Ernie Graham and Robin Kellard laid the ghost of two last stage retirements on recent events by clinching victory on round three of the HRCR Classic Stage Rally Challenge, the Red Dragon Rally on Saturday (22 May).
The Classic Challenge was running within a BTRDA event for the first time, and crews tackled six dry and dusty stages on the forest tracks used by Wales Rally GB. Ten crews contested the Classic section of the event and ran between the 1400cc cars and the main event, thus ensuring good quality stages.
Though the leading crews battled hard, external factors had a major impact upon the outcome as Graham/Kellard brought their Mk1 Escort home 32 seconds clear of the Mk2 of Will Nicholls/Nick Broom.
However, two crews didn’t see the end of the opening stage. Chris and Roger Bown hit engine dramas in their Chevette for the second time running on the opening test, while the crowd-pleasing Rover 3500 of John Lythaby and James Savage also ground to a halt on the first run through the Walter's Arena stage. The other retirement was that of championship newcomers Darren Morris/Alec Morris when their Escort expired in stage five.
Over the first three stages the Mk2s of Gareth Lloyd/Ryland James and Nicholls/Broom had a tremendous battle and went into stage four at Resolven split by only five seconds. However, the event was turned on its head just after the first junction. Rocks had been placed in the roads by local kids, and while Lloyd was able to take to the ditch in avoidance, Nicholls was unsighted in the hanging dust and ripped a brake pipe off when he ran over the rocks.
As Nicholls/Broom struggled out of the stage, the following cars of Graham and Martin Freestone/Mark Ellison were caught in the dust. Unable to see behind, Nicholls sportingly pulled over at one point, but when no cars came by he rejoined. Unknown to Will, he continued just as Graham arrived on his tail!
That left Lloyd/James clear, but their advantage was short-lived. On stage five, the second run through Crynant, a wheel centre pulled out and they lost an agonising five minutes lifting the car and changing the wheel. Instead, Graham/Kellard went into the final two stages with 21 seconds in hand over Nicholls/Broom. A big push from Graham on new tyres over Crynant 2 increased that margin by another 11 seconds and when the top pair tied on the final test at Walter's Arena, Graham and Kellard had done it. "Our fortunes took a flip on this one; it was a great rally," said a delighted Graham.
Nicholls/Broom had fought hard to recover much of the 1m40s lost on Resolven, but had to finally settle for second place. Only 23 seconds down in third came Freestone/Ellison (Escort RS1800) who ran strongly on only their second gravel event to claim third. It could have been an even better result had they not lost time on the first loop of stages with a misfire, which was cured at first service.
An excellent class-winning fourth went to the RS2000 of Michael and David Pedley, which measured up well against the pace of the more powerful class D5 Escorts. Meanwhile, Lloyd/James salvaged enough points to retain the championship lead in sixth behind the Mk2 Escort of Ian Rix/Mark Solloway.
The HRCR Classic Challenge is back in Wales at the end of June for round four, the Mid Wales Stages on 26/27 June, when the battle between Lloyd and Nicholls should be rejoined in style.
