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2013/08 - Mewla Rally (0 images) - created by Adge on 02/09/2013 at 17:34:45
Team Adgespeed move into the lead of their class B13 in the REIS Get-Connected Asphalt Rally Championship after another excellent rally on the Mewla Stages held over the military ranges of Epynt.

Seeded at car 16 and with a strong top 10 it was going to be tall order to finish in the top 10 but as the old adage goes "To finish 1st, 1st you must finish"

The 1st loop of 3 stages consisted of 2 short ones and 1 long one and at the end of the 1st loop Adrian and Mark were 14th overall and 2 nd in class 23 seconds behind Bob Fowden in a similar Impreza, but 6 seconds up on Simon Chapman in the Metro 6R4 their main championship class rivals. Although Adrian and Mark lost some time on the last stage when a missed gear caused a trip along a ditch which fortunately resulted in no damage, but a big sigh of relief.

The 2nd loop of stages was a repeat of the 1st loop and things were about to change as although they lost some more time to Bob Fowden and were now 39 seconds behind, the Metro 6R4 of Simon Chapman hit trouble when the gearbox cried enough on stage 5, however a new challenger in the form of the Tappin brothers in their Escort Cosworth had moved to within 8 seconds of Adrian and Mark at the end of stage 6.

Stage 7 followed and Bob Fowden was stopped in the stage with a mechanical problem and retired from the rally, which promoted Adrian to 1st in class, however the Tappin Brothers took 2 seconds of them closing the gap to 6 seconds as at the time Adrian and Mark had not seen any results so did not realise there was anyone closing in on them and with Bob Fowden retiring the way looked clear for a class win.

They had also now moved up into 12th O/A.

With the results now coming in it was obvious that a push was going to be required to maintain their class lead and they set about the next loop of 2 stages 8 and 9 with maximum attack and set 7th quickest over stage 8 taking 11 seconds and increasing their lead to 17 seconds over the Tappins and also into 10th O/A of the rally. Equal times on the short stage 9 maintained their position.

For the last 2 stages a repeat of the previous ones it was flat out for the long stage 9 and with Adrian setting 5th fastest time over the stage even with a big moment when the car left the stage on a fast left taking a huge cut, which might get left in the notes as no time loss or damage was caused, they managed to pull out another 2 seconds over the Tappins, who were not going to give up easily. They also moved up the leader board to 8th as firstly Damian Cole retired from 2nd O/A when his Focus WRC car stopped in stage and then Adrian and Mark caught and passed the WRC Impreza of Steve Simpson who was in 3rd place when a turbo pipe came off, which continued his run of bad luck following his retirement from the previous Tyneside Rally when leading due to a front hub failure, although he was able to finish the rally down in 10th place.

For the final short stage another strong run with again 5th fastest time taking another 2 seconds off the Tappins and they also moved up to 7th O/A as Steve Simpson lost more time in the stage.

So the rally result was Adrian and Mark 7th O/A and 2nd in class, 1 second behind Bryan Davies in an Mitsubishi Evo who wasn't registered for the championship.

An excellent result which moves Adrian and Mark into the B13 class lead, but also moves Adrian into 7th O/A in the drivers and Mark 3rd O/A in the co-drivers Championship.

Adrian was also awarded the John Horton Motorsport Management ‘Star Performer’ award for the event for his 5th fastest times on the last 2 stages.

The team are now checking the car and getting ready for their next round the Patriot Stages Rally at Caerwent on the 29th September, having opted to miss the Wexford Rally in Ireland due to cost and time issues.