WELSH | RD4 | NICKY GRIST STAGES
22/08/2024WORDS BY ANDREW SCOTT | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW SCOTT AND ANDY COOK
The Welsh Gravel Rally championship made its long-awaited return at the Nicky Grist forest stages in July. Crews having waited since the Severn Valley Rallynuts stages due to the plains rally cancellation in May, a lack of entries was cited as the issue for the Bala-based event.
At the last round on a very misty and murky Rallynuts Severn Valley Stages, Matthew Hirst took a dominant second win of the year in as many events, despite suffering an engine misfire. Second, third and fourth were the Mitsubishi trio of Rob Wilson, Russ Thompson and James Giddings. Hirst led the championship on a maximum score of 60 points eleven ahead of Giddings and fourteen ahead of Rudi Lancaster in third.
Organised by the Quinten Motor Cub and Sponsored by the world-famous co-driver and his motorsports equipment business since 2011 the Nicky Grist stages is based in the Market town of Builth Wells with its picturesque service area on the rugby pitch and overlooking the river Wye. The battleground would be the range of familiar stages in the Halfway, monument Crychan and Lyn Login areas of the Epynt military ranges to the south of Builth Wells.
Multiple Welsh rally champion Matthew Hirst with Declan Dear on the notes as usual would be eager to increase his lead in the standings after 2 wins in the opening 2 events with close competition coming from Dan O’Brien and Mark Glennerster in their Fiesta and a pair of Mitsubishi Evo 9s in the hands of Russ Thompson and Steven Link and James Giddings and Aled Davies. Thompson putting in the hard yards to get the car ready after his Kielder exploits the previous month:
Steve Link“Obviously it was touch and go if we would make the start or not. The car was finished in the lay-by at NRG Friday evening while being scrutineered. Russ pulled a few late late nights to get it there.”
James Giddings had also been tampering with his Evo 9:
“I didn’t have the budget for any testing beforehand so went straight into the event with the new engine.”
James Giddings
MORNING LOOP | STAGES 1 – 4
On to the first stage, Hirst and Dear were quickest out the blocks, as expected, setting a blistering time of three minutes eighteen seconds in his Ford Fiesta R5 across the fast and sweeping Lyn Login test. This would put him top of the standings in his pursuit of Both Welsh and BTRDA championship glory. Second place would go to perennial Welsh Championship top boys Russ Thompson and Steven Link in their Mitsubishi EVO 9 a further ten seconds behind with Dan O’Brien and Mark Glennerster rounding out the top 3 in their Ford Fiesta Rally 2 car nineteen seconds back of Hirst. A perhaps surprising fourth place went to Mike Brown Jr in his BMW M3 Compact, taking advantage of the short three-and-a-half mile test. He would go on to dominate the 2WD event.
PHOTO: MATTHEW HIRST & DECLAN DEAR | BY ANDREW SCOTT
This was however to be as good as it got for Matthew Hirst though, his rotten run of reliability luck continuing as the car would not make it to SS2, stopping on the road section with a failed injector, yet more engine trouble to add to the already long list since the Woodpecker last September.
Onto SS2 and the first run through the 5.68 miles of monument. This stage famous for its spectacular scenery and “Para” Jump would see Thompson take the lead in the absence of Hirst. Unfortunately due to some timing issues, the results from SS2 were to be annulled and SS3 would be the first chance Thompson had to consolidate his lead, or conversely for others to try and take advantage of the missing Hirst. Perhaps a slightly lucky break In more ways than one for the Evo driver as he was to puncture over said jump in SS2 but with results being voided this had no overall impact on the event.
“We had a puncture on stage 2, knocking the tyre off the rim landing after the jump, turns out the jump isn’t flat in an Evo 9!!”.
Steve Link
PHOTOS: RUSS THOMPSON & STEPHEN LINK | DAN OBRIEN & MARK GLENNERSTER | JAMES GIDDINGS & ALED DAVIES | BY ANDREW SCOTT
In the event, it was Thompson who indeed took advantage through the first run of Halfway, the longest stage of the loop at 6.79 miles, with a twenty-two-second stage win, this time over the slow-starting James Giddings/ Aled Davies pair in their Similar Mitsubishi Evo 9. In addition to a lack of pre-event testing for Giddings, some setup changes resulted in his slow start:
“We had also changed some diff settings which turned out to be a bad decision as the car was so unpredictable under braking, meaning we spun on the first 2 stages and overshot a junction on the 3rd stage.”
James Giddings
PHOTO: JAMES GIDDINGS & ALED DAVIES | BY ANDREW SCOTT
Giddings had only set the thirteenth fastest time on SS1 due to the diff setup and as a result, were playing catch up with the deficit to Thompson already at 21 seconds after just 1 stage. However, despite the spin and losing a further 10 seconds to Thompson/ Link on SS3, the top 2 time would catapult them into the top 3 overall with only Dan O’Brian standing been them and Thompson, the gap now at thirty-six seconds over O’Brien with Giddings a further six back.
The Final Stage of the Loop was 6.27 miles of Bowlsey, more commonly known to you and me as Crychan forest. This year the stage is being renamed in honour of Pete Bowles, long-time Quinton Motor Club committee member, previous event winner and Clerk of the Course who passed away shortly after last year’s event.
As the crews headed back to Builth Wells for Service Thompson and Link’s lead had been reduced from Thirty-Six seconds to just Thirty as James Giddings and Aled Davies took their first stage win of the day, clawing back a total of thirteen seconds on Thompson who would only finish the stage in Third place, four seconds ahead of the second-placed time set by O’Brien and Glennerster.
| POS | LEADERBOARD AFTER SS4 | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #12 R.THOMPSON / S.LINK | 00:17:26 |
| 2 | #14 J.GIDDINGS / A.DAVIES | 00:17:57 |
| 3 | #11 D.O’BRIEN / M.GLENNERSTER | 00:18:03 |
| 4 | #27 R.GOUGH / J.ROGERS | 00:18:23 |
| 5 | #37 M.BROWN JR / N.BROWN | 00:18:41 |
In the Hockly Motorsport two-wheel drive championship, leader Chris Richmond Hands’s absence would leave the door open to Severn Valley Rallynuts winner Iwan Roberts Jnr making his second appearance of the season after having missed the opener at Rally North Wales.
However, as the crews started leg one it was the duo of Mike Brown Jnr and Nicola Brown making their first start of the season in the BMW M3 Compact who were fastest out the blocks setting a time of Three minutes forty-two seconds to lead Geoff Phelps and Colin Jenkins’ Ford Escort by five seconds and Lewis Hooper/ Rhys Edwards Fiesta Rally by a further five. Championship challengers Rob Dennis and Samuel Mason rounded out the top 5.
PHOTOS: MIKE BROWN JR & NIKOLA BROWN | GEOFF PHELPS & COLIN JENKINS | SAM MASON & JAMES SEYMOUR | BY ANDREW SCOTT
By the time the Crews headed for service at the end of SS4 Mike Brown Junior had extended his lead to a massive thirty-eight seconds over Lewis Hooper and Rhys Edwards with Phelps hanging on to third by the skin of his teeth (one second), Samuel Mason snapping at his heals in the Fiesta. Phelps’ SS1 pace had dropped off in SS3 Halfway and SS4 Bowlsey where he set sixth fastest time.
PHOTO: MIKE BROWN JR & NIKOLA BROWN | BY ANDREW SCOTT
“Unfortunately on the first stage of the day, where Iwan and Daniel could literally see the flying finish, the front stub axle broke and ultimately caused the wheel to come off. Luckily with the help of the recovery team, they were able to get it out of there and fixed. But this cost them the other three morning stages and they only rejoined after service.”
Roberts Rallying Facebook
Conspicuous with their absence from the leader board were Iwan Roberts Jnr and Daniel Jones, the Severn Valley Winners had an eventful morning with stub axle problems in SS1 and as a result languished down in sixteenth place as the crews reached service
PHOTO: IWAN ROBERTS JNR & DANIEL JONES | BY ANDREW SCOTT
| POS | LEADERBOARD AFTER SS4 | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #37 M.BROWN JR / N.BROWN | 00:18:41 |
| 2 | #56 L.HOOPER / R.EDWARDS | 00:19:19 |
| 3 | #54 G.PHELPS / C.JENKINS | 00:19:39 |
| 4 | #68 S.MASON / J.SEYMOUR | 00:19:37 |
| 5 | #206 A.FRANCIS-ADAMS / M.AMMONDS | 00:19:41 |
AFTERNOON LOOP | STAGES 5 – 8
Perhaps a wake-up call for Thompson? As the afternoon loop started with the second pass of Lyn Login, Thompson and Link would be back on it setting the fast time, this time by five seconds from Giddings and Davies stretching their overall lead back up to thirty-five seconds as the second Mitsubishi Evo 9 pair consolidated their second place increasing their lead over O’Brien and Glennerster from two to five seconds.
PHOTO: RUSS THOMPSON & STEPHEN LINK | BY ANDREW SCOTT
Having recovered from his SS1 start and up into second place the Pattern seemed to be set for the remaining three stages, starting with the second run through Monument, with timing issues fixed this time. Only one second would separate the top three on this nearly five-and-a-half-mile test with O’Brien and Glennerster taking their first stage win of the day and both Thompson and Giddings registering a time one second down on the Fiesta driver.
PHOTO: DAN OBRIEN & MARK GLENNERSTER | JAMES GIDDINGS & ALED DAVIES | BY ANDY COOK
With the order little changed as a result, we moved onto the second run through Halfway, SS7, with Thompson and Link’s win looking all sewn up bar the shouting. The major battle would be whether O’Brien could overhaul Giddings for second on the remaining two stages. Through SS7 Giddings would take a further six seconds out of O’Brien increasing that cushion to nine seconds with one stage to go (Bowlsey/Crychan). All was academic in the end as despite setting the second fastest time through SS8 O’Brien and Glenerster would take less than a second out of Giddings and Davies and the gap would remain at nine seconds at the finish.
Meanwhile, our leaders continued on their merry way increasing their lead from Thirty-five seconds at the start of SS7 to fifty-one by the finish, taking a convincing win after their troubles in Kielder (BTRDA) the previous month.
“We couldn’t start out slow, we needed the confidence back in the car and what better way than lyn login.
After our puncture on SS2, it was very rewarding to see even after a spin on the repeat of that stage we still had a very healthy lead on the Welsh.
Great to finish with the Welsh win and BTRDA 3rd. We felt for Matt (Hirst) having more issues with his car. But once again we proved you don’t need the latest machinery to be fast.
There is life left in the old bus yet with just a group of mates preparing it in a shed!!!Steve Link
The event itself was fantastic, great stages and minimal road mileage makes for the best event of the year”.
PHOTO: RUSS THOMPSON & STEPHEN LINK | BY ANDY COOK
With Matthew Hirst’s unfortunate retirement the championship picture changes significantly and despite 2 wins in the opening 2 rounds his non-score drops Hirst to third in the championship on sixty-five points. One point behind Rudi Lancaster’s escort and eleven behind new championship leader James Giddings after his impressive second place on the Grist. Having missed the first round our Grist Winner Thompson sits in fifth with his third place finish on rallynuts adding to the win at the Grist.
“After reverting back to old diff settings I felt much more comfortable and we managed to climb back up the leader board, I was happy to finish where we did, my main focus is of course on the Welsh championship so for me I achieved what I wanted to do, which was to be no lower than 2nd in the W13 class.
Russ is very quick, and we are getting closer and closer to him each time out, so I’m happy with that.
Also, I didn’t expect to end up leading the Welsh championship after this event, which was obviously helped by Mathew Hirst’s retirement. I’m not expecting to hold onto that overall lead just by driving alone (if that makes sense!). My aim is to win the w13 class, and that in itself won’t be an easy task!”.
James Giddings
| POS | FINAL LEADERBOARD | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #12 R.THOMPSON / S.LINK | 00:40:20 |
| 2 | #14 J.GIDDINGS / A.DAVIES | 00:41:11 |
| 3 | #11 D.O’BRIEN / M.GLENNERSTER | 00:41:24 |
| 4 | 20 D.TOMLIN / K.ASHLEY | 00:42:41 |
| 5 | #27 R.GOUGH / J.ROGERS | 00:42:44 |
in the Hockley Motorsports 2WD cup, the afternoon loop was to prove more fruitful for the Roberts Rallying pair as they were able to set the second fastest time on the opening three stages of the loop and fastest of all on SS8, the second run of Bowlsey. They would at least finish all be it still down in sixteenth having set those nominal times in the morning.
Back at the front and it was very much continue where you left off with Mike Brown taking the rest of the stage wins to eventually win the event by a total of one minute fifteen seconds from Hooper in second and Samuel Mason and James Seymour in third, a further twenty-seven seconds back having overhauled Geoff Phelps on the first stage of the loop, Lyn Login initially by just one second.
PHOTO: MIKE BROWN JR & NIKOLA BROWN | BY ANDY COOK
Mason and Seymour would go on to consolidate this position in the remaining three stages, it was however not without a battle. This time with Ashley Francis-Adams and co-driver Mark Ammonds, A maximum of three seconds separating the pair between SS5 and SS7 and Mason eventually prevailing to the tune of just two seconds after all was said and done.
PHOTOS: GEOFF PHELPS & COLIN JENKINS | LEWIS HOOPER & RHYS EDWARDS | BY ANDY COOK | SAM MASON & JAMES SEYMOUR | BY ANDREW SCOTT
Despite his afternoon overall Phelps and Jenkins would finish in fifth and leave Builth Wells with the Hockly motorsport two-wheel drive championship by ten points from a retiring Rob Dennis, suspension trouble halting his challenge after just one stage in Wales. Richmond Hand remains in third despite his non-appearance thirteen points back on fifty-seven. Martin Walters (55 points) and Michael Jenkins (51 points) rounded out the top 5 despite only managing Eleventh and Twelfth respectively.
| POS | FINAL LEADERBOARD | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #37 M.BROWN JR / N.BROWN | 00:43:33 |
| 2 | #56 L.HOOPER / R.EDWARDS | 00:44:49 |
| 3 | #68 S.MASON / J.SEYMOUR | 00:45:16 |
| 4 | #206 A.FRANCIS-ADAMS / M.AMMONDS | 00:45:14 |
| 5 | #54 G.PHELPS / C.JENKINS | 00:45:44 |
The fight for Historic Honours would be dominated by Richard Gough and Jez Rogers in their Ford Escort having set the fastest time across seven of the eight stages, the only interloper being second-place finishers Rudi Lancaster and Guy Weaver, who set the fastest time on the final run through SS8 Bowlsey.
PHOTOS: RUDI LANCASTER & GUY WEAVER | JONATHAN BRACE & PAUL SPOONER | BY ANDREW SCOTT
Gough was to gradually increase his lead throughout the day, after the first loop he led Lancaster by Twenty-one seconds, Jonathan Brace and Paul Spooner a total of thirty-two seconds back in third, the trio having set first, second and third fastest time (in that order) on each of the morning loop’s stages and this was mirrored on the afternoon loop, with the exception of SS8, where Lancaster stole the final stage from Gough, all be it only by a slender margin of one second.
PHOTO: ROBERT GOUGH & JEZ ROGERS | BY ANDREW SCOTT
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDING – OVERALL
| POS | DRIVERS TABLE | POINTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | J.GIDDINGS | 76 |
| 2 | R.LANCASTER | 66 |
| 3 | M.HIRST | 65 |
| 4 | P.BAYLIS | 61 |
| 5 | D.TOMLIN | 59 |
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDING – 2WD
| POS | DRIVERS TABLE | POINTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | G.PHELPS | 70 |
| 2 | R.DENNIS | 60 |
| 3 | C.RICHMOND HAND | 57 |
| 4 | M.WALTERS | 55 |
| 5 | M.JENKINS | 51 |
NEXT TIME
The next round takes the crews to familiar stages on a less-than-familiar Woodpecker rally(!). After losing the use of the Radnor complex in 2023 rally HQ moves from Ludlow racecourse to Newtown in Mid-Wales due to the unavailability of “several” forests which have traditionally formed the basis for the English/Welsh border-based event.
The new format will see scrutineering take place at the new Britpart facility on the outskirts of Newton on the first weekend of September and the rally will be comprised of forty-five stage miles in the Hafren and Ceri forests with service based in the Sweet Lamb complex.
Xlerate will be sponsoring the Sweetlamb stage so watch out for more content nearer the time.
