BTRDA / RD5 / NICKY GIRST STAGES

17/07/2023 Off By admin

The MRF Tyres BTRDA Rally Series arrived in Builth Wells, Wales for the second time this year at the Nicky Grist Stages Rally, Round 5 of the 2023 season. This award-winning, Quinton Motor Club organised event never fails to deliver a cracking one-day forest rally, on what we think are some mega gravel stages in God’s own back garden (aka Wales). Eight stages (four of repeated) covered approximately 44 competitive stage miles and would once again feature classic and renowned tests on both MOD and Natural Resources Wales land.

Photos By Andy Cook | Xlerate.Media

Last time out on the Kielder Forest Rally, Matthew Hirst & Declan Dear secured not only their first BTRDA GoldStar win of the season but also netted their first victory outside of Wales. Having won the Nicky Grist inter-club rally last year, Hirst & Dear would be sporting the No1 on the doors of their Ford Fiesta R5 car and would arrive in Builth on a high following Kielder.

They would however, still be trailing the likes of Elliot Payne who was leading the Championship standings and Arron Newby (in second) coming into the event; and it would once again be these three protagonists fighting it out for the honours on “The Grist”.

Hirst and Dear set off first into the opening 3.5 miles test of Llyn Login, a stage which featured a number of very well-known jumps but it would be Championship leaders, Elliot Payne & Tom Woodburn who would be the ones flying high on this opening stage of the rally.

Photo: Elliot Payne & Tom Woodburn | By Black Mountains Media

Payne & Woodburn stopped the clocks a whisker over 4 seconds quicker than Hirst & Dear and took up position at the top of the timing sheets, setting the benchmark for the rest. Payne followed this up in the longest test of the rally at 6.95 miles, through Crychan Forest, again getting the better of Hirst, this time it was by a margin of 5 seconds.

Photo: Elliot Payne & Tom Woodburn | By Andrew Scott

In the third stage in Halfway Forest, Payne and Woodburn stretched out their lead over Hirst and Dear by a further 3.8 seconds and the early signs were that Payne & Woodburn meant business in Wales.

In the final test before the mid-day service halt, Payne still wasn’t holding back. An overshoot at the end of a fast straight section following a huge jump lost him a few seconds which allowed Hirst and Dear to pick up their first stage win. However, Payne and Woodburn would return to service in Builth Wells with a lead of just over 8 seconds at halftime.

Photo: Matthew Hirst & Declan Dear | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media

Behind second-placed Hirst and Dear, Arron Newby and Co-Driver Jamie Edwards appeared to be lacking in pace on these Welsh stages. They were already some 46 seconds down on Payne and Hirst and the rally was looking like a two-horse race heading into the repeated afternoon’s loop.

Photo: Arron Newby & Jamie Edwards | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media

SilverStar

In the SilverStar award, Round 4 Winners, Boyd Kershaw and Keegan Rees were in the mids of a fierce battle over the morning loop with the likes of Robert Gough & Paul Morris and Ben Friend & Cliff Simmons.

Photo: Robert Gough & Paul Morris | By Black Mountains Media

Although Gough & Morris drew first blood on the opening test beating Friend & Simmons by around 3 seconds, Friend retaliated in the next one through Crychan Forest.

Photo: Boyd Kershaw & Keegan Rees | By Andrew Scott

But Kershaw and Rees soon got settled in after those first two tests and then came on strong by securing two stage wins in SS3 & SS4 (Halfway & Monument). Their morning’s efforts had earned them the lead of the SilverStar by 4 seconds over Gough & Morris, with Friend & Simmons a further 3 and a bit seconds behind in third by the midpoint in the rally.

BronzeStar

With three out of four wins under their belts already this season, Nigel and Karen Jenkins arrived in Builth Wells as the hot favourite in the BronzeStar. Although in Wales our BronzeStar Championship leaders would face increased numbers in competition, particularly from the likes of Dale Glover who would be back out to play in the Alfa Romeo Alfasud, this did not phase the pair in the slightest.

The opening test would prove this, as right from the get-go the Jenkins paring set the early pace in their Vauxhall Nova with an opening stage win which was almost 3 & 1/2 seconds quicker than their closest rivals in Chris & James Greenall, also in a Nova.

Photo: Nigel & Karen Jenkins | By Andrew Scott

Throughout the morning’s group of stages, Nigel and Karen Jenkins were just on another level compared to the rest of the BronzeStar field, who were failing to match their pace.

They arrived back in Builth at the mid-day service halt with a whopping 51.7 seconds advantage over Dale Glover & David Smalley who were the best of the rest in their Alfa, with the Greenall boys a further 10 seconds down in their Nova.

GoldStar

Matthew Hirst & Declan Dear now had the remaining loop of four stages to mount a challenge to rally leaders, Elliot Payne & Tom Woodburn. An 8.2-second deficit wasn’t totally out of the question and the pair would come back out from service fighting, matching the time of Payne and Woodburn on the repeated run of Llyn Login.

Photo: Matthew Hirst & Declan Dear | By Black Mountains Media

However, Payne and Woodburn were clearly having none of it and would lay down the law firmly on the following two tests by securing another couple of stage wins in the Crychan and Halfway Forests.

Elliot Payne and Tom Woodburn would enter the final test through Monument with an advantage of 11.9 seconds and would indeed emerge victorious to take the win in their Ford Fiesta Rally2. Crossing the finish line back in Builth Wells with 7.9 seconds lead, the pair had secured their third victory of the season in the BTRDA GoldStar.

“After some fine tuning with the setup the previous week at The Phil Price Rally School, we got a really good feeling with the car again. Big thanks to Alan for top job prepping the car, and all mechanics on the day! Cheers to Tom for sitting in the silly seat again. Slight mistake by myself on the 4th stage coming in a little hot caused a bit of time loss…Well done to Matthew and Arron who kept myself and Tom on our toes all day!”
Elliot Payne

Photo: Elliot Payne & Tom Woodburn | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media

Although Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear picked up the final stage win of the rally, they were ultimately out-gunned on stages by Payne & Woodburn, who just seemed to be on it and untouchable all day. Nevertheless, a second-place podium finish was a good result for Hirst and Dear, but the pair really need to be looking for some wins from here on if they are to challenge the likes of Payne & Woodburn for the title this year.

Photo: Matthew Hirst & Declan Dear | By Andrew Scott

“I think anyone who was out on the stages today would agree the pace at the front was fairly hot? “Yes, it’s a shame Elliot Payne & Tom Woodburn pipped us by 7.9 seconds but really I’ve got to doth my cap to them, some serious commitment boys. Well deserved.”
Matthew Hirst

Rounding out the GoldStar podium were Arron Newby and Jamie Edwards in their Skoda Fabia R5, the pair just didn’t seem to be able to get anywhere near the times that Payne or Hirst were laying down on these Welsh Stages. Their game plan was, however, “to be neat & tidy and aim for the final podium spot” and they did just that.

Photo: Arron Newby & Jamie Edwards | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media

SilverStar

Boyd Kershaw and Keegan Rees returned to the stages after service aiming to carry on where they left off and they did continue that on in the second pass of Llyn Login, taking their third consecutive stage win in a row. However, Robert Gough and Paul Morris were not about to let this one slip away without a fight and they upped their game in Crychan.

Photo: Boyde Kershaw & Keegan Rees | By Black Mountains Media

The pair put in a stonkingly good stage time in SS6, beating the likes of Friend and Kershaw by over 6 seconds which seems to just stir things up even more.

Fiend and Kershaw were both clearly up for a proper scrap over the afternoon loops of stages, but Gough & Morris were once again able to pip Friend & Simmons, this time by a meniscal two-tenth in the penultimate stage in Halfway Forest.

Photo: Robert Gough & Paul Morris | By Andrew Scott

Gough & Morris would enter the final test with a lead of just 1.6 seconds to defend over Kershaw & Rees and it really could have gone either way over those final 5.3 miles of the rally.

Robert Gough and Paul Morris would, however, do the business in their Ford Escort MK2, taking the final stage win over Kershaw & Rees by 1.7 seconds. The pair would exit that final Monument stage victorious, crossing the finish line in Builth Wells with 3.3 seconds in hand, and with it they had also secured their third BTRDA SilverStar win of the season.

Photo: Robert Gough & Paul Morris | By Andrew Scott

After a hot and dusty battle out on the stages, Boyd Kershaw & Keegan Rees had narrowly missed out on the win on this one, but their second-place finish on the Grist bolstered their overall lead in the SilverStar standings.

Photo: Boyde Kershaw & Keegan Rees | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media

Having played their part in that fierce battle, Ben Friend and Cliff Simmons rounded out the all-Ford Escort MK2 SilverStar podium in third. Just the one stage win for these boys but they were well and truly in the thick of it all day and brought it home just 8 seconds shy of Kershaw ahead of them.

Photo: Ben Friend & Cliff Simmons | By Andy Cook – Xlerate.Media

BronzeStar

With such a significant lead of over 51 seconds already built up over the morning’s loop of stages, Nigel and Karen Jenkins were able to relax a bit for the afternoons run out. Ashley Francis-Adams picked up the stage win on SS5 Llyn Login 2 and Dylan Fowler-Bishop SS7 Halfway 2, but when push comes to shove, neither of them was likely to make any impact over the inevitable outcome.

Nigel and Karen Jenkins entered the final test of the rally, the second pass of Monument with an un challengable lead and was able to cruise to the finish line in Builth Wells to secure the top step on the BronzeStar podium for the third time in a row. This was their fourth victory of the season and they appear to be running away with it having boosted their overall lead at the top of the standings even more.

Photo: Nigel & Karen Jenkins | By Andrew Scott

“Our aim for the day was to get straight in and be on it from the start. Stage 1 wasn’t a favourite of mine or Nigel’s and we were surprised to be fastest 1400 if we are honest.” “Back out to repeat the morning stages and we decided to keep on it but do nothing silly” “We were close to pulling our entry on the Thursdays before the rally, due to things happening back home but got told to carry on and do rally”
Karen Jenkins

The best of the rest was Dale Glover & David Smalley in the Alfasud TI. After sitting out the last round in Kielder and having a less-than-ideal start to their season on the first three rounds, this second place does prove that they have what it takes when things go right on the day. The pair brought it home a tad over a minute behind the winners, but still had a decent margin themselves to Dylan Fowler-Bishop & Dan Evans who rounded out the BronzeStar podium in their Nissan Micra.

Historics

Elsewhere in the Historics, Robert Gough and Paul Morris also left the Nicky Grist with the Historic Cup (+H3/4 Class) honours, whilst Ernie & Karen Graham got the better of Jonathan Brance & Paul Spooner in the H1/2 Class battle of the MK1 Ford Escorts.

NEXT TIME …

The MRF Tyres BTRDA Rally Series relocates to The Phil Price Woodpecker Rally (September 9) where this Ludlow Based event will feature a shakeup in stages this year, taking in some old and some new to the event as the season enters its final three rounds of the year.