Elliott slithers to BHRC victory in Kielder - Review

Elliott slithers to BHRC victory in Kielder - Review

Nick Elliott and Dave Price made it two wins from three rounds of the Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship on the Pirelli Carlisle Rally (Saturday 25 April). As truly testing conditions hit the demanding Kielder stages, Elliott drove a superbly judged rally as heavy overnight on previously dry and dusty stages left everyone searching for grip. Just eight seconds split Elliott/Price from rivals Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis at the finish as other leading crews faltered. Former championship leaders Jason Pritchard and Phil Clarke were sidelined by clutch failure and Kielder ditches claimed Meirion Evans/Steffan Evans and Richard Hill/Iwan Jones.Paul Barrett and Dai Roberts turned in another starring performance to take third overall in their Pinto-powered Escort Mk2 while David Stokes/Guy Weaver (Ford Escort Mk1) and Paul Mankin/Desmond Bell (Lotus Cortina) also won their respective categories.After three very dry weeks, it was very wet and slippery in Kielder after heavy overnight rain. Undaunted by the conditions, Elliott (Ford Escort Mk2) set the pace on the opening stage. Thereafter, Robinson mounted constant pressure, but Elliott held his nerve to win by just eight seconds and take top points in the RSR Historic Engineering Category 3.“We drove as fast as the grip and kept it smooth and in the middle of the road,” said Elliott, who went fastest in stage one, Black Craggs, with Meirion Evans/Steffan Evans second, just 2.5s adrift. Evans kept in touch on White Sike but slid out of the rally on the third stage, Buck Fell. “There’s no room for error up here and we slipped into a ditch,” said Evans. Robinson moved into second and beat Elliott by three seconds on Buck Fell to reach service less than 10 seconds behind the leader. It was then very tight all afternoon, with Robinson just one second faster over the second loop of stages. “We’ll have him one day,” said Robinson. “Two or three years ago, catching Nick was only a dream.”Once again, Paul Barrett and Dai Roberts turned in one of the drives of the rally to take third overall in their Pinto-powered Escort Mk2. The fact that he’d not rallied in Kielder before made no difference to the sensational pace of the Northern Irishman.Fourth in the BHRC ranks was a great result for Rudi Lancaster and George Gwynn, who get quicker and quicker each time out. Some work on brake bias on the Somerset Stages a week earlier reaped dividends and even a cracked oil cooler after catching a car on the first stage didn’t hinder their excellent progress. Into an excellent fifth went Tim Freeman and Paul Williams, despite suffering a cracked windscreen when they caught the recovering Rupert Lomax, while Steve Bennett and Paul Wakely took sixth on only Steve’s second rally in his historic Escort Mk2. Back on gravel for the first time since last November’s Roger Albert Clark Rally, Seamus O’Connell was next up with Andy Richardson on the notes.Barrett/Roberts won class D3 at a canter, with Ben Friend/Cliffy Simmons next up after a strong run. Meanwhile Chris Skill and Ken Bills (Ford Escort Mk2) won class D2. With Pritchard out, Tomas Davies and Eurig Davies won the Holton Homes Category K for cars running to Appendix K specification.Capital Construction Category 2 victory for Stokes/Weaver was one of the closest yet, as clutch problems dogged their progress on the first loop as Rupert Lomax/Rich Jones and John Perrott/Keaton Williams were really on it. Lomax could have won but lost two minutes with an off and puncture on stage three and dropped to third. Meanwhile, the charging Perrott was 11s up on Stokes at service but a noisy diff bearing forced him to back off in the afternoon and slip to fifth. Meanwhile, Warren Philliskirk and Nigel Hutchinson finally took second in the category, just 24s behind Stokes. Out of the rally, at the crest that once claimed Nick Elliott, went Ernie and Will Graham with a high-speed trip into a ditch.James Slaughter belied a two-year break from gravel rallying to take class C3 in his Escort Mk1 with Keegan Rees co-driving. The battle for second in C3 between Phil Jobson/Arwel Jenkins (Escort Mk1) and Terry Cree/Richard Shores (BMW 2002) was only resolved when the BMW hit rear suspension dramas in the final stage.Barry Jordan and James Gratton-Smith (Hillman Avenger) sorted themselves out at service and duly upped their pace to win class C2 after a stunning run through the afternoon stages. They turned a 44s deficit on Robin Shuttleworth/Ron Roughead into a 16s winning margin in just three stages. The weather conditions led to rougher than expected stages and the older cars in the Walker Diecastings Category 1 suffered badly as they ran towards the tail of the field for the first time. Rikki Proffitt and James Whitaker withdrew their Porsche 911 after one stage rather than damage it and few of the survivors enjoyed the experience.Paul Mankin and Desmond Bell (Lotus Cortina) were the top finishers. “We just followed the ruts on the second run,” said Mankin. Bob and Dale Gibbons (Ford Cortina Mk2 GT) won their class, but the car took a pasting. “I’ll never do that again,” said Gibbons senior. Behind Malcolm Rich/Jonathan Hawkins (Ford Anglia), Philip Harris and Alan Walker (Mini Cooper) somehow got round to win class B2.The Pirelli Carlisle Stages was organised by the Cumberland Sporting Car Club. Full results are available at: http://results.djames.org.uk/results/?m=79


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