Weston Park Agbo rally
The first round of the new Category 1 championship was the Agbo rally which uses Weston Park.
Category 1 is for cars manufactured before 1968 and built as they would have been in period.
Four registered contenders entered the rally but Clive King elected to use his Category 2 specification engine on this event leaving three cars to battle it out. Some of the contenders did not sadly get a run on the oversubscribed entry, so we could had an bigger entry.
Leading the cars were Paul Dyas with Paul Morris in their Volvo at car number 29. They were followed by Stephen Hall and Aggie Foster in their rapid Triumph TR4.
Close to them were Shane Gamble with Julia Perry sitting alongside for the first time.
Photos by Andy Crayford
Heavy rain leading up to the event made the ground very soft and to make matters worse it had rained overnight, leaving large amounts of water on the roads.
Stage one got underway; the cars found the stages very slippy with mud being pulled onto the stage.
Fastest was Stephen Hall with a time of 3.19 but Paul Dyas was only a few seconds behind on 3.24, and Shane Gamble on 3.27.
This was going to be a tight battle that would last throughout the day, where each of the crews took fastest times.
The second stage had Stephen and Shane share the fastest time with Paul only one second behind.
Over the next few stages the crews could not be separated Paul Dyas took a small lead, bit there were only a few seconds that separated all of the crews.
Leading into the last stage Paul had a small lead, Stephen Hall had an almighty push through the stage to take a time of 3.19. Paul took a time of 3.24. Shane had a spin in the court yard with a time of 3.27.
This gave Stephen and Aggie the win by 2 seconds over all, from Paul Dyas and Paul Morris. Shame and Julia were kicking themselves with having a spin which without they may have won.
What a fantastic first round this championship has been could not have been closer and bolds well
For the next round Dixies over the Eypynt ranges.
The Exol oil prize of 5L of their finest was won by Mini Cup contender Clive King.