BLACK’ S WYEDEAN WIN EARN S HIM WELSH RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE
Organiser: Forest of Dean MC When: November 11 Where: Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire Championships: Welsh Rally Championship; Welsh Historic Rally Championship; Welsh Mixed Surface Championship; Welsh Clubman Forest Championship; HRCR Stage Masters; FMP Rally Challenge; Gwynnespeed Rally Challenge; ASWMC Loose Stage Rally Championship Starters: 105 Stages: 8 After eight slippery stages in the Forest of Dean, Callum Black and Elliott Edmondson mastered the conditions to secure the Welsh Forest Rally Championship as they won the Wyedean Stages in their Ford Fiesta R5.
Less than a minute behind were Nick Elliott/dave Price, who put in the drive of the day to finish second in their Ford Escort Mk2, as Peter Stephenson/ Darren Garrod finished third in their Ford Focus WRC06.
Black only needed to finish the event to ensure the title and so opted for a steady approach as both he and Edmondson felt it was the most slippery event they had ever done. Nonetheless, fastest time on the first two tests and top four times on the following two tests of the four-stage loop meant they held a 5s lead at halfway.
The first two stages hadn’t gone well for Stephenson/garrod, who had an intermittent wiper fault and also stalled at a hairpin.
With temporary repairs effected, they could commit more, and after setting fastest time on SS4 they moved into second position.
Given the conditions, Elliott/price had no right to be lying in third, let alone the second place he had held up to the previous stage. “I really don’t want to go back out,” admitted Elliott as he recounted the abysmal conditions. “It feels like we’re going slowly, but obviously we’re not. We’re only here for a bit of fun, perhaps I’ll go a bit harder this afternoon to challenge the four-wheel-drive cars.”
Behind Elliott, Group N leaders Andy Davies/lee Taylor had set fastest time on SS3 in their Impreza on their first event together for some time. It was Davies’ first outright stage win.
Locals Bob Morgan/adie Williams were fifth despite a bad misfire on their Subaru Impreza and they were just ahead of Scott Faulkner/dom Adams, who were getting more confident in the conditions as the event wore on in their Mitsubishi.
Black didn’t bother to change tyres for the afternoon’s stages and, despite this, he was fastest on the final three stages to extend his advantage to 53 seconds. He and Edmondson completed a comfortable win and a well-deserved Welsh Championship success, despite a couple of spins along the way. Behind the winners, Elliott found more grip in the afternoon, and a string of second-fastest times enabled him to overhaul Stephenson for second. With his wipers fixed, the Focus driver pushed hard to make up the early time loss, only to drop back to third after spinning and stalling at the same hairpin as in the morning.
With Black securing the crown, Davies had to be content with the series’ Group N win, as he finished in fourth, one place ahead of Lawrence Whyte/patrick Walsh. The young driver impressed on his first-ever rally, setting top-four times on all of the afternoon’s stages before finishing fifth in his Fiesta R5 (see rally news).
Top local was Morgan, who, with the misfire sorted, finished sixth ahead of Group N runner-up Faulkner, as Chris Powell/jim Lewis rounded off their season with an excellent eighth position in their 1400cc class-winning Talbot Sunbeam. On his first event for 15 years, Simon de Banke finished ninth in his Ford Fiesta R5, as Rob Dennis/andrew Boswell overcame a misfire to win the Historic category in their Ford Escort.
In the Gwynnespeed Challenge for Citroen C2s, Ryan Gibson/phil Chicken earned victory. Ed Robinson/matt Rogers won the Max class.