Four Ludlow Motor Club Ltd crews took on Round 6 of the Heart of England Rally Championship at the former second world war airbase at Fulbeck. The airfield hasn’t been used for a single venue stage rally since August 202 and the event was again well supported. Rain had been forecast, but it was dry and sunny when crews set out on the opening stage of eight. But most crews still went for wet tyres.
Photograph courtesy of Kevin Money
Dan Petrie/Jack Bowen – 14th Overall, 1st in Class 2
After talking about doing a rally for long enough and being close friends for much longer, Dan finally found the treasure and took the pirate along for a rally in the Peugeot 106. Having receive an in-depth weather report from the Met Office showing heavy rain on the Saturday with drier conditions for the Sunday, the pair knew that they would have to push on the opening stages before the venue dried out suiting the more powerful cars. They did just that and were pleased to have an 11 second class lead after two stages. This grew to 18 seconds by the end of SS3 however there was a slight drama on SS4 when, approaching the first chicane, the brake pedal went to the floor! Into the afternoon and as expected the more powerful cars pulled away as the stages drive out. An issue with the back brakes on SS5 didn’t hinder the hard charging pair and this was repaired in service before SS6. No further issues for the remainder of the day saw Team Pirate take the class by 40 secs. An enjoyable day and a solid result for Petrie on only his fourth event in the driving seat.
Photograph courtesy of Scherer Race & Rally News
Richard Fletcher/Cassy Romeo – 19th Overall, 3rd in Class 2
Fletch reported very challenging conditions in the morning and struggled to get the power down in his Citroen C2 at times. As the day went on and the weather improved, their speed increased setting consistent times all day reaping them a class award. A thoroughly enjoyable event and they are looking forward to returning next year.
Photograph courtesy of Scherer Race & Rally News
Stefan Morris/Christopher Ridge – 42nd Overall, 15th in class 3
With Stef wanting to score good points for the championship, the objective was a decent points finish in their Morris Autos and CTM-CT Morris backed Ford Escort Mk 2. Usually caught napping on SS1, Stef (and the promise of a banana) had a very good opening stage, being 13th quickest. No risks were taken. Guided by Cleobury Mortimer’s finest Stef and Ridger went on to set consistent times throughout the morning with confidence being high going into the four afternoon stages. The morning pace was maintained, and 12th overall was still being held. However, on the penultimate stage, the throttle cable snapped but they managed to get the car out of the stage and back to service using the cable through the window although taking a stage maximum. After an almighty effort from the service crew, they managed to complete the final stage taking valuable championship points seeing Stef currently lead the Heart of England Championship.
Photograph courtesy of Scherer Race & Rally News
Tim Baker/Neil Hallworth – DNF
Unfortunately, it was a very short event for this pair. The driver reported being a tad ambitious on SS1, carrying too much speed through a very long unsighted right-hand bend arriving at the following 90 left way too fast. Mud on the road, meant they were passengers, sailing straight on coming to a very sudden stop against a tree. Both reported feeling a little bit sore but were very grateful for the HANS devices and excellent marshals who were at the scene immediately to assist. The car however did fair quite as well and will require some considerable TLC before the next round.
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