Motorsport News – July 17, 2019

FirstRallyeR2victory

forMeadows/Owen

Followinganevent-longbattlewith

PerryGardener/KeatonWilliams,

TommiMeadows/OsianOwenfound

thata changeofpacenotesystemworked

wellastheytooktheirfirstRallyeR2win

intheirFordFiesta.

Aftersurvivinga bigmomentwhen

theyflewovertheflyingfinishofSS4,

thepairheldaneight-secondadvantage

atthehalfwaypoint.

Overthenextthreestages,theleading

twocrewstradedfastestclasstimes,

leavingMeadowswitha six-secondlead

withonestageleft.Andit wasMeadows

whoemergedvictoriousbyeightseconds.

“Itwasa toughbattlewithPerry,he

uppedhispaceintheafternoon,but

wemanagedtokeepahead,”hesaid.

Gardenerwasluckytomakethefinish,

hisFiestaneedinganoiltopupaftera

heavylandingonthefinalflyingfinish,

asJamesGiddings/SionCunniffbattled

backtothirdfollowinga slowstart.

Anothercrewhavinga bigmoment

ontheSS4finishwasTonySimpson/

IanBevan,whohada bigpushonthe

laterstagestomoveuptofourth.Road

penaltiesdroppedMathewTordoff

downtheorder,asEdFossey/Will

Rutherfordpickeduptheirpacein

theafternoontofinishfifth,getting

insomeusefultyretestingintheprocess.

“It’sbeena longtimecoming,”

saida beamingAndyDavison,

aftersprayingthechampagne

asSilverStarwinnerforthe

firsttime.Withouttheluxuryof

changingtyresasfrequentlyas

someofhisrivals,Davisonand

co-driverTomMurphyfinished

14thoverallintheirTalbot

Sunbeam.“Tomtoldmeto

bebrave,butI thoughtwewere

beingstupid,”saida delighted

winnerastheypushedhardon

theafternoonstages.

STAROFTHERALLY

RESULTS

NickyGristStages,BTRDARallySeries,round5/7,July 13

POS DRIVER/CO-DRIVER CAR TIME

1 EuanThorburn/PaulBeaton FordFocusWRC05 44m10s

2 StephenPetch/MichaelWilkinson FordFiestaRSWRC +1m02s

3 SamBilham/PatrickWalsh FordFiestaR5 +1m28s

4 BrendanCumiskey/LiamMoynihan FordFiestaWRC +1m31s

5 PatNaylor/IanLawrence MitsubishiLancerE9 +1m53s

6 RussThompson/AndyMurphy MitsubishiLancerE9 +1m58s

7 MatthewHirst/DeclanDear MitsubishiLancerE9 +2m08s

8 ConorMcCourt/BrianHoy FordFiestaR5 +2m30s

9 RichardSykes/SimonTaylor MitsubishiLancerE9 +2m35s

10 StephenSimpson/MarkGlennersterHyundaii20R5 +2m45s

11 Martyn/ DawnEngland(FiestaR5); 12 IanJoel/ ShaunHughes(FordEscortRSCosworth); 13 CraigCameron/ RhysStoneman

(SubaruImpreza); 14 AndyDavison/TomMurphy(TalbotSunbeam); 15 JasonPritchard/ SteveMcPhee(FordEscortMk2); 16 George

Lepley/TomWoodburn(HillmanAvenger); 17 MartyMcCormack/ BarneyMitchell(EscortMk2); 18 TomLlewellin/ RossWhittock

(EscortMk2); 19 BenFriend/ CliffSimmons(EscortMk2); 20 TommiMeadows/ OsianOwen(FiestaR2).

PowellandLewiscomegoodasBlackandGilbeysufferfuelissues

Overtheopeningtwostages,Callum

Black/MichaelGilbeyopenedupa

five-secondleadinthe1400cccategory,

beforetheirMGZRsufferedfuelpressure

issuescostingovertwominutesand

droppingthemtofourthatthefinish.

TakingovertheleadwereChrisPowell/

JimLewis,aftera goodmorning.“Itwasa

bitscrappybecauseweweretryingreally

hard.We’vegota healthylead,sowe’llgo

ata sensiblepacetomakesurewefinish,”

Powellsaidatservice.Truetohisword,

theTalbotSunbeamdriverbackedoffto

ensuretheclasswinandmaintainhis

championshipchallenge.

SecondwenttoSteveBlack/Paul

Morris,whofoundtheearlygoing

slipperyintheirSuzukiSwiftandwere

ina battlewithfellowSwiftcrewDan

Evans/JessicaHockley,withthepair

closelymatcheddespiteBlacksufferinga

spinneartheendofSS4.

Intheafternoon,it wasBlackwhohad

theedge,securingtherunner-upspotas

Evansstruggledforgripfollowingan

incorrecttyrechoice.

IntheHistoricsection,GeorgeLepley

wasbeatenforthefirsttimethisyear

byJasonPritchardasIrishvisitors

MartinMcCormack/BarneyMitchell

finishedthirdintheirFordEscortMk2.

HywelDavies/SimonJoneswon

classH1/2intheirEscortMk2.

MatthewHirstandTommiMeadows

werethetoptwoJuniordrivers,though

third-placedLepleymaintainshis

championshiplead,asleadingco-driver

TomMurphymovesuptosecondin

theseriesbehindKeatonWilliams.

IntheFiestaSTTrophy,Bobby

Mitchell/ShannonTurnbulltook

theirfirstwinoftheyear,as

championship-leaderZakHughes

retiredwithsuspensionissues.

First-timeIrishvisitorsRuairi

Maguire/GraceO’Brienhada great

runtowinclassB10,despitea broken

shockabsorberontheirVauxhallCorsa.

REGISTEREDBTRDACLASSWINNERS

GoldStar:EuanThorburn/PaulBeaton

(FordFocusWRC05)

SilverStar:AndyDavison/TomMurphy

(TalbotSunbeam)

ProductionCup:PatNaylor/Ian

Lawrence(MitsubishiLancerE9)

HistoricCup:JasonPritchard/Steve

McPhee(FordEscortMk2)

FiestaSTTrophy:BobbyMitchell/

ShannonTurnbull

RallyeR2Cupdriver:TommiMeadows

(FordFiestaR2)

RallyeR2Cupco-driver:Keaton

Williams(FiestaR2)

1400 overall:ChrisPowell/JimLewis

(TalbotSunbeam)

Juniordriver:MatthewHirst

Juniorco-driver:TomMurphy

Seniordriver:RichardSykes

Seniorco-driver:Lawrence

B14:Thorburn/Beaton

B13:Hirst/DeclanDear

B12:OwenMcMackin/LeeTaylor

(FordEscortMk2)

B11:Davison/Murphy

NR4:Naylor/Lawrence

N3:Mitchell/Turnbull

H4driver:TomCoughtrie

(MitsubishiGalant)

H3:Pritchard/Woodburn

H1/2co-driver:RichardWardle

(EscortMk1)

1400C:AdrianWalk/MattWalk(FordKa)

1400S:Powell/Lewis

RF1.4:SamJohnson/LiamJohnson

(SeatArosa)

RF2.0driver:GrahamRoberts

(MGZR)

RF2.0co-driver:AlexStanbury(MGZR)

RFJunior:Johnson/Johnson

CoughtriemanagedtowinclassH4aboardMitsubishiGalant

HirsttookthetopJuniorhonours,aswellastheclassB13winwithDear

TalbotSunbeamduo

managedtotakewin

Leadingtheway:Newpacenotesystemworkedwondersforthecrew

1400cc

running of Crychan.
He followed this up with quickest time
on the next two stages before ending the
day with third fastest time in Llyn Login
2 to seal another win and championship
success. “It’s been good, I didn’t expect
this at the start of the year. The
Cambrian win was unexpected and
things have just snowballed from
there,” said Thorburn of his
dominant BTRDA campaign.
“We did enough to stay where we
are,” was Petch’s reflection of his
afternoon after finishing second. “We
couldn’t get our harder tyres warm,
and we ripped the blocks off them,
and our alternative tyres weren’t ideal.”
Bilham was pleased with his work. He
said: “That was mint, a lot better than
this morning, we set a decent pace and
made no mistakes.”
Top three times on all the stages,
including a first fastest BTRDA time,
enabled Bilham to finish in third
position as Walsh had predicted.
Softening the suspension of his Fiesta

RS WRC and changing to harder

tyres made the handling of the car to

Cumiskey’s liking, but despite setting

consistently quick times, he was unable

to hold off Bilham and had to be content

with a good fourth place.

Fifth overall and first of the

Production Cup runners went to a

relieved Naylor. “It’s been a great day

out, though we’ve had lots of drama and

it’s been stressful at times, I keep

hearing strange noises,” he said, as he

held off regular rival Thompson.

For Thompson, a spin in Halfway 2

proved costly as he was just five seconds

behind at the finish, though he had the

consolation of a good haul of Welsh

Championship points.

Things didn’t go well for Hirst in

the afternoon. A top-five finish was

on the cards until the steering column

collapsed on his Lancer E9, forcing

him to limp home and dropping him to

seventh. He is now second in the Welsh

Championship behind Tom Llewellin,

who locked up the under-23 title.

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