3
Adrian Spencer/Mark Hewitt Subaru Impreza Accident – SS3
Graham Hollis/Alan Jones Ford Escort MkII Retired – SS5
Darren & Sue Underwood Vauxhall Nova CV joint – SS5
Michael Glendinning/Nicola Fearnley Subaru Impreza Mechanical – SS1
Peter Taylor/Dai Roberts Renault Clio Ditch – SS2
Paul Clapham/Kenny Owen Peugeot 106 Clutch – SS6
Ian Copping/Dave Rowley Ford Fiesta RWD Brakes – SS3
Chris Daykin/Rob Cook Subaru Impreza Gearbox – SS4
Andy Gwynne/Holly Robinson Citroen Saxo Rolled – SS1
Watch the Mewla Rally on Motors TV, Saturday 24 September at 10.35pm.
Andrew Haill
International
