REPORT / RIPONIAN STAGES RALLY
15/02/2025WORDS BY ANDREW SCOTT | PHOTOGRAPY BY DAN MORRIS, ROB SAYER AND ANDREW SCOTT
Last weekend the British Stage rally season kicked off in earnest with the KT Green Riponian Stages Rally. Based out of the North Yorkshire town of Thirsk, utilising the traditional Yorkshire stages of Gale Rigg and Cropton around the village of Stape, north of Pickering. The 2025 event also included two tests in the Boltby forest southeast of Thirsk being used for the first time since 2019 in place of the Wass stage that traditionally linked the Pickering stages with the base in Thirsk.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT AND ROB SAYER
Forming the opening round of the Fuchs Lubricants British Historic Rally Championship the Riponian saw a strong entry for the first round of the 2025 season, however with some notable absentees including some fan favourites and front runners. Nick Elliot’s Fiat 131 was a late withdrawal due to a “schedule clash”, David Appleby Engineering’s Triumph TR7 driven for most of last season by former British Rally Champion Mark Higgins, and Dansport’s Porsche 911 driven by Seb Perez.
Despite those, the entry was strong, with Category 4 entries from the 2 Group A Mitsubishi Gallants of George Lepley, Barry Jordan and the curious Skoda Favorit of Former WRC and ERC co-driver Phil Hall which caused quite a lot of excitement pre-event.
In Category 3 entries from local boy Matthew Robinson, former champion Ben Friend, Dan Mennell, Adrien Hetherington, the quick Irish Crew of Crossen/ Teggart and former Scottish Champion David Henderson it was all set up to be a tight fight in Category Three.
Category Two and One entries were slightly more thin on the ground with BHRC regulars Tim Pearcey and Jeremy Easson heading up the entry along with Adam Milner making a rare appearance having only entered the Trackrod in 2024. The only Category One entry was Terry Cree replacing his BMW 2002 with a Mini for this event.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT AND ROB SAYER
The interclub event saw Elliot Payne head the entry in Ford Fiesta Rally 2, with Vivian Hamill and Daníel Sigurðarson switching out their cars for 2025, Hamill moving from Polo to Fiesta – “Polo, great car but 6 years old this year, fiesta is late 24 so just fresher machinery” Vivian Hamill. Sigurðarson to a Skoda Fabia Rally 2 for 2025. Also of note was an entry from Chris Hopkins in his Rover SD1 and Peter Smith, Co-driven by former British Champion Matt Edwards in an Opel Ascona adding some much-needed variety to the event. Charlie Mathewson, of Bangers and Cash fame also made his stage rally debut in a Mini Cooper R53.
PHOTOS: ANDREW SCOTT AND ROB SAYER
LOOP 1
The interclub event started in predictable style with Elliot Payne and Patrick Walsh taking first blood with the fastest time on the opening two stages through Gale Rigg and Cropton and leading by fourteen at the end of the first 3 despite the Hammill/ Burns Fiesta taking SS3 Boltby by 2 seconds as they settled into the new machinery. In third was Liam Clark a further eleven seconds back.
PHOTO: ELLIOT PAYNE / PATRICK WALSH | BY ANDREW SCOTT
Quickest out the blocks in BHRC was David Crossen and Ben Teggart in their Escort Mk2, from Mennell and Friend, however not all was rosy for the rest of the top crews. Hetherington came through stage end with a deflated rear tyre, Robinson lost 6 minutes with a puncture eventually retiring after SS3, Henderson suffered clutch problems (Hydraulic pressure) even before SS1 and Lepley retired with a misfiring engine as the fragility of the Gallant continued into 2025, those period parts proving fragile.
‘Disappointing start to the championship, engine misfire in stage 1 resulted in retirement to save any further damage.
Sorry to all our sponsors we couldn’t repay you with a top result on this occasion. That’s rallying as they say! Will be back stronger & ready for Carlisle in a few weeks time!’
George Lepley
SS3 was a very slippy run through the technical Boltby test before the crews headed back to service, and by the end of the opening Loop, it was Mennell/ Roberts leading by seventeen seconds from Crossen/ Teggart after Dan had “had a decent push” in SS2 to take the lead. Mennell won both remaining stages with Crossen and Teggart losing 12 seconds to the leader on SS3 due to a spin.
Friend/Simmons were thirty-four seconds back in third after some gearbox issues.
“Didn’t enjoy Cropton, we’ve got a bit of a gearbox issue. We are losing on the downshifts and it was a big confidence thing down the long straights trying to get the engine braking, so that hampered us a bit in there (Cropton)”
Ben Friend
PHOTOS: DAVID CROSSEN / BEN TEGGART | BY ROB SAYER | BEN FRIEND / CLIFFY SIMMONS | ANDREW SCOTT
In Category Four it was the Jordan/Jenkins pair out on their own after the Lepley / Evans retirement and in three it was Milner and Jarvis leading by a full fifty seconds from Tim Pearcey and Ifan Devine with Easson/ Reynolds one minute twenty-five back in third after suffering a misfire in SS1 and 2.
PHOTOS: BAZ JORDAN / ARWEL JENKINS | BY ROB SAYER | ADAM MILNER / ROY JARVIS | BY DAN MORRIS
AFTER STAGE 3
| POS | LEADERBOARD – INTERCLUB | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #101 E.PAYNE / P.WALSH | 00:21.02m |
| 2 | #102 V.HAMILL / N.BURNS | +14s |
| 3 | #105 L.CLARK / C.WILLIAMSON | +25s |
| 4 | #103 A.CARMICHAEL / I.LAMONT | +35s |
| 5 | #109 J.CUNNINGHAM / J.BEER | +37s |
| POS | LEADERBOARD – BHRC | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #5 D.MENNELL / J ROBERTS | 00:22.31m |
| 2 | #9 D.CROSSEN / B TEGGART | +17s |
| 3 | #6 B.FRIEND / C.SIMMONS | +34s |
| 4 | #8 D.HENDERSON / C.LEES | +37s |
| 5 | #7 A.HETHERINGTON / R.O’NEILL | +38s |
LOOP 2
It was much the same pattern on the second loop of the interclub, with Payne taking both SS4 Gale Rigg and SS5 Cropton by a margin of over 10 seconds, as Vivian Hammill lost forty-three seconds in those two stages alone to promote Liam Clark up to second with Hammill now only four seconds ahead of the Sigurðarson / Sigurðardóttir pair in their new Skoda Fabia Rally 2.
“We suffered an issue with the handbrake & centre diff not working on the afternoon loop which resulted in a spin on ss4 and subsequent time loss on the remaining stages. Hopefully an easy fix & maybe to be expected having some teething problems with my new car, Roll on MWR in a few weeks”
Vivian Hamill
It was all set for a podium place battle royal going into SS6 Boltby between Clark, Hammill (despite problems) and Sigurðarson, and it was the Icelandic pair who would set the fastest overall time on SS6 to leapfrog Hammill and take third, Clark’s consistency paying dividend for second place, starting his second year in R5 machinery much as he did in the first, with good consistent results.
PHOTOS: VIVIAN HAMILL / NIALL BURNS | BY ROB SAYER | DANIEL SIGUROARSON / ASTA SIGUROARDOTTIR | BY ANDREW SCOTT
“best result to date with it only being the start of the 2nd year in the car – onwards and upwards fingers crossed”
Liam Clark
PHOTO: LIAM CLARK / CARL WILLIAMSON | BY ANDREW SCOTT
In the BHRC the drama was to continue in the afternoon. Adrian Hetherington and Ronan O’Neill started an afternoon charge up the leaderboard after their SS1 puncture by taking the fastest time on SS4 Gale Rigg after their morning problems. SS5 was where we saw the first notable change on the leaderboard though, Mennell continued his form by taking a stage win by the slender margin of one second from David Henderson and Chris Lees who would be up to third having sorted their earlier clutch problems. Friend was to drop out of contention however with fuel starvation issues. Crossen and Teggart maintained their good start nineteen seconds behind the orange Escort in second place despite having “very little experience in Yorkshire”.
By the end of the final stage in Boltby, Hetherington had completed his afternoon charge up the leaderboard. Going into the last stage it was a battle for third between the Irishmen and the Henderson/Lees pair, three seconds separating them in third and fourth. At the finish Hetherington would be three seconds ahead after taking the final stage win of the day – by 6 seconds – from Henderson to steal that Third place. The former Scottish Champion commented that he was struggling for traction (on his soft tyres) in the slow corner through the final pass of Boltby.
PHOTOS: ADRIAN HETHERINGTON / RONAN O’NEILL, DAVID HENDERSON / CHRIS LEES | BY ANDREW SCOTT
There was no change in the top two, however, Mennell took his first BHRC win overall and took Category Three as a result.
“Absolutely capped to bits with the result it’s like a dream come true from watching all the lads as a young boy and now we are competing with them all it’s pretty special! The family is all rally mad too so it all meant a lot to us all”
Dan Mennell
Crossen and Teggart took a well-deserved second after showing some serious pace last year they began their 2025 by delivering on that promise.
“Fastest on stage 1 then had a spin on stage 3 lost a bit of ground, finished up 2nd in Category 3 behind Dan Mennell so can’t complain, nice start to the campaign”
Ben Teggart
PHOTOS: DAN MENNELL / JOHN ROBERTS, DAVID CROSSEN / BEN TEGGART, ADRIAN HETHERINGTON / RONAN O’NEILL | BY DAN MORRIS
In Category two it was the Escort Mk1 of Adam Milner that would take the win. After a dominant morning, he started leg two with a fifty-second lead and could ease off comparatively speaking, in the second leg, but still underlined his dominance by taking two of the 3 fastest times in the afternoon. This despite suffering with engine problems in SS4 “We had problems on the slow corners, as if it is not getting fuel”. The other stage winner was the Pearcey/ Devine pair who won the second pass through Cropton.
“The rally went well and I enjoyed the challenge of the muddy, rough stages. I suppose there were too many long straights for the 1600 but it was nice to get to the end and win the category.”
Adam Milner
Milner and Jarvis would take the win by just over a minute from the Pearcey/ Devine pair, Easson and Reynolds over a minute back in Third.
PHOTOS: ADAM MILNER / ROY JARVIS | BY DAN ROB SAYER | TIM PEARCEY / IFAN DEVINE, JEREMY EASSON / MIKE REYNOLDS | BY ANDREW SCOTT
In categories One and Four there was only 1 finisher in each. Barry Jordan and Arwel Jenkins Galant finished first in Cat 4.
“We just settled ourselves in after Barry’s six-month layoff, so it was a case of doing our own thing really. It was disappointing to see George parked up because he can make a spectacle of the new Cat 4 cars”
Arwel Jenkins
Phill Hall and Nathalie Kelly Rutten got stuck in a ditch but it was great to see the little Skoda out on the stages.
“Last stage we went off into a ditch and got stuck. But we got a huge amount from the event in terms of development and pace increase so we’re happy.”
Phill Hall
Being the only entry entry in Category One Terry Cree took the win and half points as a result.
PHOTOS: BAZ JORDAN / ARWEL JENKINS, PHIL HALL / NATHALIE KELLY RUTTEN | BY ANDREW SCOTT | TERRY CREE / RICHARD SHORES | BY ROB SAYER
FINAL RESULTS
| POS | LEADERBOARD – INTERCLUB | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #101 E.PAYNE / P.WALSH | 00:41.52m |
| 2 | #105 L.CLARK / C.WILLIAMSON | +20.0s |
| 3 | #107 D.SIGUROARSON / A.SIGUROARDOTTIR | +01:00m |
| 4 | #102 V.HAMILL / N.BURNS | +01:01m |
| 5 | #48 N.DEVINE / L.MCINTYRE | +01:23m |
| POS | LEADERBOARD – BHRC | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #5 D.MENNELL / J ROBERTS | 00:44.56m |
| 2 | #9 D.CROSSEN / B TEGGART | +20s |
| 3 | #7 A.HETHERINGTON / R.O’NEILL | +32s |
| 4 | #8 D.HENDERSON / C.LEES | +35s |
| 5 | #17 M.STROUD / J.CARR | +01:43m |
GALLERY
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Fuchs Lubricants British Historic Rally Championship standings after round 1:
| POS | CAT 1 | POINTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | T CREE | 16 |
| POS | CAT 2 | POINTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A MILNER | 31 |
| 2 | T PEARCEY | 26 |
| 3 | J EASSON | 23 |
| POS | CAT 3 | POINTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | D MENNELL | 31 |
| 2 | D CROSSEN | 26 |
| 3 | A HETHERINGTON | 23 |
| POS | CAT 4 | POINTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | B JORDAN | 31 |
| 2 | G LEPLEY | 1 |
| 3 | P HALL | 1 |
| 4 | R EVANS | 1 |
NEXT TIME
With Wales out of action for the foreseeable future, and both Rally North Wales and the Severn Valley stages cancelled in 2025 next on the agenda for the Fuchs Lubricants British Historic Rally Championship is the newly re-arranged Carlisle stages on Saturday 12th April where the top crews will join with Probite British Rally Championship for fifty Miles of mainly single pass stages through the classic border tests of Ash Park, Kershope, Buck Fell and Chirdonhead.
