Round nine: Historic Somerset StagesThe ninth and final round of the HRCR Classic Stage Rally Challenge will take crews to the South West for the Historic Somerset Stages on Saturday (29 October).The new event, organised by the team responsible for the successful BTRTDA event that runs over similar stages in April, will take many crews to the forests and asphalt stages in the Minehead region for the first time.Unfortunately, the crew that clinched the Classic title on the previous round in Yorkshire will be absent. Gareth Lloyd and Ryland James won the title on the Trackrod Historic Cup, but finished that event with some engine concerns, which have forced them to miss the Somerset event.Instead, it will be the similar Escort Mk2 of Martin Freestone/Joanne Lockwood that leads the Classic field away for 12 stages. Freestone has competed in Somerset before and will be favourite for Classic victory. He will also be challenging for overall historic victory on the event by going head-to-head with the leading post-historic cars. Leading the chase of Freestone/Lockwood will be Dick Slaughter/Geoff Dearing in Slaughter's ex-Roger Clark Escort RS1800. A strong finish will be enough to secure fourth in the final table for Slaughter, but a non-finish could allow Ian Rix/Simon Sparey to grab fourth with their Escort RS1800.Already secure as class D3 champions after a fabulous season are father and son crew Mark and Brett Clifford in their Mk2 Escort. Such has been their pace this year that they have often traded times with the more powerful class D5 Escorts, but the Somerset stages will be completely new to the Cliffords.Two crews will offer welcome variety to the Escort pack within the Classic classes. Julian Burch/Gethin Jones will field their Talbot Sunbeam Lotus on their first event since June, while the stunning Triumph TR7 V8 of brothers Michael and David Pedley will be another crowd pleaser. To date, the Pedleys have only competed on the asphalt roads of the Isle of Man in the 3.5-litre TR, so the gravel stages of Somerset will be a new challenge for them.Wrapping up the Classic field, though not registered for points, will be Minehead-based Donald Simmons, who has enlisted the co-driving services of former BHRC co-ordinator Brian Thomas for the day in his Escort Mk2.The Historic Somerset Stages starts at 8am on Saturday 29 October from Minehead. It is organised by the Burnham-on-Sea and Minehead Motor Clubs.