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2012/08 - Mewla Rally (0 images) - created by Adge on 31/08/2012 at 19:18:46
Fantastic day on the military ranges of Epynt for the Adgespeed Rally team of Adrian and Mark finishing 5th O/A and 2nd in class.

With 3 WRC cars and several Darrians entered for the 7th Round of the MSA REIS Get-Connected 2012 Asphalt Rally Championship it was going to be tough to get in the top 5, but a close battle was looming in Adrian and Marks class B13 with several top class contenders including Bob Fowden, the current King of Epynt and Chris Jones in the Focaru STi. Chances for a better overall position improved when Steve Simpson was unable to start his Impreza WRC which unfortunately put him out.

The day started well with dry conditions, a good tyre choice and confidence in the new setup which worked so well on Otterburn by taking 5th quickest time on the 1st stage a short 2.9 miler, tying with Chris Jones but 2 seconds down on Bob Fowden.

The 2nd stage 14.25 miles and Adrian and Mark had there 1st scare of the day when a miss heard note over a big jump not far from the start had the car 1/2 off the road on the landing, however keeping his foot in Adrian kept it under control, towards the end of the stage Adrian felt the tyres going off a bit, which cost some time but still 7th quickest but loosing 7 seconds to Chris Jones, but 1 second faster than Bob Fowden. The rally also lost Peter Lloyd in the last S14 Impreza built by Prodrive when he hit a sheep causing extensive damage to his car and certainly doing the sheep no good at all.

A change of tyres for the repeat runs over the 1st loop of stages prooved to be bad and good as the tyres didn't have the grip over stage 3 loosing valuable seconds to his main rivals, but once warmed up they were back on the pace taking 1 second off Jones and only losing 2 to Fowden on stage 4 with 8th quickest time.

Stage 5 was next up and Jones had gone out with headgasket failure, but Adrian and Mark where a bit apprehensive as they was passing the spot they crashed on the 2011 Mewla Rally so Adrian took it easily to not make the same mistake again, but then had a big fright 100 yards further on when they just missed a sheep crossing the road. Further into the stage a bonnet pin came undone causing the bonnet to lift and Adrian was concerned that the other one might give way as there where some very fast 125mph sections towards the end of the stage. However it held together and they posted 5th quickest time taking 4 seconds off Fowden and moving into 6th O/A.

Stages 6 and 7 were stages 1 and 2 in the opposite direction and again a strong run taking 1 second off Fowden and moving into 5th O/A due to another retirement after stage 6 and then Fowden took 1 back on stage 7.

So down to the last loop of stages 8 and 9 a repeat of 6 and 7 and only 6 seconds separated them. However Fowden wasn't going to give up easily and increased his lead by another 4 seconds over the 14.25 mile stage and with only 2.9 miles left on stage 9 baring problems for Fowden it was all over especially with a slight overshoot on the hairpin lost another 3 seconds.

Still Adrian and Mark were over the moon at having finished 5th O/A and 2nd in class after their recent run of problems and at having been in contention for the class win all day, all in all a great days rallying.

Incar from Stage 5