It was not the result that JRM Rally Team and driver Tom Cave were hoping for - or indeed capable of - on this weekend's Pirelli International Rally, the third round of the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship. A puncture and the subsequent damage caused on the sixth of the event's 12 stages in Kielder Forest, whilst lying in fifth place, signaled the end of the event for Cave and the JRM Mitsubishi.
The rally started and finished at Carlisle Racecourse, the action commencing with two seven-mile runs through Newcastleton Forest on Friday evening. Then, following the overnight halt, a further 79 competitive miles, split into 11 stages, were scheduled for Saturday, all of them taking place in the daunting Kielder Forest.
After a non-finish in round two, 19-year old Cave, from Aberdovey, and his co-driver Craig Parry from Llanymynech, were eager to get their British Rally Championship hopes back on track with a strong result this weekend. The pre-event test went extremely well and the Welsh pair were confident that a good result was more than possible.
However, Kielder has a reputation for providing one of the toughest tests on cars and crews, with its long straights punctuated by a mixture of slow and fast corners, most of which are flanked by deep and unforgiving ditches. Added to this is the arduous nature of the road surface, with a mixture of rough and smooth gravel peppered with randomly strewn rocks that can catch out even the most wary of drivers - punctures being the curse of the conditions.
With the recent spell of dry weather, the main topic of conversation before the rally was that of dust. However, it was the loose stones lying on the surface of the stages that was the main cause for concern in the first of the event's two stages on Friday night. Cave drove sensibly on both, playing himself in to his surroundings and returned to Carlisle for the overnight halt in seventh place.
Saturday dawned dry and bright and began with two runs through Falstone and Bower Forests. With the JRM Mitsubishi running perfectly, Cave and Parry started to push and moved up to sixth place by the time they reached the remote service area overlooking Kielder Water.
They were now in fifth and only two seconds away from fourth. Cave could now see a chance of reaching a top-three position before the main service halt after stages five six - which were re-runs of SS3 and SS4.
After setting a good time through stage five, the plan appeared to be working. But then, five miles into the second run through the 13-miles of Bower Forest, one of the rear tyres clipped a rock and punctured.
With the car appearing to handle okay, Cave opted to continue, but by the time he and Parry reached the end of the stage, the damage caused by running on the wheel-rim over the remaining eight miles was too bad to continue. It was a bitter disappointment for both the crew and the team, as everything was going so well up until that point.
With the British Rally Championship regulations allowing two dropped scores out of the season's seven rounds, it means that with this result added to the non-finish from round two, if they are to keep their title hopes alive, Craig and Parry are now under pressure for a 100% finishing record for the rest of the year.
The car will now be repaired in readiness for round four, the Jim Clark Rally that takes place on 27th & 28th May and sees the road surface change from gravel to asphalt for the first of three tarmac events.
