 1995 Barum Rally |  1995 Bullnose Rally |
1995 Barum Rally | 1995 Bullnose Rally |
With the 45 starters coming from far and wide to contest 5 major regional championships, the Wessex Rally offered an opportunity for championship regulars to size themselves up prior to the Inter-Association proper on the 26th of November. Starting from the Wharf Car Park in the middle of Newbury, the field was lead away by Pashley/Marks in their AE86 Corolla. With the seeding produced by ERNIE, second car away was the Datsun Violet of local crew Jace Shawley/'Chalkie' White. A blown exhaust during the first half made them the first retirees and they were denied a chance to live up to their seeding.
First off of the regular championship crews were Steve Cole/Bob Blows, hoping to pick up a hat full of points in two championships. Mike Biss/Cath Woodman took the number 4 spot. Their Nova was to devour its gearbox internals, but they managed to finish with only 3rd and 4th functioning. Not solving the navigation cost them rather more penalties than the gearbox.
Recent good performances saw Fiona Casey/Roger Davidson start car 6, just behind the 205 of Cotswold crew Martyn Harris/Martin Saunders. With a quality field of 35 experts, some of the top crews were relegated to rather lowly start numbers: ACSMC championship leaders Andy Juniper/Dean Taylor were car 9, with their main rivals Doug Kingsley/PRAR at 11. ASEMC leaders Ian Mepham/Martin Smith fared somewhat worse at 20, but a solid run to 9th saw them retain their championship lead.
From Newbury the route headed North-East taking in the short white at Trumpletts Farm. This was to see Casey/Davidson pick up a fail as they booked in early to TC4. The route then went north, taking in a standard (time recovery) section on the A34. This was to prove controversial, with the codeboard on the slip road being missed by almost one in three crews. The straight-forward navigation and relatively untaxing roads continued to TC7 on Woolley Down. The next section was the first to cause major devastation, with many crews dropping time at TC8. The first to falter were Colin Rodger/Sue Speller, going off route and encountering the boys in blue. They soon put Rodger/Speller on the right road, and must have done a merry trade as many other crews made the same mistake attempting a non-going white. Back on the correct route going was not easy, with the large triangle at Henley Farm proving very slippery.
With the pace slackened again, the route made it's way through an avoids section to Bussock Mayne. Some crews dropped time trying the white at the Blue Boar Inn. Many more crews however were to suffer in the next section down to TC10 at Speen. With accurate plotting required most people got the correct route, but the section gave the better navigators a chance to make a difference. With only a quick loop round Hamstead Park, taking in the NAM triangles at Skinners Green before petrol the standings were: Mepham/Smith on 2 minutes; Pashley/Marks on 3, with local crew of Kevin Belcher/Bill Melotti on 5.
With a much longer second portion, the event was not over by any means. There were plenty of opportunities to move ahead through accurate plotting and slotting, rather than having to wait for a mistake by the opposition. The first section where this was possible was TC18 to TC19, with many top crews losing the odd minute or two. With somewhat longer sections taking the route via Faccombe Wood and the long Littledown white to Chute Causeway many crews took the opportunity to make up a little lost time. The fog on the top at Chute caused few problems, and the hairpin on the triangle at Tidcombe gave the adventurous drivers a chance to exercise their steering levers.
The last half dozen sections in to the finish upped the ante somewhat. TC29 to TC30 offered a choice of routes taking in the byways on Ewin's Hill. A misplaced codeboard allowed crews to pass unpenalised however. The next section to TC31 was a real stinker. The organisers had chosen to use every navigators most feared handout: the mirrored circular herringbone! Having done so they did put in a few obvious clues but with the clock ticking whilst the penny dropped only the best were unpenalised at TC31. With no re-entry points the Novices were left floundering, with many having to resort to guesswork. 7 crews managed to scramble through unpenalised but 12 crews were lost to the wilds, never finding the end of the section.
With the damage done, the sections into TCs 32 and 33 were not trivial either and penalties abounded. The final short section down to the M4 allowed those lost on the circular herringbone to stumble across the final control and then find their way to breakfast at Chieveley Services.
Despite Kingsley/PRAR cleaning the second portion they could only move up to third place behind Juniper/Taylor. Mepham/Smith dropped 28 minutes and 8 places to 9th, and Belcher/Melotti fared even worse trailing in in 15th place. Gordon Popperwell/Graham Coker kept up their recent run of good positions coming in 4th, with ASWMC leaders Stuart Wood/Paul Waterton bringing their Sierra in 5th. They had struggled somewhat with the unfamiliar navigation but kept their loses to 21 minutes.
On the championship side Juniper/Taylor extend their ACSMC lead to 12 points, although with scores to be dropped at the end of the season they have a true lead of 4 points, with 7 rounds to run. In the LCAMC drivers championship, Mike Biss maintains a 34 point lead over Doug Kingsley, although Kingsley has a round in hand. PRAR moves into the lead on the Navigators side with a 14 point cushion over Cath Woodman. With 8 more rounds to run the LCAMC championship is not at the halfway point yet and there are plenty of crews could be the winners. Mepham/Smith maintain a 1 point lead in the ASEMC, over Garside/Hayward, the only other crew to complete all the rounds to date. Close behind come the Windsor Car Club crews of Juniper/Taylor and Kingsley/PRAR who cannot be discounted.
