Well done to the team at Brecon Motor Club, who endured a demanding run-up to the Gremlin. The heightened risk of wildfires meant meetings with landowners, dropping two tests and shortening Reg 3, writes Mark Dunkerley.  Their hard work was rewarded by a near full entry of 74 starters who lined up at the Brecon cattle market for the start, and a test. Bevan Blacker/Sam Spencer (Escort) set the pace at 1:13, 1 second ahead of Lewis Ayris/Matt Outhwaite (Escort).

The first 2 regularities west of Brecon had a combination of map symbols, grid refs and blackspots. The top crews of Andy Pullen/Mark Appleton and Mick Valentine/Ryan Pickering only dropped 16 and 18 seconds respectively.  A shortened Reg 3 started on the road before turning into Crychan forest, was cut to just two controls. Many expert crews found Reg 4 in the forest near Penlanwen difficult, with several struggling in the dust on the loop near the start. The 24 miles across the northern part of the ranges required a lot of trimming to spot the right turning around buildings and on to tracks, all at 30mph! Simon Mellings and Karl Ellis put in a fantastic performance to only drop 15 seconds across the 7 timing points, but had to retire at lunch as the MR2 lost most of its oil.

Mick Valentine and Ryan Pickering (Ford Escort) started strongly but were third at lunch.

At lunch, Ayris/Outhwaite had the bonnet up investigating cooling fans, but had still managed to take the overall lead, followed by Martin Payton/Miles Fieldhouse (PV544) and Mick Valentine/Ryan Pickering (Escort).  Rupert & Carole Burne lost 35 seconds on the 1^st control of the shortened reg 3 (ITC 3/3) and came in 29 seconds late at ITC4/3, disappointment after a fantastic morning. They fell from 20^th at coffee to 31^st at Lunch.

A frustrating post coffee session saw Rupert and Carole Burne (MGA) slip from 20th to 31st at lunch. 

Championship leading expert, Miles Fieldhouse opened a big lead at the head of the class but it was a tight 3 way fight for second between the Woof’s (Golf) 16^th, Hugh Garnish/Peter Blackett (Fiesta) 17^th and the Heaney’s (TR6) 19^th all separated by just 11 seconds.

Martin Payton and Miles Fieldhouse (PV544) opened a big lead at the head of their class and went on to finish 2nd overall which wont do their championship hopes any harm at all.

Reserve entry Phil Wood/Kelvin Phipps (924) had a difficult morning in the number 57 car, the Porsche suffered a recurrence of the high downforce, boot open configuration seeing them in 24^th at lunch.

Ken & Sarah Binstead wrong slotted in the tricky village of Painscastle which cost them their full joker, but were not the only ones to struggle with the village. Les Andrew & Mark Dunkerley also hesitated joining the B-road, costing their joker for 32 seconds and capping a frustrating day.

Expert Sally Woof collected an impressive 11^th navigator. Out in front, and contending for the outright win, Miles Fieldhouse was a clear Expert winner. Also having a good run across the last 3 regs in the experts were Dave Morris & Jacolyn Wales, who climbed from 35^th at coffee to 23^rd at the finish.

Alan & Paul Hawdon had a clean run after lunch on regs 5&6, rising to second championship novice and 25^th at the finish with only an expensive ITC 5/3.

In the Masters/Overall field, the strong test results of Mick Valentine/Ryan Pickering were just enough to overhaul Martin Payton/Miles Fieldhouse for the overall win. Andy Pullen/Mark Appleton took 3^rd in the Peugeot 205GT saved by the joker from a large penalty after a wrong slot on the last control of Reg 4.