mini epynt

On the 5th of June Herefordshire motor club held the Welsh Marches Mini Epynt stages over the famous Epynt military ranges, a 45-mile tarmac event, that was the third round of the King of Epynt rally series. Lampeter and district motor club had several members taking part in the rally with Melvyn Evans at car 6 in a Ford escort RS with Patrick Walsh co driving, who was in class 7, meaning he was unable to qualify for overall classification. Car 9 was Sean Crowley with Emma Jones in their Mitsubishi colt. Iwan Griffiths was co driving for Barry Jones at 33 in another Ford escort, co driving in car 40, a Nissan micra for Lloyd Morgan was Ellie Williams, and at 49 were Ieuan “Pantsod” Evans and Rhys Jones in yet another Ford escort. Car 70 was Malcom Tar Jones with Ryan Thomas-Hands co driving in a Citroen xsara.

epynt pic

The rally was made up of 10 short stages over the ranges, but unfortunately stages 3 and 4 were cancelled due to the crew of car 26 going off on stage 3 and both crews having to be air lifted to hospital.

The weather conditions were very good, meaning pace was very high and all crews were pushing hard over the ranges, with Sean Crowley and Emma Jones setting fantastic times, and Ieuan and Rhys proving to be a crowd favourite as the pushed hard through the stages in their escort. Melvyn Evans showed his experience over Epynt who despite not being able to qualify for overall classification posted times that would have seen him comfortably in the top 5.

The event finished with and club members picking up excellent results, with Sean Crowley and Emma Jones finishing and excellent 2nd overall in their Mitsubishi having set blistering times all day, close behind and what would have been third overall were Melvyn Evans and Patrick Walsh, who took class 7 honours by 7 seconds. Iwan Griffiths in the co driver’s seat helped Barry Jones into fifth overall in their escort. Finishing and excellent 19th overall were Ellie Williams who guided Lloyd Morgan and the little micra Once place behind were Ieuan Evans and Rhys Jones who managed twentieth in their Escort. Malcom Tar Jones and Ryan Thomas-Hands managed 34th in their Xsara.

The following weekend on Saturday the 11th of June saw Andy Davies and Max Freeman take their usual group N Subaru Impreza out to compete on the RAC rally motor club organised DMACK Carlisle stages which made up the fifth round of the BTRDA rally championship, and would make up one of the 115 crews who would be tackling the western side of Kielder forest as they continue their championship bid.

Seeded at 17 they immediately showed excellent pace as they tackled the 42 stage mile event, who were joint twenty first on the day’s opening 3.5-mile stage. As they day progressed the crew continued to improve their times and climbed up the leader board with each passing stage. Stage 4, a very challenging 15-mile test known as Kershop must have been one of the best performances of the day, where they managed an excellent third fastest time, beating several far more powerful and specialised cars in the process!

In the final stage they managed to set yet another top 10 fastest time, which meant at the end of the rally they managed to finish and excellent ninth overall and first in class. This excellent result now gives Andy second overall in the BTRDA rally championship and first in the production (group N vehicles) cup. The next round of the championship is the Quinton motor club organised Nicky Grist stages, which will be held on the 9th of July.

With thanks to Lyndon March for the picture o the escort and JMS Photographic for the picture of Sean Crowley and Emma Jones