Historic Harry Flatters RallyDunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship
Report, round six: Historic Harry Flatters Rally
A last stage disaster for Mark Solloway and Den Golding handed victory to Gareth Lloyd and Ryland James on the Historic Harry Flatters Rally, round six of the 2007 Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship Meanwhile, leading title contenders David Stokes/Guy Weaver and Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride both won their categories, and Jimmy McRae/Andy Richardson fought back to second after an early delay.
Once again, Epynt proved to be a tough test as big crowds basked in warm sunshine. With 17 stages and around 80 stage miles, it was an event that kept competitors and service crews working hard.Category 1The contest for category one was always going to be between the Porsche 911 of Nutt/McBride and the Sunbeam Tiger of Patrick Watts/Elgan Davies. However, they had very contrasting fortunes and it was the Porsche crew who swept to a commanding victory on Sunday afternoon.
In the opening leg of four stages on Saturday afternoon, Watts hit trouble. With the engine from his previous car fitted into the current Tiger he shed two fan belts and twice had to borrow water from the burger van at Dixies in order to complete the leg. Some busy work went into the car overnight, but Watts was not confident on Sunday morning and when the same thing happened on SS9, he was out.
Starting Sunday's stages, Nutt had led by nearly a minute and was expecting the Tiger to come flying into contention once the action moved onto the New Road on Sunday. But with his rival out, Dessie had a useful lead and ended the rally 72s up on Neil Calvert/Captain Thompson (Lotus Cortina). "The car has behaved very well; I'm delighted," said Dessie.Equally trouble free was the run for Calvert, who drafted Thompson in to co-drive when Arlene Cookson had last-minute family commitments. The Cortina needed little attention and they duly took B4 from an equally trouble free run for Paul Mankin/Desmond Bell.
Things were far less straightforward in B2, where Clive King/Bob Ward had a nightmare on Saturday with a catalogue of problems, including a puncture that cost them a stage maximum. Meanwhile, Terry Cree/Richard Shores went ahead in their Mini Cooper S, but knew that King would be on the attack through Sunday.
"We've been on a mission," said King, who caught and past Cree on the first of the long stages to make certain of class victory. "I'm just glad we finished," said Cree, having never really enjoyed the challenge of Epynt.Category 2Stokes/Weaver were always in command of category two, although Stuart Rolt and Richard Pomfret gave valiant chase in the Tuthill Porsche 911 until engine problems developed on the penultimate stage. It was another nicely measured drive from Stokes and they ended the rally third overall, with over two minutes in hand over the rest of the category.Through into second came Graham Samuel/Tony Phillips, who borrowed the Porsche 911 of Graham Wilson to see if they liked it. They went well, even though Graham described their progress as 'slow and uneventful'.
Third in category two was a real cliff-hanger, with three more crews close to Samuel/Phillips over the final two 12-mile stages. A mighty charge from Ken Forster/John Stanger-Leathes pushed their C2 Escort Mexico into third in the category by just one second from the C3-winning Escort RS2000 of Bob Gibbons/Neil Cook, while only three seconds back was the Escort of Rikki Proffitt/John Roberts. All three crews had excellent rallies, with Gibbons in particular entertaining the crowds wherever possible.
Another great battle raged for sixth in the category as Neil and Chris Parsons beat Peter Lythell/Graham Fellows by one second after the Porsche crew clawed back nearly half a minute over the final two stages. Having smashed a wheel and then broken the gearbox casing on Saturday night, Lythell won back a lot of time on Sunday with a sterling performance.Category 3Solloway was giving his newly built Escort Mk2 a first run and duly stormed into the lead despite a spin in German Village on Saturday. Overnight he was just five seconds up on Terry Brown/Arwel Jenkins who got off to a great start in their Escort Mk2.
Solloway/Golding really turned up the heat on Sunday and stretched clear by almost two minutes. However, running first on the road was giving them some concerns. "We're just cruising now, looking for the sheep," said Solloway at service and his words were to prove sadly prophetic. Over the fast section of the New Road on the penultimate stage, they hit a sheep and the damage to the oil cooler and radiator inflicted major damage to the engine. They limped on as far as Four Ways, but an oil slick on the stage told the sorry story
Instead, Lloyd/James, having worked up to second place, inherited victory after a fine run, ending the rally with 19s in hand over McRae/Richardson. Their recovery drive, after a broken spark plug on Saturday, was one of the highlights of the rally and they pulled back around 40s on Lloyd/James during the day.Brown's fine run was also destined to go unrewarded. Having worked very hard to change a clutch at service, he was gutted to go OTL and lost out on a top result
Phil and Mick Squires had a great time on their asphalt debut to take third in the category from Martin Freestone/Joanne Oakey, who had lost a lot of time with rear suspension dramas on Saturday.Out with two broken rotor arms on Saturday went Martin McCormack/Liam Moynihan after a big effort to borrow an engine for their Escort Mk2The only major accident on the historic rally befell D3 pacesetters Simon Hawthorn/Kevin Wills who rolled their Escort Mk2 on the New Road, while the other registered D3 crew of Wayne Bonser/Richard Aston also posted a late retirement.
