Mixed fortunes for LDMC members on the stages

Severn_valley

 Davies/Williams on the Severn Valley rally - Photo courtesy of James Hatfield Photography

 

     June was to be a month over-subscribed with stage events with some mixed fortunes for LDMC members. Five events occupied June's hectic schedule with two forest events and three taramc rallies beind held all over the country and abroad. The Severn Valley, held at the showground in Builth Wells, would open June's stage rallying with a few LDMC members competing.  

     Dylan Davies once again encountered more bad luck with his Subaru on the opening stage of the rally. Driveshaft failure on both rear driveshafts the culprit this time. Davies and co-driver Llion Williams managed to crawl through the three stages before service and replace the driveshafts to continue on the event but several minutes had been lost. They finished the event in 20th O/a losing even more time caught in the dust of other competitors further back in the field on the afternoon stages. Dale Furniss fared no better on the rally when he was co-driving for "Mad" Mick Jones in his Escort. The pair had been lying in an excellent 10th O/a after stage five but an engine failure would put an end to their efforts. Tomas Davies was also faced with some bad luck of his own when his Historic spec Escort Mk2 caught fire which the crew fortunatly managed to put out. He went on to finish the event 14th O/a in Category 3.

     The Mini Epynt rally was held the following day after the Severn Valley on Sunday the 5th of June. Carwyn Evans and Arfon Griffiths would be the crew to lead the LDMC crews home when they finished 11th O/a in Evans' Honda powered Escort Mk2, narrowly missing out on a top ten finish by just six seconds. An overshoot on one of the notorious jumps on the Epynt ranges caught the pair out and lost them a few seconds. Marc Hughes guided Will Arrowsmith to the class 5 victory in his road rally Escort Mk2 and 17th O/a carrying over his fine form on recent road rallies over to the stages. Justin Jones and Rhodri Morgan finished 50th O/a although they were hampered with problems throughout the day. SS1 and 2 were hampered with a misfiring engine, whilst on SS4 they aquired a puncture which was then followed by being stuck in fourth gear for two miles or so of SS6.

     Southwell racecourse would welcome the rally crews competing on the Dukeries rally on the 11th of June for the fifth round of the BTRDA championship. Dylan Davies and Dale Furniss would once again be hoping for some luck to get their 2011 season back on track but once more, it just wasn't meant to be their day. SS2 on the event would see them retire yet again with the throttle jamming wide open and a small screw entering thorugh the air intake and into the engine. Anthony Litchfield, co-driving for Christian South once more in his Fiesta would finish 60th O/a and take third in class for N3 vehicles.

     Dale Furniss set off for Belgium at the end of the month to compete on the Ypres rally with Jason Pritchard in his N15 Subaru Impreza. The Ypres rally would be a round of the IRC championship and produced an entry list with works drivers along with some very quick and experienced crews. Pritchard and Furniss would be seeded car 62 in their Grp N Impreza and were hoping for a strong finish. The pair had been lying as high as 33rd O/a and seventh in Group N after SS5 but SS6 saw the pair leave the road and into and early retirement with a hefty off causing excessive damage to the car for them to continue.

     Carwyn Evans would again bring his Honda powered Escort out onto the stages, this time at the Mid Summer Caerwent rally with Ian Taylor in the hot seat.  The pair would retire after SS5 on the rally when the car refused to start before heading out for SS6. It was later discovered that a minor electrical fault was the cause which was found after the event. The rally was also a round of the J1000 championship and Meirion Evans was again competing in his Nissan Micra with Elgan Davies. Evans/Davies would bring the Micra home in 6th overall.