BTRDA / RD2 / RALLYNUTS STAGES 2023
21/04/2023The MRF Tyres BTRDA Rally Series arrived in Wales for the second round of its 2023 season. The Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells hosted the Rallynuts Stages Rally (April 15), a Midland Manner Motor Club organised event. Approximately 44 competitive miles, (27 of which were single usage) over seven stages in the Myherin, Hafren/Sweet Lamb and Coed Sarnau complexes were on offer.
Photo By Xlerate.Media
Last time out at the opening round, The Malcolm Wilson Rally back in March, Elliot Payne secured maximum points at the season curtain raiser but, behind him, there was a close battle for the runner-up spot between the likes of Arron Newby and Matthew Hirst. It would be those three protagonists who would once again be back at it on the classic Welsh gravel in Mid Wales this time around. However, for one of those crews it would be a game of two completely different halves; where at half-time they were on top but by the time the final whistle had been blown they were left feeling deflated in more ways than one.
The event began in bright sunshine with a 7.6-mile test in the West side of Myherin in parts of the forest which haven’t been used since maybe Wales Rally GB 2019? Number 1 seed, Matthew Hirst alongside Co-Driver Declan Deer began their day the quickest out of the stables in their Ford Fiesta R5 steed.
Stopping the clocks 23 seconds faster than the Skoda Fabia R5 car of Arron Newby & Jamie Edwards, indicating that they meant business right from the get-go. A further 10 seconds behind Newby in third, were Elliot Payne & Tom Woodburn in their Ford Fiesta Rally 2.
Photo: Matthew Hirst & Declan Dear | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media
A slightly shorter stage to the east immediately followed and it was clear that Hirst & Dear were on a mission, their second stage win in Myherin East gave them a further 5 seconds advantage over Newby heading into Hafren Forest to the north for the third stage of the morning loop.
Photo: Matthew Hirst & Declan Dear | By Andrew Scott
Hafren Sweet Lamb offered up another 7-mile test for the crews to get their teeth into and yet again, neither Newby nor Payne were able to mount an attack on Hirst and Dear. Hirst gained another 5 seconds to extend the lead heading into the final stage of the morning loop, the shortest stage of the rally in Coed Sarnau, just on the outskirts of Rhayader.
Photo: Matthew Hirst & Declan Dear | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media
The timesheet for Stage 4, Cwmysgawen was a little closer between the top three, a single second was enough for Matthew Hirst to tick off his fourth stage win of the morning and he and Co-Driver Declan Dear were heading back to the mid-day service in Builth with a lead of 20 seconds over Arron Newby.
Elliot Payne rounded out the top three and was a further 16 seconds down on Newby, but for Hirst & Dear, their morning’s efforts out these Welsh stages were looking as bright as the sun shone in Mid Wales, for now at least.
The afternoon loop of action began with the longest test of the rally, Myherin main consisted of parts of Stage 1 bolted onto Stage 2 to make up a single 8 miles test stretching from West to East. Finally, Hirst’s run of stage wins came to an abrupt end, and it was Newby who picked up his first stage win; which perhaps may have been aided by lady luck having vacated the Delta Salvage Shood Ford Fiesta of Hirst & Dear.
Photo: Arron Newby & Jamie Edwards | By Andrew Scott
Newby stopped the clocks 4 seconds quicker than Payne but for Hirst, this first stage of the afternoon would be disastrous as that 20-second lead was turned into a 16-second deficit following a puncture in this stage. It’s never ideal to pick up a puncture on any stage of these one-day national rallies but for it to happen on the longest test of the rally, well that was just rotten luck for Hirst. Atleast there were still some four seconds for Hirst & Dear to defend over Payne & Woodburn who was behind them in third.
Photo: Matthew Hirst & Declan Dear | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media
Now with four fully inflated tyres strapped onto his Ford Fiesta, Hirst was once again back up to speed in the second pass of the Hafren Sweet Lamb test, 11 seconds were clawed back here, but with just a final short blast through Coed Sarnau, he was still 4 seconds short of the new rally leaders, Arron Newby & Jamie Edwards. It was a big ask of Hirst, considering that just three seconds separated the top three in this very stage in the morning, it was going to require a mega time from him to take back the glory from Newby in the final stage.
Photo: Matthew Hirst & Declan Dear | By Andrew Scott
Alas, it wasn’t going to be Hirst and Dears day to dorn the top step of the podium this time out, the pair were unfortunately hit with yet another puncture in the final stage of the rally and with that, any hopes of regaining the win were well and truly gone. It was a bitter pill to swallow for the pair, given that the morning had gone to plan and a good lead was built up, ultimately that lead wasn’t enough of a margin to survive one let alone two punctures.
And so one man’s loss would contribute to another’s gain, Arron Newby alongside Jamie Edwards in their Skoda Fabia R5 crossed the finish line back in Builth with 30 seconds in their back pocket to Elliot Payne and Tom Woodburn.
Photo: Arron Newby & Jamie Edwards | By Andrew Scott
Although they were outgunned over the morning loop of stages, they did enough to keep themselves within reach and ready to pounce, and they did just that over the afternoon stages to score their first BTRDA Rally victory.
It was of no real consolation but Matthew Hirst & Declan Dear rounded off the GoldStar podium having narrowly missed out on that second place by just 1 second to Round 1 winners Elliot Payne & Tom Woodburn. Hirst although would leave a sunny Builth Wells still with some decent points, it was, however, under a metaphorical dark cloud and he vowed to come back fighting stronger at the next round.
SilverStar
In the SilverStar award, there would be a new contender in the mix at the second round in Mid Wales. Last time out at the season opener, it was a pair of MK2 Ford Escorts that would fight it out for the top spot, where Ben Friend and Cliff Simmons would emerge triumphant. However, this time around, Friend wasn’t going to be given an easy ride and would be up against some stiff competition. Namely that of Robert Gough and his Co-Driver Paul Morris who were making their first appearance in the BTRDA this year.
Photo: Robert Gough & Paul Morris | By Andrew Scott
Gough and Morris set off on the right foot in their MK2 Ford Escort on the opening stage of the day in the western side of Myherin. A margin of 7 seconds was gained on this first test over Round 1 winners Friend & Simmons. Another MK2 Escort crew of Boyd Kershaw & Keegan Rees rounded out the top three of the SilverStar crews and was just 2 seconds down on Friend.
Gough & Morris continued to push on throughout the morning’s loop of stages and didn’t appear to be troubled too much by the likes of Friend and Kershaw, who were locked in a fierce battle behind them.
Photo: Boyd Kershaw & Keegan Rees | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media
Kershaw and Rees were able to pip Friend and Simmons by just a single second on Stages 2, 3 and 4 and then found themselves in second place heading into the mid-day service halt.
Thanks to their fastest times on every stage of the morning loop, the SilverStar leaders in Gough and Morris had built up a lead of over 30 seconds. All eyes, however, were focused on the battle that was unfolding behind them, between the likes of Kershaw and Friend who were separated but just a single second at the midpoint in the rally.
The story out front in SilverStar remained unchanged throughout the afternoon’s stages, Robert Gough and Paul Morris pushed on and were able to romp home with a full house of fastest stage times to take the SilverStar victory.
Photo: Robert Gough & Paul Morris | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media
Crossing the finish line back in Builth Wells with an impressive margin of nearly a minute, they were pretty much unchallenged out on the stages on the day and took to the top step of the podium at only their first BTRDA outing.
The pair were also rewarded with the Historic Cup honours ahead of Ben Friend & Cliffy Simmons with Jonathan Brace & Paul Spooner (Top H1/H2 Class crew) rounding off that Historic Cup podium.
Photo: Jonathan Brace & Paul Spooner | By Andrew Scott
In the H1/H2 class field Brace & Spooner got the better of Ernie & Karen Graham on five out of the seven stages on the day to bring their MK1 Escort RS1600 home some 36 seconds quicker.
The afternoon didn’t go as well as it perhaps could have done for Boyd Kershaw & Keegan Rees. The longest test of the rally, Myherin Main resulted in a time loss which occurred from a spin. Some 12 seconds were dropped to Friend here and in the next one, the repeated run through Hafren Sweet Lamb they then lost the intercom which was far from ideal. The pair soldiered on but ultimately weren’t able to recover that time loss and crossed the finish line some 5 seconds short of Friend and Simmons.
Photo: Boyd Kershaw & Keegan Rees | By Andrew Scott
Ben Friend and Cliff Simmons peddled their MK2 Ford Escort home to take second in the SilverStar award and secured a decent haul of points to add to their maximum points taken at the opening round, which is a pretty good start to their season.
Photo: Ben Friend & Cliff Simmons | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media
This now puts them firmly at the top of the SilverStar standings, where they are six points clear of joint second place, Boyd Kershaw and Robert Proudlock who finished fifth this time out in the Opel Adam R2 (+R2 Cup honours).
BronzeStar
Unlike at the opening round where Nigel & Karen Jenkins delivered a dominant performance, this time out the pair were not given a golden ticket straight to the top step of the podium and would have to fight to remain in the game following some gremlins with their Vauxhall Nova.
Photo: Dale Glover & David Smalley | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media
It was Dale Glover & David Smalley who would be the ones to set the pace in their Alfa Romeo Alfasud on the first stage of the morning, Myherin West. The pair stopped the clocks 5 seconds quicker than the Jenkins pairing but that then induced a reaction in the very next stage (SS2 Myherin East), where they both stopped the clocks on identical times.
Photo: Dale Glover & David Smalley | By Andrew Scott
Unbelievably there was a repeat of this again in SS3 Hafren Sweet Lamb where both of the leading BronzeStar crews could not be separated on speed, however, Glover broke that deadlock in the final stage of the morning loop, in Coed Sarnau. Glover nipped his second outright fastest BronzeStar stage by just a single second and he and Co-Driver David Smalley were heading into the mid-day service halt with a 7-second lead over Nigel & Karen Jenkins. However, there was trouble in the Jenkins camp, who exited Coed Sarnau with a rather poorly looking and sounding Vauxhall Nova.
Photo: Nigel & Karen Jenkins | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media
The pair were seen parked up down the road from the stage exit for a good while before they finally got going again and they were able to make it back to service in Builth Wells. Lewis Hooper in the Rally First Nissan Micra rounded off the top three on the BronzeStar leaderboard and was a further 21 seconds down on Jenkins and the halfway point.
Backout after service and Glover & Smalley set about going after that BronzeStar win, and after that run through the longest test of the rally through Myherin it was looking entirely possible.
However, all that hard work from the morning’s battle would go out the window in the very next stage, the repeated run of Hafren Sweet Lamb (SS6). The pair were perhaps pushing just a little too much whilst trying to fend off Jenkins in the Nova and unfortunately went off the road and into retirement.
Photo: Lewis Hoope & Rhys Edwards | By Andrew Scott
This handed over the baton to Lewis Hooper & Rhys Edwards who now found themselves leading the BronzeStar field. With Jenkins nursing that still poorly Nova around the final loop of stages, Dylan Fowler-Bishop sensed an opportunity and picked up his first fastest stage time in Stage 6.
Photo: Dylan Fowler-Bishops & Dan Evans | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media
Hooper and Co-Driver Rhys Edwards entered the final short stage of the rally (SS7 Cwmysgawen 2) with a 15-second lead over Jenkins, who was just about hanging on in there. Fowler-Bishop signed off his day with that final stage win in his Nissan Micra and was rewarded with the third spot on the BronzeStar podium.
Photo: Nigel & Karen Jenkins | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media
Nigel and Karen Jenkins were able to drag their poorly Vauxhall Nova through the final stage to keep hold of the runners-up spot, managing to limit the time loss to just 14 seconds to our Round 2 BronzeStar victors, Lewis Hooper and Rhys Edwards.
Photo: Lewis Hooper & Rhys Edwards | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media
NEXT TIME …
The MRF Tyres BTRDA Rally Series heads into Scotland for the Border Counties Rally (May 6) based out of Jedburgh. Where the Hawick & Border Car Club and The Berwick & District Motor Club, will lay on classic Scottish Gravel test in the Tweed Valley Wauchope Forests for Round 3 of the Championship.
