A PERFECT WEEKEND FOR EDWARDS PUTS HIM BACK IN THE TITLE CHASE
Matt Edwards and Hamish Campbell put themselves firmly back in the British Historic Rally Championship title hunt after a resounding victory on the Trackrod Historic Cup.
The locally developed Fiat 131 was the class of a quality field across six tough and at times slippery stages in the glorious North Yorkshire forests. Despite a troubled stage, Edwards stamped his authority on the rally on the opening test in Dalby on Friday evening and pressed home his advantage through Saturday to finish nearly a minute and a half clear.
This was a rally in which nobody really seemed to want to finish second. Adam Milner, Henri Grehan, Nick Elliott and Steve Bannister could all have taken the runner-up slot, but all faltered at some point. Instead, it was Simon Webster and Ben Friend who took the remaining podium positions after two great performances on the back of, at times, troubled seasons for the two BHRC champions.
It all started in the dark of Friday evening for over 11 miles in Dalby that was at times slippery, fast, dusty, tricky, narrow and open. Edwards rose to the occasion to emerge over 17 seconds clear of local hero Bannister, who was partnered by Callum Atkinson. Championship leader Grehan and Dan Petrie ran third despite losing the map light and then struggled to find the right place in the notes by torchlight. Somehow, they got through with the loss of only 22s to title rival Edwards.
However, the star of the evening for two thirds of the stage was Milner who, with Roy Jarvis holding on, set a stunning pace as ever. In the 1600cc crossflow engined Ford Escort Mk1 an unofficial split had him running second fastest by the time they got to the Woodyard. But a mile or two further on the crossflow cried enough and lunched itself comprehensively, spitting a conrod out of the block. What could have been the performance of the weekend was over in less than 10 minutes.
After time to regroup overnight, the crews headed into Cropton on Saturday morning for the first of five more stages as some rain showers laid any remaining dust and turned the top surface into a greasy slime.
Edwards narrowly headed Bannister but it all went wrong for both Grehan and Robert Gough/Sam Collis. Grehan dropped at least two minutes after spinning into a ditch but Gough dropped even more, losing over five minutes in another ditch.
Edwards kept up the pace in Gale Rigg as Nick Elliott and Dave Price brought the other Fiat 131 up into contention by going second fastest. Elliott had a scrappy opening stage in the dark with an overshoot and spin costing him precious time but was better on Saturday until sidelined by an electrical glitch in Staindale. Frustratingly, the car later fired up and they drove it out of the stage.
Edwards took another fastest time in Staindale but secondplaced Bannister was not destined to go much further as the gearbox cried enough. It had been a great run from the Yorkshire veteran who admitted to being pretty pleased with his rally until the gearbox broke. Thirteen miles of Langdale also fell to Edwards but only by a whisker as Webster and Alun Cook really upped their pace to post the secondfastest time from Friend and
Cliff Simmons.
All that remained was the second run through 11 miles of Dalby, this time in daylight, and Edwards headed into the stage with a lead of well over a minute. Just to prove a point, he added another 16s to underline an emphatic victory that.
At the end of Dalby Edwards said: “It’s been tricky and slippy but it’s nice when the car is in the palm of your hand rather than floundering a bit with it. It’s getting there, it’s fun to drive and Hamish did great job today. It’s fast in there at times!”
Webster beat off Friend by nine seconds to secure second place while into fourth, albeit a little way back, came Richard Jordan and James Gratton-Smith on a great debut run in their stunning CarrPrep Escort Mk2.
Category 2 victory went the way of Chris Skill and Brian Hodgson in their Escort Mk1 but it was a rally not without its moments. Skill said: “What a day!” They’d gone flying down a ditch in Gale Rigg for about 200 metres in what they thought was going to be a monster accident. “I don’t know how the hell we got away with it,” admitted Skill.
But it was a day, indeed a weekend, that belonged to Edwards, Campbell and the local Rallysport Development team. The Fiat had flown and Edwards had driven impeccably. He now goes to Kielder with nothing less than another win in his sights and, if he does that, it will depend on where Grehan finishes as to who takes the crown.