By Bob Duck
The championship resumed at the Peak Edge hotel for this years running of Matlock MC’s Dansport rally, with most of the major contenders present.
On a clear night Saturday night, John Haygarth/Andy Pullen led crews away under a Hunter’s moon for two hours of entertainment on narrow and slippery Derbyshire lanes. Almost entirely single track roads made keeping to the 30 mph average tricky. The route also included three fords and occasional mist patches. All three regularities were plotted before the start and should have been straight-forward.
However, the first IRTC caused consternation for nineteen of the sixty crews who failed to find it. Finding the IRTC, but retiring soon afterwards with a broken driveshaft on their Escort were Roger Fildes/John Youd, who then endured a long wait for rescue. Taking an early lead were Dan & Nick Darkin in their Mazda. A shorter second regularity was defined by just two grid squares. More narrow lanes and the early evening time meant that some crews suffered from local traffic.
The final action of the night was a twenty-five mile regularity with eight intermediate controls, going almost to the southern edge of map 119 (defined by crossing 46 grid lines). The evenings sport finished at the British Car Journey museum for a pie and chips supper. The battle at the front was for second position as the Darkin’s had opened a 37 second lead over Matt Fowle/Ryan Pickering, who were one-second ahead of Leigh Powley/Nick Bloxham. Leading experts at this stage were Peter & Douglas Humphrey in their Volvo PV, a couple of seconds from tied Neil & Claire Raven and Tim Sawyer/Suzanne Barker.
Whilst Saturday evening may not have gone to plan for the Heaney’s in their Fulvia Coupe, they did manage to pull two cars out of ditches. The second of which considered themselves lucky as they were not on the rally route at the time!
Driver’s Championship contender John Haygarth with Andy Pullen alongside (Opel Kadett) lying 4th overnight. Photo by M&H Photography
Saturday’s clear skies changed to light rain when crews left Chesterfield’s Casa Hotel on Sunday morning. First was two runs over the tarmac test at Walton Farm and then the loose Dryhurst farm. Leigh Powley was quickest here taking the fight to Fowle/Pickering and closing on the Darkins. Paul Dyas’s Volvo broke it’s gear linkage, leading to retirement. Getting in on the fastest times was Dave Alcock/ Baz Green in their Datsun 260z, with a couple of top three test times. Interestingly the tests passed the stalls where cows were leaning out eating, oblivious to the speeding cars passing just beyond their noses.
The first regularity of the day over Beeley Moor, started at the stop-line of the Dryhurst Farm test and the instructions were handed out by the finish marshals. A ‘Jogularity’ with only mileages, times and occasional directions proved a challenge in the narrow lanes around Brockhurst with the first IRTC located at an impossible hairpin. Best here were Ken & Sarah Binstead on 4 seconds, followed by Callum Guy/Amy Henchoz on 5 & Crammond/Vokes on 6.
Test 4 was around the DFS car park in Darley Dale. John King/Oli Waldock were quickest by 1 second from the top 3 crews. This was the only test where competitors encountered any cones to negotiate.
It wasn’t all wet but most of it was. John King and Oli Waldock (Toyota MR2), fastest at the first DFS test. Photo by M&H Photography.
A regularity on the open roads west of Matlock, starting on narrow roads, going around the ‘Elton triangle’ before coffee halt at Tissington Hall. The three leaders remained the same, though the Darkin’s lead came down by a few seconds. Honours on this regularity went to Haygarth/Pullen on 4 seconds.
After coffee, regularity six followed starting just outside Alstonfield using the smooth white to ‘Back of Ecton’ and then going west over the Staffordshire Moorlands. It started to get foggy here, which ruined the views, though it wasn’t enough to make slot finding difficult. A short white, unmarked on the maps, was hard to find, as it had a narrow entry. The wide fast roads of the Moridge, often used on road rallies in the past, were less frenetic at 30 mph.
Next came two tests around the farm tracks at Wetwood. Wet, muddy and rutted in places, Powley/Bloxham were quickest by five seconds on the first test. Though the opposition got closer on the second, slightly shorter test. Only a few seconds down was the Sunbeam Tiger of Guy/Henchoz. Several crews fell foul of the wet conditions with failure to stop astride correctly on the finish line. By this time the weather had deteriorated further as storm Ashley came through. The marshals here (from Stockport MC) had to contend with horizontal rain, with no shelter available and deserved all the praise they got.
Leigh Powley and Nick Bloxham (Toyota Corolla) in serious mood but were fastest on the first Wetwood test. Photo by M&H Photography.
Regularity 7 was the second plot and bash section and again started on the stop line of the second test here with instructions thrown through the window at the finish. Suffering afterwards were Garnish/Bell, whose Fiesta ingested some water on the test and required a stop to administer WD40 on the regularity. The rally then headed eastwards back over the moors towards the Duke of York pub and the lunch halt.
Interestingly the event used ‘joker’ controls slightly differently to other events. They were only applied on Sunday and the largest regularity penalty of the day was reduced to fifteen seconds. Most jokers were used on regularity 7 as the instructions didn’t give any landmarks, only distances and where to turn, which required an accurate tripmeter. This caused some confusion when three instructions, only hundredths apart, told competitors to ‘turn left, turn left & turn left’. This turned out to be into a farmyard where an IRTC was located followed by a return to the road, then an immediate junction. Sixteen crews got maximums here, including car 1 the Opel Kadett of Haygarth/Pullen. However their event was shortly to come to an early conclusion with a broken bottom ball joint leaving the lunch control, fortunately not at speed.
Two more regularities remained, the first a simple affair, but finding the shortest route through seven red diamonds and a church. Best here were Les Andrew/Ian Canavan in their Peugeot on 9 seconds. But at least the weather was improving now back in Derbyshire.
The final regularity seemed straight forward but had a short section of white road through a farmyard. This meant that a short section between controls followed, but most of the crews managed with minimum penalties here. A repeat of the DFS test, where O’Kane’s Golf briefly engaged reverse at the start, to the alarm of Andrew Parr waiting behind! Then one run through the Walton Farm test, this time in the opposite direction, closed the event. The cows were still eating, still not bothered by the passing traffic. Makes you wonder what speed the farmer goes past them!
At the finish the Darkin’s held onto the lead they’d had throughout with a nineteen-second margin for their first win. Second place was still being fought out though. From two-seconds behind after the last regularity Fowle/Pickering took three-seconds on the last two tests to gain a well deserved second place. The two crews having never been more than nine-seconds apart during the event. Fourth was the Mercedes of Ian Crammond /Matthew Vokes, 21/2 minutes down followed by your championship co-ordinator Ken & Sarah Binstead.
An excellent win for the popular Dan and Nick Darkin (MX5). More to come on the Bloxham I’m sure. Photo by M&H Photography.
First Expert was Sawyer/Barker in ninth place, as the Humphrey’s Volvo fell foul of the IRTC in reg 7. While the novices was won by Martin Leonard/Jason Murphy in seventeenth overall.
Overall an excellent event with a good choice of roads, especially for Saturday evening and straight-forward tests. But praise must go to the marshals who endured some terrible conditions at times!
All photos are by kind permission of M&H Photography.