Round seven: Tour of FlandersGareth Lloyd and Ryland James were convincing winners of round seven of the HRCR Classic Stage Rally Challenge, the Tour of Flanders (17/18 September). The Welsh crew took their Escort Mk2 to a resounding four-minute win over the similar car of title rival Martin Freestone.
The challenging asphalt lanes and deep ditches of Belgium were made an even bigger challenge by intermittent rain showers, which left crews struggling on tyre choice. Saturday's stages were particularly tricky.However, having been forced out by engine problems on the final stage of Flanders in 2004, Lloyd was determined to make amends this year. He duly powered the West Wales Rally Spares Escort into an immediate lead on the opening stage of Passendale.
That set the tone for the event, as Lloyd/James extended their lead throughout the opening day to end Saturday's stages with an advantage of 2m20s. Significantly, they were also matching the time of the leading post-historic cars in the concurrent BHRC.
Lloyd/James continued their superb performance on Sunday to consolidate victory, finally crossing the finish line with a lead of over four minutes having also pipped post-historic winners Jeremy Easson/Den Golding by just three seconds on total time for the 22-stage rally.
Freestone clinched second to keep his title bid running, although one more victory could settle the contest in Lloyd's favour.
Into third place, 1m20s behind Freestone, were Dick Slaughter and Liz Jordan in the former's ex-works Escort RS1800. They had to overcome the flying Pinto-powered Mk2 Escort of Mark and Brett Clifford, who duly claimed fourth and class D3 spoils on their first visit to the event. 1m10s of road penalties cost the Clifford's any chance of toppling Slaughter after a very rapid start.
The only non-finisher among the Classics was the Talbot Sunbeam of John Williams/David Griggs, who retired on the third stage on Saturday morning.
The Classic season will now continue on the Trackrod Rally in Yorkshire on 7 October when around a dozen cars are expected to start.
