Having registered for the Richard Egger Insurance MSA Asphalt Rally Championship for the first time for over 15 years, Bridgend rally driver Peter Lloyd and co-driver Graham Handley (PICTURED) opened their account with an outright win on the opening round of the series, the Fix Auto Swansea Tour of Epynt, last Sunday. Their Subaru Impreza WRC S12 set fastest time on the first of the six long stages on the Epynt Ranges to establish a lead which, following fastest times on each of the next three stages, they maintained throughout the day.
At the Castle Hotel prizegiving that evening, Graham Handley said that, while he and Peter were obviously delighted to win the rally, the Port Talbot MC event was the last major Epynt rally that had, hitherto, eluded them – so, they have now won them all !
2007 MSA Asphalt Rally Champions Steve Simpson/Mark Booth put in a similarly polished performance to take the runners-up spot in their Impreza WRC, while Simon Mauger/Chris Butcher brought their recently-completed 2.5 litre Ford Escort MkII into an excellent third place. Replacing a broken front shock-absorber caused a late departure from the first service halt, but the consequent thirty second road penalty made no difference to the final result.
Andy Fenwick/Lee Tindall are planning a full season of ARC events and, in another Impreza WRC, their campaign has started well with a 4th place finish on Epynt. John Stone/Lee Carter were particularly pleased with 6th overall in their Skoda Fabia WRC – as they continue the acclimatisation process with their new car, fourth-fastest time on the final stage very encouraging.
While their Hyundai Accent WRC is awaiting completion, Stone’s Legend Motorsport team-mates Mark Jasper/Don Whyatt wheeled out their MG Metro 6R4 to good effect – 7th overall, a handful of seconds behind the Skoda, giving them a strong showing in the points table.
The ‘Star Performance’ salver was awarded to 29-year old James Martin, from Aberystwyth, who is just starting out on his first season of Asphalt Championship events. James’ Astra is not in its first flush of youth but nevertheless, with co-driver Dylan James reading the notes, he finished 13th overall and impressively won the very competitive class.
Those who didn’t fare too well on the opening encounter included 2006/2008 MSA Asphalt Champions David Kynaston/Andy Russell who put their Audi A3 Quattro off the road. It was ten minutes before they regained the road, the car’s gearbox damaged, and they unluckily retired from 4th place, while Damian Cole/Craig Drew’s event came to halt at about the same time when their Focus WRC’s power steering pump failed, eliminating them from fifth place.
With 35 Championship-registered crews taking the start of the Tour of Epynt, other local finishers included Llanelli driver Bob Fowden, once invincible on Epynt, but this time he and Paul Wakely fifth overall and class winners in the Fowden Motor Factors Impreza. Ammanford MC crew Geoff Kitney and Ken Gibbard took their Mitsubishi Evo 6 to third in the same class, whilst PTMC due Steve Griggs and Shaun Price took an impressive class victory, their Vauxhall Nova starting in fifty seventh place !
Amman & District MC men Kevin and Nathan Davies also took a class win with their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, Tregaron and Teify Valley’s Steve Wood / Aled Richards another class winning duo in a Peugeot 206. Ray Horton and Paul Williams upheld PTMC and Welsh honour, taking a class second in their Darrian GTR. The Richard Egger Insurance MSA Asphalt Rally Championship moves to the Isle of Man for the second round, the Manx Telecom Rally on 7/8th May.
