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2013/03 - Tour of Epynt Rally (0 images) - created by Adge on 22/03/2013 at 15:12:21
Great start to the season for the Adgespeed Rally Team of Adrian Spencer and Mark Hewitt after finishing 11th O/A and 3rd in class on the 1st round of the REIS Get Connected 2013 Asphalt Rally Championship.

It was a very cold start to the day on the MOD ranges of Eypnt which greeted the crew, who had been seeded at car 22 out of 120 starters, one of the highest entries for a number of years, such is the interest in this years championship, but at least there was no snow or ice although some of the roads had been gritted.

Stage 1 was a short blast from Dixies around the Burmah Road and immediately they were on the pace setting the 11th quickest time although Adrian thought he had gone slower as there was not a lot of grip but it was obviously the same for everyone as most were complaining of a lack of grip. Stage 2 followed on running from Picadilly to the end of the New Road a 10 miler and again they kept up a similar pace reaching service in 12th place and 2nd in class. Engine improvements over the winter having been matched by others in the class meant the competition was as fiece as ever between Chris Jones in the Focaru (Focus bodyshell with subaru running gear and engine) and Bob Fowden in his Impreza.

Stages 3 and 4 followed being re runs of stages 1 & 2 and with some extra cuts being made to the tyres the grip levels improved slightly although a small mistake at the end of stage 3 saw Adrian lose some precious seconds but still in 12 A/O and 2nd in class on reaching service after stage 4.

Stage 5 started at Dixies along the Burmah Road around the triangle down to the bottom of the German Village and out to the end of the New Road. Time was lost on this stage when the car in front the Mitsubishi Evo of Geoff Kitney who was already behind Adrian in the leaderboard made a big mistake losing 30 seconds but more to the point came back on the road right in front of Adrian and Mark who were then stuck behind them for the next 10 miles until they let them past, this cost them time against the class leaders but they had moved up to to 2nd in class and 11th O/A.

Stage 6 started at the New Road end and finished at Dixies but with losing some time to Bob Fowden they dropped to 3rd in class. Stage 7 a repeat of stage 6 saw a big push from the start in an attempt to take back some time, but a brush with a chicane took the shine off it and Adrian decided that protecting 3rd from the 6R4 of Mark Jasper was more important so a good safe run was in order, this proved to be the right decision as a big push from Bob Fowden saw Chris Jones demoted to 2nd in class on the last stage and Bob take the class win with 8th A/O, Chris Jones finished 9th and the the Skoda Fabia WRC of John Stone just keeping Adrian and Mark out of the top 10.