By Paul Evans

Damian Cole made equalling a sporting record that has stood for almost 20 years look remarkably easy at the weekend, when he won the Old Forge Garage Mewla Rally for a sixth time – and with it his 23rd rally victory on Epynt.

Cole’s first win on the fast rollercoaster roads of the famous military range above Sennybridge was 16 years ago, and ever since then the Abergavenny ace has been chipping away at John Price’s all-time record.

Cole equalled the Epynt record in sensational style – establishing a 29 second lead by half way after a masterful performance in his Get Connected/Energizer-backed Ford Fiesta WRC and then easing off in the closing stages to win by 19 seconds.

And it was also a very special victory for his 60th birthday celebrating co-driver Paul Spooner, who had guided Cole to his first Mewla Rally win in 2008.

Victory has also extended Cole’s lead in the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship, with the final round next month set to determine who will take the title – Cole, for a seventh time, or defending champion Jason Pritchard.

“It’s an honour to have now won as many Mewla rallies as John Price, and to have won as many rallies on Epynt as John as well,” said Cole. “I never thought that when I started rallying and John was winning everything, that one day I’d equal his record. The car has been faultless all day. We’ve done a lot of work on the car’s set-up and the Fiesta WRC is now so much easier to drive. We’ve also re-mapped the throttle as well, so it’s not so aggressive as soon as you touch the pedal, and that’s made a big difference because the car is so much better in all the chicanes and tight corners. We’ve been fastest or joint fastest most of the day, which allowed us to back off on the last loop because by then we had a twenty-nine second lead and there was no point trying to be a hero. The sheep were starting to run about, and we eased off over the bigger jumps a bit. It makes the battle for the Asphalt Championship very interesting, because it’s winner takes all on the Cheviot now.”

By contrast, Pritchard had a nightmare of a day. After the first loop of three stages, last year’s Mewla Rally winner was down in third, 23 seconds behind Cole. An incorrectly mapped ECU was causing havoc with his North Road Garage Ford Focus WRC05 and the car was sluggish off the start lines and couldn’t accelerate out of corners.

Together with Phil Clarke, the Builth Wells driver managed to move up into second position by mid-distance, but the afternoon saw more electronic-related fuel pump problems. The car’s engine cut out at the end of both SS10 and the final stage, and retirement would have meant the end of his title defence. As it was, he coaxed the car back to the finish at the Royal Welsh Showground in Llanelwedd, with second place an exceptional result under the circumstances.

Only Cole and Pritchard can now win the Asphalt Rally Championship – and so close is the battle between them that if Cole finishes first and Pritchard is second again on the final round of the series (the Cheviot Stages Rally on Otterburn in Northumberland on Sunday 22 September), then the title will be decided on the tie-break – which is who set the fastest time on the opening stage of the final round!

“We’ve not really had a clean stage, so it’s good to come home second after such a troublesome day – I think we can say that we’ve made the best of a bad situation,” said Pritchard. “The power difference really showed today, because even without our issues, I think it would have been very difficult for us to beat Damian [Cole] today, because he’s got the ultimate car for Epynt. We were five second down just going through the German Village, it’s just point and squirt in there and there isn’t anything I can do about that. The fight for the Asphalt Championship title is down to the final round, and I hope it’s wet on Otterburn, because the power difference really told today.”

Bob Fowden was back to his Epynt best, setting a scorching pace in his Comline Auto Parts/NGK-backed Subaru Impreza WRC S11. He and co-driver Den Golding might have been the most experienced crew on the event, but they never stopped experimenting with settings in an effort to make the car handle even better – although a stiffer set-up contributed to Fowden having his first moment in more than 40 years of competition on the Burma Road. They held second in the morning, dropped to fourth at mid-distance and fought back to finish third, ending the event by setting fastest time on the final stage. Having spent two years getting the Subaru back to where it was before a fire caused considerable damage to it on the Manx National Rally, it was fantastic to see Fowden back to his vintage best.

Phil Turner’s target of being the top two-wheel drive competitor home vanished on the opening loop of stages, when he lost over a minute with a misfire. From then on he and co-driver Terry Martin flew, finishing eighth in their Toovey Race Engines/ST Motorsport-backed Escort Mk2 – one place ahead of former Dixies Challenge Champions Phillip Turner/Simon Anthony in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9.

Graham Hollis hadn’t even sat in his Escort Mk2 since March, but he was driving superbly well – despite suggesting that both the car and driver required a major rebuild! He almost went off after hitting a patch of oil in the German Village, and guided by Ashley Trimble the Carmarthen MC driver finished 11th overall.

The cause of that patch of oil was traced to the unfortunate Nigel Jones/Aled Davies, who had been going very well in their ex-Petter Solberg Subaru Impreza WRC S9 until a leak in the transmission system put them out.

It was a west Wales head-to-head contest in the B10 class between Rhidian Daniels and Dai Roberts. The former survived a scare when his JJ Aggregates-backed Citroën C1 Max went onto three cylinders on SS7. He and co-driver Tomos Whittle were able to cure the problem and pressed on hard to win both the class on the day and the class title. Co-driven by Pete Phennah, Roberts started extremely well in his Peugeot 205 GTi, although they had to ease off to avoid disaster on SS10 when a bonnet pin broke. Having won the class last time out on the Down Rally in Northern Ireland, second place points was a great result for Roberts on his first full Epynt rally as a driver.

This was Ian Evans’ first rally for 17 years, although you’d have never guessed it from the stylish way he was driving his white Vauxhall Nova. Co-driven by Justin Brooks, it was clear to see why back in the day Evans was tipped as a future rally star, and whilst that didn’t quite happen, finishing 16th overall showed that maybe he really should have had that lucky break and a shot at the big time.

Will Mains was also on superb form in his 1400cc Vauxhall Ray Thomas & Sons/WCS Environmental-backed Nova. Co-driven by Sion Jones, the Llandysul driver wished for more power from his orange Vauxhall on the long straights, although he did finish 19th overall, won Class 1 by 5 minutes 25 seconds and secured the 1400S title!

Having successfully defended his class B12 title, Mike Pugsley thought that he was about to record his first retirement in three years when he picked up an engine problem in his 1974 Escort Mk1 RS2000. Luckily he was carrying a spare cam follower and was able to replace it in service, meaning that he and Marc Clatworthy were able to re-join after incurring penalties for missing a few stages to score their fourth class win of the year.

The heat and fast roads certainly took its toll, as a large number of crews failed to reach the finish of the 13 stage Epynt MC organised event.

JD Competition Tyres Welsh National Tarmacadam Rally Championship leaders Richard Merriman/Kath Curzon reportedly hit something solid in the German Village in their The Roof Hub/Touchline-backed Darrian T90. Paul and Julian Doroszczuk couldn’t wait to let their new 301bhp normally-aspirated Cosworth engined Drockspeed Motorsport Escort Mk2 loose on the ranges, but a sheared alternator bolt brought their event to a halt at mid-distance.

The 2014 Welsh Tarmacadam Rally Champion Rob Tout and co-driver Peredur Wyn Davies retired their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 with turbo problems, Gareth Lloyd/Dorian Evans suffered engine problems on a road section in their stunning BMW M3 E30, Gareth Richards/Deian Rees parked their Darrian T90 with transmission problems and Robert Hughes/Sion Cunniff landed off the road (and on a remotely-controlled expensive camera, much to the disappointment of the photographer) after a big jump in their Fiesta R5. Worst of all was poor Steven Roderick/Owen Evans, who blocked the opening stage after destroying their Renault Twingo.

Old Forge Garage Mewla Rally – top 10 finishers
1. Damian Cole/Paul Spooner (Ford Fiesta WRC)…..1h 02mins 21secs
2. Jason Pritchard/Phil Clarke (Ford Focus WRC05)….1h 02mins 40secs
3. Bob Fowden/Den Golding (Subaru Impreza S11 WRC)….1h 03mins 05secs
4. Alan Kirkaldy/Cameron Fair (Ford Fiesta R5)….1h 03mins 30secs
5. John Stone/Michael Gilbey (Ford Fiesta WRC)….1h 04mins 52secs
6. Darren Atkinson/Phil Sandham (Ford Escort Mk2)….1h 05mins 46secs
7. John Devlin/John McCarthy (Ford Escort Mk2)….1h 08mins 48secs
8. Phil Turner/Terry Martin (Ford Escort Mk2)….1h 08mins 55secs
9. Phil Turner/Simon Anthony (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo)….1h 09mins 12secs
10. Gary Le Coadou/Bill Paynter (Hyundai i20 WRC)….1h 09mins 20secs