Nicky Grist Stages
A cracking day was had by most of our West Wales Rally Spares Stage Masters contenders on
the Nicky Grist Stages held on the gravel Epynt stages of Login and Monument along with
Halfway and Crychan, the roads were in prime condition and with very little dust they held up
magnificently for both runs.
Leading crew were Rudi Lancaster and Guy Weaver who campaigned an ex-Ben Friend RS1800
for the first time and set a steady pace all day as they settled into the new car. The only blip
being a small overshoot in front of the HRCR camera! A little way behind came the ever
improving Jack Thorne with Dan Morefield who were only 12 seconds in front of Lee Ashbury and
Ian Jones who really found their mojo, both crews were in D5 class Escort RS1800s. Elsewhere
in the class Steve Ward and Phil Sandham recorded another solid finish and Challenge
newbies, Charles Hopkinson and Alan Jones rounded off the class. Rob Dennis unfortunately
retired on stage 2 with broken steering, he did however manage to get spectacular air over the
Login jump on stage 1.
In class C5 Jonathan Brace and Paul Spooner were in a league of their own despite collecting a
40 second penalty for being late out of service after an unscheduled gearbox and clutch
change. Andy Stokes and Jonny Tad Evans were next and were their usual happy selves while
Jeremy Wells mopped up third in the class, all crews campaigning immaculate Escort RS1600s.
In C3 Paul Holmes and Elizabeth Beesely took maximum points in their pinto powered Escort
Mk2 when Hywel Davies retired with mechanical issues in stage 3, Halfway.
The effervescent Graham Thatcher along with Tim Samuel lit the stages up in their Triumph TR7
V8 and took another maximum score in D4 despite a scare on stage 6 when the fan failed to
operate, luckily the problem was easily rectified.
A great effort from Robert Clarke to get his Mini to the start and to finish despite a misfire and
the car cutting out, not too bad for his first event since 1987! A short summer break now before
a trio of rallies in quick succession with Rali Ceredigion, the Woodpecker Stages and Hills Ford
Stages.
