MELLORS MAKES IT TWO BTRDA WINS ON THE BOUNCE
Proton Iriz R5 crew master the tricky conditions to take top spot by nearly 20 seconds.
In 1994 Chris Mellors scored the first of three consecutive Trackrod Forest Rally wins and, on the 25th anniversary of this achievement, it was fitting that his son Ollie won this year’s event in his Proton Iriz R5. With Ian Windress alongside, the pair followed up their recent Woodpecker success to win their second BTRDA round in a row. Second went to last year’s winners, Mat Smith/giles Dykes, who lost time early on as they reacclimatised to their borrowed Ford Fiesta R5. Stephen Petch/michael Wilkinson rounded off their BTRDA campaign with maximum points in their Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
Unlike the Historic crews, the BTRDA runners did not attempt the Friday evening run through Dalby, and commenced their event with a shortened eight-and-a-half-mile test through Langdale. Following heavy rain, the Yorkshire stages would prove to be slippery, but this didn’t worry Mellors who had a good run through the opening test.
“I really enjoyed that, we had a good push as the car felt good,” he said, after setting a time over eight seconds faster than anybody else. With the Proton running faultlessly, he was looking forward to the stages through Cropton and Gale Rigg. “Everything is routine, we’ve just got to scrape out some of the Yorkshire mud and we can go out and enjoy the sunshine,” he added.
There was a first fastest time on a BTRDA round for Ian Bainbridge on SS2. Having swapped his Subaru Impreza for a Skoda Fabia R5, and with Jamie Edwards alongside, things clicked as the pair were faster than everybody else and overtook Petch for second place. “We made a good tyre choice, though Ian’s still getting his head around the car,” said Edwards.
Things hadn’t gone as well for Petch through the second test, who had dropped to fourth as a result. “I enjoyed the first stage, but dropped time on the second, we should have had other tyres,” he reflected, but otherwise, no changes were planned to the car. “We’ll just go as we are, and keep sensible,” he added.
Initially benefiting from Petch’s misfortune were George Lepley/tom Woodburn who belied the fact that this was only their second four-wheel-drive outing in their Mitsubishi Lancer E10. They had set third fastest time on the opener, before dropping back to fifth by SS3. “It’s been unbelievably slippery, with inconsistent grip,” was Lepley’s view of the opening stages. “I’m going to try a different driving style and make a few minor changes to set up.”
Last year, Smith/dykes had won the event in a Fiesta R5 and, reunited with the car for the first time since the Pirelli International, Smith was taking a while to adjust to it. His first stage hadn’t gone well. “I got stuck on a tight hairpin and couldn’t find reverse,” he rued.
Third fastest time through Staindale was better, despite not being quite in tune with the car, as he moved up to fifth position.
Mellors continued to enjoy his day, as the Iriz was faster than the rest of the field in Cropton, and although he was a handful of seconds off the fastest time through Gale Rigg, he returned to service with a healthy 24s lead. Behind him, it was all change, as a second fastest time on SS3 and quickest time on the following test elevated Smith to second position, even though he claimed to be “struggling with the mixed conditions”.
Remaining in third was Petch, who was content with the way things were going. “We’re doing what we need to do in order to secure second in the Gold Star series,” he said. Losing out here was Bainbridge, who went off near the end of Gale Rigg. “We nearly rolled, but thankfully we didn’t,” said a relieved Edwards, as the Skoda went up onto two wheels and the crew dropped a couple of places overall in the process. Also dropping two positions was Lepley, whose changes didn’t work as planned.
After a long lay-off from gravel rallying, Kevin Procter brought his Fiesta S2000 out for an outing on the Trackrod and, with Patrick Walsh alongside, made light of his lack of recent loose surface driving by setting fourth fastest in Staindale.
They were lying sixth overall early on, only to drop a place as Smith moved up the order. One place ahead of Procter were Richard Sykes/simon Taylor who were happy with their early tyre choice and had been holding fifth place in their Lancer E9. Unfortunately, things weren’t going so well for Tom Preston/carl Williamson who had slowed on stage one when they thought they had a damaged driveshaft on their Fiesta RS WRC, only to find it was a bent wheel, and later retired the car with differential issues.
All that remained was an 11-mile run
through Dalby, which most of the crews found to be extremely challenging though Lepley enjoyed the test. “It was drier and we had a push,” he said after he set fastest time. “We just need to test in the wet,” he continued as he gets used to his new car, finishing fifth and first junior driver.
Things hadn’t gone quite to plan for Mellors/windress after they clipped a bank, putting the Iriz onto two wheels, which wasn’t in the script, but thankfully not rolling the car. “I’d never have lived that down,” Mellors joked as he arrived at the finish to celebrate victory. “The car’s been fantastic, there’s been nothing to do to it.”
The afternoon had been “a little bit better” for Smith who ensured second place despite a half spin in Dalby. “I struggled a bit in the mixed conditions, but it’s been a good day,” said the runner-up. Third overall went to Petch: “We enjoyed it but we were on the wrong tyres again on the last stage.” Third place gave him maximum BTRDA points as they secured the Gold Star runners up spot.
Fourth fastest time in Dalby consolidated Bainbridge’s fourth place overall. “The engine is so strong, and I just need to adjust to the braking capabilities compared to the Subaru,” was his prognosis of his day. Behind Lepley in fifth, Sykes achieved his goal of leading class B13 to clinch the series category and the BTRDA senior driver award.
A stage-four overshoot didn’t cost Procter any places as he held on to seventh, while Ian Joel/graeme
Wood replaced a kinked pipe which had caused oil to leak on their Ford Escort Cosworth, but they fought back to eighth place.