CLOSED road stage rallying made a welcome return to Sennybridge Military Range for the PitStop Garage, Pengam -Dixies Challenge Rally, reports MARK GRIFFIN.
Organised by Forresters Car Club, a full entry of 80 cars assembled on a bright but chilly morning on Mynydd Epynt.
The event comprised 10 short timed stages on the western side of the range with a central service area providing for a compact route.
With the organisers providing priority for respective championship contenders, some fancied runners were left disappointed to not gain an entry, including the winners for the previous two years – Malcolm and Rhys Jones in their Darrian.
With their absence, event sponsor Neil Jones and Alan Thomas started as car one in their fabulous Ford Escort, closely followed by multiple Epynt event winners, Abergavenny’s Damian Cole and the vastly experienced Paul Spooner occupying the co-drivers seat of their Citroen C3 Rally2.
Robert Tout and Terry Martin were expected to challenge for the overall win, being familiar with the Epynt roads and having taken the runners-up spot last year.
The stage pattern for the day allowed two stages before a service break. Over the opening pair of timed tests, Cole and Spooner built up a valuable six-second advantage over Tout and Martin, with four critical seconds gained on stage two.
As the day progressed, sunny conditions prevailed and the pace between the top two crews grew hotter – over the remaining eight stages the top two were equal on time or a just second or two apart.
Cole and Spooner finally took victory by nine seconds allowing Cole his 25th outright win on Epynt – a total that’s unlikely to ever be surpassed at the venue.
The final podium spot was taken by Richard Merriman and Louise Lewis in their Darrian T90.
Fortunes varied for local crews. Joseph Palmer and Steve McPhee steered their Nissan Micra to the top step of the podium in the Celtic Micra Challenge, taking their class win by over two minutes.
Brecon Motor Club co-driver Sam Weller and driver Bleddyn Thomas got caught out on a deceptive corner on the penultimate stage though, damaging the front end of the Escort, and causing retirement.
But Paul Tappin and Jon Hawkins from Epynt Motor Club finished sixth in class in their Talbot Sunbeam.
Both Brecon and Epynt Motor Clubs supplied safety and timing marshalls for the event, all which aided a smoothly run day.
Elsewhere, the weekend’s Plains Rally attracted over 100 crews to the beautiful town of Bala and the forests of North Wales.
Irish duo Andrew Purcell and Martyn Brady emerged victorious from the dust in their Ford Fiesta Rally 2, while it was a successful day for Ben Friend with regular Monmouth co-driver Cliffy Simmons, finishing fourth overall and first in the Historics class in the Allglass Anglia Escort RS1800.
Meanwhile, Forest of Dean co-driver Craig Drew partnered Philip Allen in round 2 of the FIA European Rally Championship in Hungary on an all-gravel track.
Day one saw the duo hold a top-15 place until broken suspension curtailed their day
With the car repaired on Sunday, under super rally rules, they then set three fastest stage times and were never out of the top five times to climb back to 29th at the end in the Auto Assist Skoda Fabia Rally 2.