Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship and HRCR Classic Stage Rally ChallengeNews round-up after event four: Severn Valley Historic Challenge

Welcome to the post-event news and gossip update for the 2006 Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship and HRCR Classic Stage Rally Challenge.Round four of both series, the Severn Valley Historic Challenge took crews into some of the classic mid-Wales forests as used on Wales Rally GB. For many, the two long Brechfa stages was a first visit to those forests.NewsNeil and Chris Parsons had another tough outing after their non-start on the Welsh. They punctured at the end of Brechfa 1 and so went into Brechfa 2 with only one spare. They then punctured again in the first mile and wisely elected not to run nine miles on a flat, as that could have hindered three or four other cars in the dust. Instead, they pulled over and retired.Terry Brown's second place in Classics marked the first rally in an Escort for 25 years for co-driver Paul Willetts. In recent times, Paul has been a winning co-driver in WRC cars.Phil Atkinson's great run of results in category 1 was interrupted by steering problems on the second stage, Halfway, which resulted in retirement for the Lotus Cortina.Ken Forster/John Stanger-Leathes nearly went out at the fourth corner of the rally. They went off and hit a very large log, which comprehensively rearranged the front of the recently refurbished Mexico! They were really pleased to have reached the finish, but had even handed in the damage declaration form at the second service when they thought the diff had locked. Someone then noticed the wheel was not on correctly, so John had to run and get the paperwork back!Clive King was as quick as ever and won B2 by eight minutes! However, they had a panic in the run up to the event when the head gasket failed on Monday evening as Clive took drove the Mini to the garage to fill up with petrol, leaving him with an unnecessarily busy week!Adrian Seabridge had 21-year old son Daniel alongside on his first ever rally. Despite a puncture in Brechfa, dad was proud to be back at the finish in their Sunbeam Lotus.At the finish, Rikki Proffitt revealed that he had been competing with a broken leg, the result of rolling his garden tractor into the pond in his garden whilst cutting the grass at home.  Lack of brakes in Brechfa forced Dick Slaughter/Geoff Dearing to retire their Escort Mk2 from the Classic category.Alison Lock was revelling in a more powerful and better handling Mini. A lot of telephoning around yielded some good advice and the changes were so worthwhile that Alison and Barbara Alexander caught several cars and had a half-spin in the dust.Jim Valentine/Julian Stocks rolled in Halfway after running wide on a corner and dropping his Saab into a hole. They resumed and were second in B1 to Nick Pinkett.However, John Parker’s rally ended towards the end of Brechfa 1.  A 90 right into hairpin left was to claim at least eight victims, including his SaabNigel Hollier marked his first rally since the 1973 TAP Rally in Portugal with a finish in his lovely Alpine Renault A110. The day was not without problems, however. The clutch had stopped working totally with three stages still to run, the air cleaners became so choked with dust that the engine was being strangled and tyres developed for Escorts don’t suit a flyweight plastic sports car!  With some soft Yokohamas fitted, at least the tyre issue was sorted! He believes the car will be fine once it has been developed some more.Jeremy Easson was out for the first time since the Roger Albert Clark Rally last November. He felt rusty to start with but was right back on the pace by the end, holding onto third place by 0.4 of a second. The eagerly awaited Capri 3100RS had dropped a valve in testing, so the Escort was pressed back into service for the Severn Valley.James Stait and Gill Cotton lasted as far as junction 3 on the first stage before a wheel came off the MG Midget. James was getting used to finishing events recently!Julian Burch upended his Sunbeam Lotus in Halfway, when they slid off and the car fell over. However, no glass was broken so hopefully the crew will be back out soon.Lawrence Green was out in his Escort, rebuilding confidence after hitting a tree on the Robin Hood. He's also been busy recently sitting his first year Automotive Engineering exams at Oxford Brookes University.David Stokes and Guy Weaver lost the brakes of their Escort completely in Brechfa 1. With wide eyes, David described there being absolutely nothing under the pedal on a downhill approach to a tight righthander. He saved it by using the handbrake and going down a gear, but the Escort tipped up on its side before dropping back to earth, totally unmarked.Quotes of the rally"I call it a Hovis, a soft roll!" Mike Barratt explains their gentle inversion in Halfway that did little damage to the Mini. "Two blokes appeared out of the trees and tipped it back on its wheels.""Two slow on stages one and two and got a bollocking from Bill." John Worthing gets motivational input from co-driver Bill Robertson. "Haven't got a decent gravel tyre left. But the two old granddads didn't do too bad.""Paul Dyas was the happiest man in Wales." Steven Smith reckons high tyre wear on the dry stages meant good business for the Dunlop men.“Fulfilled an ambition and beat my hero, Dessie Nutt, in a fair fight for the first time in 10 years of trying." Neil Calvert had an excellent result in category 1."Arlene and Michelle led me astray on Friday night.” Dessie blamed the result on Neil's partner and daughter! It probably involved red wine… Dessie is already plotting his revenge.“Nice easy day after hitting trouble on the Astra." Craig Salter and Preston Ayres get back into the groove with tenth in post-historics."A slow start to rebuild confidence. The pink Porsche is lovely!” Andrew Street’s 911 had been repaired after its Epynt accident and was resplendent once more in shocking pink.PointsProvisional BHRC overall driver points after four rounds:1 Steven Smith 1212 Mark Solloway 1133 Neil Calvert 1094 Dessie Nutt 935 Sean Lockyear 916 Patrick Watts 897 Philip Atkinson 858 Clive King  819 Ernie Graham  7310 Ken Forster 72Provisional HRCR Classic overall driver points after four rounds:1 Gareth Lloyd 1242 Arwel Evans 863 Richard Lane  784 Chris Shooter  675 Ian Rix  566 James Potter 45= Mark Clifford 458 Martin Jones 439 Dick Slaughter 4110 Charlie Taylor 38Championship DVDHummingbird Productions will again be filming all rounds of the 2006 championship to compile unrivalled reports of the events. Copies of the 2005 DVDs are still available and include the hilarious season 'out-take' DVD. More details are available from Hummingbird on 01522 853587 or e-mail to: hummingbirdproduction@yahoo.co.uk