Round four of the Dunlop/Wonago MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the Severn Valley Stages (Saturday 4 June), delivered the closest finish in the history of the championship as Will Onions and Dave Williams pipped Julian Reynolds and Ian Oakey by just three-tenths of a second in the battle for category three.
Chris Browne and Liz Jordan came through to win category two as others faltered, while Graham Waite and Gill Cotton took the Volvo Amazon to victory in category one.
The rally ran in warm sunshine over some abrasive stages, making tyre choice and tyre wear the big talking point along with the perennial problem of dust.Category one Waite was on the pace from the off in category one and immediately went 14s clear in the opening six-mile Crychan stage. Waite and Cotton kept up their pace and were over 40s to the good by the time crews arrived back at Builth Wells for service.
“The Volvo seems to be better in the dry than on wet stages these days,” said Waite after another hugely impressive performance, extending his winning margin to 1m40s by the end of eight stages.
Simon Wallis and Graham Wride ran their Lotus Cortina to second, but had no answer to the pace of the Volvo, while Rikki Proffitt and John Stanger-Leathes bagged yet another strong finish with third, half a minute down on Wallis. “Better in the morning,” said Proffitt, who duly maintained his overall championship lead into the mid-season break.
A late switch from his intended two-stroke Saab 96 to his V4 version moved Nick Pinkett up to class B3 with co-driver Hugh Myers, but they still won their class as the only starters. “The little car ran like clockwork,” said Myers after his first event on notes.Category two The expected Escort Mk1 battle in category two started in Crychan South when David Stokes and Guy Weaver went through a tenth of a second better than Rupert Lomax and Dave Alcock. Stefaan Stouf and Joris Erard were well in touch, but they were soon out when a steering bolt sheered over the cattle grid at the end of Halfway.
Stokes turned up the pressure in Halfway and was over half a minute good at service. But disaster struck on stage six, the re-run of Halfway when an exposed lump of bedrock broke a halfshaft and forced them into immediate retirement. Unfortunately, Lomax was sideline by nine minutes of road penalties.
Instead, Browne and Jordan moved through to win the category. “I wasn’t over the moon to see David parked up in Halfway, but I’m dead chuffed,” said Browne after his best result on gravel for some time.
“Poor tyre choice in the morning, but a very enjoyable day,” said Peter Smith who, with Russ Langthorne, chased Browne and finished a minute down in second. Up to third for their best BHRC result to date went Jeremy Wells and Ken Bowman in their Escort Mk1.
There was a very close finish in class C3 as Dick Slaughter and Martyn Taylor (Escort Mk1) snatched eight seconds back on the final stage to beat the BMW 2002 of Terry Cree and Richard Shores. Nevertheless, it was the best result to date for the ever-improving BMW. “It’s better than an Escort at half the cost,” said Cree. However, both crews had to keep an eye on the flying Porsche 914 of Richard Morgan and Tim Madeley, which was third after its best rally so far.
David Kirby and co-driver Ben Friend won class C2 in their 1600cc Escort Mk1, despite clutch and rear brake issues and they maintained a half-minute advantage over the Escort Mk1 of Rex Ireland and Adrian Scadding. Class C1 went to the lone starter, the Lancia Fulvia of Steve and Tony Graham. “We’ve got half of Wales in the car in dust,” reckoned Steve after a clear run in the popular Fulvia.Category three The drama started early in category three when Nick Elliott and Chris Brooks rolled their Escort Mk2 just two and a half miles into the rally. Damage was light, but Elliott elected to retire, knowing that any chance of a good result was gone.
Julian Reynolds and Ian Oakey were also in trouble with a puncture and dropped half a minute, leaving Onions/Williams to set the pace. Onions was then pleased to be within a second of Reynolds in Halfway. Up into contention also came Richard Tuthill and Nick Beech in their Porsche 911 and they took over the lead as Onions struggled through the final Cefn stage before service with badly worn tyres. “We had to tip-toe through and dropped 17s,” said Onions as Rob Smith and Shaun O’Gorman forged their Vauxhall Chevette into contention. Meanwhile, Reynolds was fighting back despite the car cutting out from time to time.
Tuthill’s excellent challenge ended with a double puncture in Halfway 2 and it was Reynolds chasing Onions over the final stages. Onions attacked in the 12-miler in Crychan in a bid to fend off Reynolds, but destroyed his tyres in the process. But Reynolds had his own problems as a heavy landing in Gwibedog had pushed the sump guard onto the steering rack and he was fighting to keep the car on the road. The final result left Onions ahead by just three-tenths of a second.
Never far off the lead battle was the Smith/O’Gorman Chevette. “We threw away a better result with two spins and stalls,” said Smith, who was pipped to third by seven-tenths on the final stage by Tim Pearcey and Neil Shanks.“Dusty and entertaining,” was Vince Bristow’s view of class D2 victory, with Jane Edgington on the notes in the 1600cc Escort Mk2. In the process, they beat all the Pinto-powered cars in D3, where Shawn Rayner and Declan Dear clinched a debut win in their Escort Mk2. “It was all about tyres and we were pushing hard,” said Rayner.
