EAST RIDING STAGES 2024
01/03/2024WORDS BY DAN MORRIS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW SCOTT & DAN MORRIS
The 2024 East Riding Stages, organised by the hard-working team at the Beverley & District Motor Club would kick off closed road stage rallying for the year. Conveniently hosted a little under a month before the start of both the British Rally Championship and the Protyre Asphalt series. The fast and flowing ‘Ypres-like’ stages of North East Yorkshire would offer crews a perfect opportunity to gain valuable seat time after the winter break, aiding in their preparation for the season ahead.
This year, the event introduced a spectator-friendly ‘Super Special Stage’ through Beverley Westwood, which is conveniently situated just a 10-minute walk from the ceremonial start in the town centre. Providing spectators and fans with free access and the opportunity to witness two passes of the 140-car field through the parkland stage. The remainder of the event followed a format similar to the past two years, featuring two loops of four stages located just outside the seaside town of Hornsea, resulting in a total distance of 55 competitive stage miles over 10 stages.
PHOTO: CRAIG PENNINGTON & WAYNE PRIEST | DAN MORRIS (APEX CAPTURE)
The entry list showcased some of the top crews from Britain’s leading Tarmac and Gravel Championships all using this event as a pre- Championship season test. Welshman, James Williams had reunited with Co-Driver Ross Whittock, the duo having last competed together back in 2018 where they finished as runners-up in the Junior British Rally Championship. Multiple BTRDA Gravel Rally Champion Elliot Payne would be using the event to gain valuable tarmac experience ahead of his British Rally Championship campaign. Three-time Welsh National Gravel Rally Champions Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear would be taking to the tarmac for the first time since 2019. Reigning Protyre Asphalt Rally Champions and British Championship regulars Callum Black and Jack Morton would also be out for a shakedown ahead of their season assault. Several other notable entrants including Mark Kelly, a man who had seven outright event wins in 2023 (including one on closed roads), and two-time event winners David Henderson and Chris Lees, who would return to defend their East Riding crown, all lining up to tackle to rally.
PHOTOS: ELLIOT PAYNE & PATRICK WALSH – BY DAN MORRIS (APEX CAPTURE) | DAVID HENDERSON & CHRIS LEES – BY ANDRES SCOTT
STAGES 1 / 4
After the ceremonial start in Beverly town centre which was hosted by WRC commentator Julian Porter, the crews then headed towards Hornsea for the first loop, which consisted of four stages mirroring last year (except stage 3/9 which was reversed). In the run-up to the event, the country had significant rainfall, which left the stages quite muddy and very wet in places, resulting in a challenging start to the day for all.
Mark Kelly & Will Atkins got their day off to a stunning start in the Skoda Fabia R5, winning the first stage by 3.2 seconds from James Williams in the Hyundai i20 R5 and James Ford in the Citroen C3 R2, who were both tied for second place; with last year’s runner-up David Wright a further 1.4 behind in his Ford Fiesta Rally2. Disaster struck early on for the only person to have won this event previously, with the turbo hose popping off of David Henderson’s Ford Fiesta resulting in a time loss of over a minute. Callum Black eased himself into fifth in his Ford Fiesta Rally2, followed by Kevin Davies in the Melvyn Evans prepared VW Polo R5.
PHOTO: MARK KELLY & WILL ATKINS | BY ANDREW SCOTT
Kelly would win Stages 2 and 3, extending the gap to Williams to 7.2 seconds. Davies continued with his consistent start by moving up to third, with Black less than a second behind in fourth. Ford dropped to fifth after a messy run through the Hatfield test but was only 2.6 seconds behind Black and 13.6 seconds off first. After a bright start, David Wright & Jane Nichol would, unfortunately, retire from fourth place, Wright’s Ford Fiesta Rally2 car suffering from mechanical gremlins which would force their exit from the rally prematurely.
PHOTO: DAVID WRIGHT & JANE NICHOL | BY ANDREW SCOTT
Entering the final stage of the loop, Matthew Hirst called upon his gravel skills on the wet and muddy 11.76-kilometre run through Dunnington, securing the stage win before the crews returned to Leconsfield for service. James Williams chipped away at Mark Kelly’s lead narrowing the gap to 6.4 seconds whilst Callum Black climbed to third, with James Ford also advancing one position. Kevin Davies dropped two spots on a single stage, ending up fifth, only 0.1 seconds behind the Citroen C3 of James Ford. Neil Roskell claimed sixth, while Matthew Hirst impressed in seventh as he began to transition back to tarmac rallying. Elliot Payne, who was dissatisfied with his Amigo’s sponsored Ford Fiestas setup was in eighth, with Robert Swann and Joe Cunningham completing the top ten.
| POS | LEADERBOARD | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #5 M.KELLY / W.ATKINS | 22.45.1 |
| 2 | #3 J.WILLIMAS / R.WHITTOCK | +6.4 |
| 3 | #2 C.BLACK / J.MORTON | +11.0 |
| 4 | #8 J. FORD / N.SHANKS | +15.0 |
| 5 | #13 K.DAVIES / O.DAVIES | +15.1 |
| 6 | #6 N.ROSKELL / D.ROBERTS | +30.4 |
| 7 | #10 M.HIRST / D.DEAR | +31.2 |
| 8 | #7 E.PAYNE / P.WALSH | +42.8 |
| 9 | #9 R.SWANN / D.GARROD | +44.3 |
| 10 | #15 J.CUNNINGHAM / J.BEER | +56.8 |
STAGES 5 / 6
Before revisiting the morning stages, two runs through the spectator-friendly Beverley Westwood took place. Beverley and District Motor Club dedicated a significant effort to making the event accessible to the public, and their hard work paid off with a substantial crowd that turned out to enjoy the 2.62km parkland stage. The stage itself, featured a long straight, hay bale chicanes, and a hairpin, concluding at the racecourse. Kudos to the organising club for bringing rallying to a broader audience, reaching those who might not typically venture out and into the remote forests for such motorsport events.
Adhering to the age-old rally saying that on a super special, you can’t win a rally but can easily lose one, Callum Black was, unfortunately, the victim of this, in a rather undramatic way, stalling and losing 8 seconds on the first run, which caused him to slip back to fifth overall. Mark Kelly, after giving James Williams a slight reprieve on stage 4, responded with consecutive wins on the pair of Westwood stages, widening his lead to 12.6 seconds. Despite Williams securing only the 8th and 10th fastest times on the two short stages, he maintained a relatively secure second place overall.
James Ford and Kevin Davies surpassed Callum Black after his troubles, creating a three second gap amongst the three crews as they entered the afternoon loop. Hugh Brunton and Drew Sturrock thrived on the Westwood stage in their Skoda Fabia, securing back-to-back second fastest times, trailing Mark Kelly by less than a second on both occasions, which lifted Brunton to 11th, just outside of the top ten.
PHOTOS: CALLUM BLACK & JACK MORTON – BY ANDREW SCOTT | HUGH BRUNTON & DREW STURROCK – BY DAN MORRIS (APEX CAPTURE)
STAGES 7 / 10
The afternoon loop kicked off with a 12.7km run through Wawne, where James Williams took the stage win, narrowing the overall gap to Mark Kelly down to 8.2 seconds. David Henderson, recovering from earlier turbo problems and trying to improve after falling out of the top 80, secured the second-best time here. Callum Black reclaimed third place overall whilst James Ford lost 10 seconds and slipped down to fifth, just 0.5 seconds behind Kevin Davies in the VW Polo R5.
PHOTO: JAMES WILLIAMS & ROSS WHITTOCK | BY ANDREW SCOTT
Henderson continued his comeback by clocking the fastest time in SS8, with Williams securing second place, albeit only 0.1 quicker than Kelly. Black claimed fifth, sharing equal stage time with Ford and edging Davies by a mere 0.1, setting things up nicely for a close battle for that final podium place. With only 4.4 seconds separating the crews heading into the last two stages, the scene was set for an epic end to a thrilling day of rallying.
The ninth and shortest stage of the rally had significantly dried up since the previous pass and was now seriously fast with lots of long straights and flat corners. This suited Kelly who took his sixth stage win here extending his lead to 10 seconds over Williams. In the battle for third, Davies claimed the stage advantage, but with gaps so minimal, overall times remained unchanged, as Black, Ford, and Davies were still separated by just over four seconds. In 7th place, the former Ott Tänak Ford Fiesta WRC car driven by Robert Swann & and Co-Driver Darran Garrod steadily closed in on Neil Roskell & Dai Roberts heading into the tenth and final stage of the event.
PHOTOS: ROBERT SWANN & DARREN GARROD / KEVIN DAVIES & OWAIN DAVIES | BY DAN MORRIS (APEX CAPTURE)
In the final stage, James Williams mounted a significant push, slicing five seconds off Mark Kelly’s lead. However, Williams’s efforts just fell short, as Kelly maintained enough of an advantage to secure a fantastic rally win by five seconds against some stiff competition. Callum Black and Jack Morton finished strongly, clinching third place on the podium, with a second-fastest stage time, the pair would come out on top in their prolonged battle against Kevin & Owain Davies. Davies’ performance stood out, given that it was only his fourth rally in an R5 spec car. Neil Roskell claimed fifth after James Ford’s slight off which cost him 20 seconds and dropped him to sixth. Seventh belonged to Rob Swann, who, despite a hard push on the afternoon stages, couldn’t quite catch the pack of cars ahead.
A disappointed Elliot Payne took eighth, having struggled with set-up throughout the day, he was lucky to finish after a pace note error nearly ended his rally. Ninth position went to Hugh Brunton & Drew Sturrock, the Scottish crew displaying impressive pace in the afternoon having recorded four top-three stage times. Rounding out the top ten were Welsh National Champions Matthew Hirst & Declan Dear, who were more than happy to have matched their seeding. Drive of the rally perhaps belongs to British Historic Rally Championship competitors, Gareth James and Steffan Evans, who secured a remarkable 14th overall and fastest 2WD in their Ford MKII Escort RS1800, which was mightily impressive in a field of over thirty modern R5/Rally2 spec cars.
PHOTOS: MARK KELLY & WILL ATKINS – BY ANDREW SCOTT | GARETH JAMES & STEFFAN EVANS – BY DAN MORRIS (APEX CAPTURE)
| POS | FINAL LEADERBOARD | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #5 M.KELLY / W.ATKINS | 44.35.4 |
| 2 | #3 J.WILLIAMS / R.WHITTOCK | +5.0 |
| 3 | #2 C.BLACK / J.MORTON | +27.2 |
| 4 | #13 K.DAVIES / O.DAVIES | +36.3 |
| 5 | #6 N.ROSKELL / D.ROBERTS | +55.0 |
| 6 | #8 J.FORD / N.SHANKS | +55.5 |
| 7 | #9 R.SWANN / D.GARROD | +1.02.0 |
| 8 | #7 E.PAYNE / P.WALSH | +1.10.4 |
| 9 | #18 H.BRUNTON / D.STURROCK | +1.17.7 |
| 10 | #10 M.HIRST / D.DEAR | +1.22.2 |
In summary, the Beverley and District Motor Club organised an outstanding event that effectively engaged with the local community; demonstrating that, with the right approach, hosting large-scale events in town centres can positively help to foster the sport’s growth for the next generation of would-be rally fans, competitors or volunteers. Some attendees likened the event to a British Ypres, which is high praise indeed. Looking ahead, the only suggested improvement (in my humble opinion) would be to incorporate a service area which allows the general public to get up close to the cars, thus allowing a little more access to “behind the scenes” of our beloved sport.
PHOTO: PHILLIP HOUSE & NICK BEAUMONT | BY DAN MORRIS (APEX CAPTURE)
TOP 3 QUOTES
‘Surprised to be here to be fair, in such company. The plan for today was to match our seeding and I thought we’d be doing well to be doing that! I set off this morning trying to be tidy, to read the conditions and the stages and was very surprised to get to mid-service leading the rally.’
‘I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if we finished tenth or twelfth, I was happy with my seeding of fifth, if anything I thought it was a tad ambitious – so maybe I need to believe in myself a little more.’
‘It’s a massive win, the best win I’ve had so far and as I say, the lineup was so strong today, so I’m delighted, and now we take the momentum forward and see what we can do on the North West Stages.’
Mark Kelly (Winner)
‘I think the two Street Stages cost us, to be honest, we just didn’t have the grunt. But fair play to Mark, you still have to drive it and he did a fantastic job today, so pleased for them.’
James Williams (2nd)
‘It was a case of getting some seat time today, but fair play to Mark & James, we just tried to keep with them for as long as possible and then on the spectator stage, I managed to stall on the launch which is pretty embarrassing! We dropped a few seconds there, and then just tried to get to the finish.
Callum Black (3rd)
