South Downs Stages 2010 - Rally Report

An unexpected damp start to the day came as a surprise to many competitors who were expecting a dry run as has become traditional for the event for the last 4 years. However, in the absence of last year's winner Adrian Brown, there was no surprise to see Simon Mauger/Chris Butcher top the time sheets despite struggling to get any grip down from the Millington engine Escort.

They weren't having it all their own way mind with event sponsor and local man Paul King, accompanied by Alicia Miles, only one second behind on stage one and sharing fastest time on stage two. Paul likes the damp conditions but confessed that it was so slippery he was convinced he was way down the leaderboard.

Behind the top two it was newcomer Jay Stanley with Stuart 'Taffy' Andrews alongside putting in a good turn of speed out the box heading Goodwood regulars Paul Diamond and Alistair Flack who had both been held back by spins. They weren't the only ones getting dizzy though with Richard Brogan and Chris Selfe both managing to spin off at the Goodwood chicane in front of the crowds of spectators, and Matt Bateman/Rob Fowler trying their hardest to destroy the Astra, kindly lent to them by Dave Keen, having collected a tyre out the back of the circuit and then on stage two putting it in the barrier on the pit straight!

As the morning progressed the conditions started to dry as Mauger/Butcher pulled out three more seconds over King/Miles with the Escorts of Stanley/Andrews and Diamond/Cox swapping seconds with the rapid TR7 of Flack/Higson.

Unfortunately the fourth stage of the day, a single lapper, was cancelled following a lack of time before the mandatory lunch break, following time lost investigating the off of Iain Morris/John Taylor who had started very quickly indeed in their unarched version of a Vauxhall powered MkII Escort.

In the classes Abi Mahmood/Andrew Smith were the clear leaders in class A in the ex-works Micra kit car, but behind them there was a much closer battle for second with Matt & Suze Endean in their Endurance spec Rover 200 just a second ahead of Les & Tom Horn in the Ford Ka.

Class B was always going to be a good battle between the lightning quick Dominic Worsfold/Ian Waller and Gavin Hearnden/Anton Shaw. This year Dominic had swapped his rapid Fiesta for a 106 GTi running in forest spec as a test before the Wyedean Rally the following weekend. It was Dominic quickest out the box driving the 106 sideways as often as forwards, but the BDA engine Escort settled down after stage two and was comfortably quicker.

King and Diamond were the leaders in class C but on the fringes of the top 10 were Terry Luckings/Russell Burton in a Golf GTi with Mark & James Snelling 24 seconds behind in their Mi16 engined 205. Jon Segger/Mark Cann had headed both, but dropped to three cylinders on stage 3 dropping them valuable time.

With Mauger/Butcher out front class D spoils were being fought over between Stanley/Andrews and Ian Hucklebridge /Paul Brown, with the MkII heading the MkIII so far.

Nigel Mummery/Michelle Humphries were the sole entrants in class E and the four wheel drive was proving beneficial in the early slippery proceedings.

Class F, for historic spec cars, was usually the domain of Roy Edwards/David Shields however a clutch problem meant they couldn't take the start. With Richard Weaver/Russell Thompson also coming to grief with clutch woes on stage 1 the stage was set for Simon Whitehead/Dave Town to head the class in their 998cc Hillman Imp. Despite the engine size they weren't hanging about heading Michael Jones/Rick Spurgeon in their immaculate Porsche 911.

The TR7 class had a strong 7 car turnout, and unsurprisingly headed by the rapid and vicious car of Alistair Flack, whose modern incarnation was superior to the traditional versions behind. Bert Smeets, a welcome visitor from Belgium accompanied by Val Thompson, was slip sliding his way round in the ex-Roy Gillingham TR which had tasted success many times at Goodwood back in the 80's. Despite a spin on stage two he was heading the chase, with Paul Hunter/Spencer Beard and Stephen Hall/Aggie Foster very close behind.

By the afternoon the track had dried out and the slicks were bolted on. The advantage was firmly back in the hands of Mauger/Butcher who extended their lead as the afternoon went on. Paul King's efforts in the morning were sufficient to cement second place as his own despite being slower than Flack and Diamond whose power advantage was now coming to the fore. Jay Stanley suffered brake and gearshift problems which dropped him behind both of them.

Further down the field Dominic Worsfold called it a day with gearbox issues, allowing Gavin Hearnden a clear run to the class B win. Class C was hotting up though with Mark Snelling pulling out all the stoppers to catch Terry Luckings. The 205 crew managed to take 19 seconds out of the Golf over two stages with only two short 1 lap stages left.

Bert Smeets good run also came to an early end with gearbox troubles, thus meaning second place in the TR class was now a fight between Hunter/Beard and Hall/Foster.

The last two single lap stages provided a moment of drama with Mauger/Butcher losing a small amount of time when the exhaust manifold worked loose, however it wasn't significant enough to drop them out of first place, and for the second time in three years they took the win, 30 seconds ahead of an impressive run from King/Miles.

Behind them it ended a dead heat between Paul Diamond and Alistair Flack, the TR beating the Escort on the last two stages, had it not been for a spin in the slippery conditions in the morning it would have been a second 3rd place in a row for the TR crew.

5th place was taken by Jay Stanley/Stuart Andrews despite a last gasp effort from the beautiful MkIII Escort of Ian Hucklebridge/Paul Brown. But Ian was pleased enough having taken his first ever stage win on stage 7, 2 seconds quicker than Flack and 5 quicker than Mauger.

Nigel Mummery took the Escort Cosworth to 7th overall, 30 seconds ahead of class B winner Gavin Hearnden. Rounding out the top 10 was the class C battle between Luckings and Snelling. Having regained the 24 second deficit from before lunch it ended in draw, both crews ending the day on 30:49.

In the classes Abi Mahmood was runaway winner of class A finishing 13th overall in the Micra. The Rover/Ka battle further down the field ended up going in the favour of the Endean's who finished 14 seconds ahead of the Horns.

Second in class B were the Scottish pairing of Duncan Brown and Ian Robertson who achieved their goal of finishing higher than their seeding, taking 23rd overall.

The class D award went to Stanley/Andrews from Hucklebridge/Brown. Chris Selfe/Paul Lowman would have finished in the top 10 had they not had their earlier spin but were content with 3rd in class D.

The Porsche 911 of Jones/Spurgeon showed a late turn of pace but it wasn't enough to catch the rapid Imp of Simon Whitehead/Dave Town who were class F winners.

The TR7 class was only ever going to be won by one man as long as he stayed on the track, but behind Alistair Flack the battle between Hunter/Beard and Hall/Foster ended in the favour of Hunter/Beard by a mere one second.

On behalf of the organiser we would like to thank all the competitors for their continued support of the event, despite the restrictions thrown up by the venue we have strived to make improvements each year and will continue to do so for future. Thank you, and we hope to see you all in 2011.

Mark Collings

The full results from the event can be downloaded here: Results

Thanks to everyone for all the very positive comments and feedback about the event, and look forward to welcoming you all back next year!

The Organising Team