By Paul Evans
Jason Pritchard mastered what many considered to be the worst conditions they’d ever seen on Epynt to win the Old Forge Garage Mewla Rally in their North Road Garage Ford Focus RS WRC05.
Torrential rain, standing water, strong winds and low cloud made the 13 stage, 75 stage mile event on the military ranges high above Sennybridge exceptionally tricky. The driver who made the least mistakes was going to come out on top, and sure enough the 30-year old Builth Wells driver did just that. Co-driven by Phil Clarke, Pritchard held onto an early advantage and controlled the event from the front, winning by 26 seconds.
The result places Pritchard in a three-way battle for the Protyre MSA Asphalt Rally Championship drivers’ title. He’s tied in second place with Daniel Harper, who finished third on the Mewla Rally in his John Cooper Works Mini WRC, while Wayne Sisson (who finished fifth with Tywyn co-driver Max Freeman in a Mitsubishi Evo) is still out in front. It will be an exciting championship showdown on the final Ford Parts Cheviot Stages Rally on Otterburn (Sunday 28 October).
Damian Cole was aiming to make it three Mewla Rally wins in a row and equal the record of six event victories, but his fate was sealed when he began the event with a too stiffer suspension set up on his Get Connected Ford Fiesta WRC. Seventeen seconds were lost on the opening loop of three stages before softer springs were attached and he and co-driver Jamie Edwards were able to make a real fight of it. Pushing as hard as he dare, the Abergavenny driver almost came to grief twice, but couldn’t match Pritchard’s pace on this occasion.
Melvyn Evans/Mark Glennerster finished an excellent fourth in their first event in a brand new Hyundai i20 R5. There was an obvious power disparity compared to the Subaru Impreza WRC S12b in which they’d won the Melvyn Evans Motorsport Tour of Epynt in, but Evans was extremely impressed with the car’s handling and performance in the technical sections.
David Morgan/Richard Suter were the top-placed two-wheel drive finishers after an excellent run to sixth in their Darrian T90 GTR, finishing ahead of Richard Merriman/Kath Curzon in a Darrian T9.
Phil Turner/Simon Anthony were a trouble-free eighth in their T.C.S. Plant Hire Mitsubishi Evo 9. With another event in Ireland coming up, Tony Rees/Geraint Thomas didn’t take any risks in their Darrian T90 GTR and finished ninth, while Terry Brown/Den Golding completed the top 10 in the leading Escort Mk2.
One of the star drives came from William Mains/Claire Williams in their little Vauxhall Nova. The west Wales pair had been praying for rain to help them overcome their power disadvantage, and they delivered in the wet and slippery conditions. Despite braking an engine mount on SS7 and going off on the final stage, they won the 1400cc class by miles and finished 11th overall – just missing out on a top 10 position by 41 seconds!
Gareth Lloyd/Dai Roberts enjoyed an excellent run in their Escort Mk2 and finished 12th, just ahead of an inspired Rhidian Daniels/Tomos Whittle who finished an incredible 13th in a little Citroen C1 Max. Their car’s windscreen kept misting up, which resulted in an old fashioned solution – a cloth stuck to the end of a stick, operated by the co-driver!
Paul and Julian Doroszczuk claimed a magnificent top 20 finish in their normally-aspirated Cosworth-engined Drockspeed Motorsport Escort Mk2, catching and overtaking two cars on the long SS7. They were looking forward to a good battle with Phil Turner/Ian Meakin, but their rally ended when they crashed their Toovey Race Engines/ST Motorsport-backed Escort Mk2 on SS7.
Lloyd Morgan/Marc Clatworthy found that the new engine in their Spencer Sport/Euro Tech Roofing/Dynamic Fluids-backed Nissan Micra wasn’t as powerful as the old one, but finished well and are within sights of the Asphalt Championship 1400S title. Mike Pugsley has already wrapped up the class B12 title, and together with Stuart Powell took his 1974 Escort Mk1 RS2000 to 35th overall.
“The conditions were treacherous, especially in the morning, and you had to drive with your head – which is pretty much what we did all day really,” said Pritchard. “We upped our pace when we needed to, when we knew Damian was going to have a push, tried to keep a gap and took no risks. Epynt was definitely different in a World Rally Car. The third corner of the first stage is flat in a Fiesta S2000, but I found it’s not flat in a Focus WRC – so after that I really knew it was a case of feeling my way in! We had an issue with the windscreen misting up on a couple of stages, but apart from that we left the same tyres on all day and refuelled the car and that was all we did.”
“We’ve had a good day,” said Cole. “The conditions were very tricky, probably the worst I’ve ever seen them up on Epynt. We had a few moments – we almost hit the Armco in one place and then some breeze blocks in the German Village – and despite the conditions the pace was very fast, I don’t think I’d want to go much faster! Jason took seventeen seconds out of us on the first three stages and beat us by twenty-six seconds overall, so it was a lot closer from stage four onwards – but he drove very well and we just couldn’t live with his pace today. It would have been nice to win, to make it three Mewla Rally wins in a row, but it wasn’t to be.”
Mewla Rally – top 10 finishers
1. Jason Pritchard/Phil Clarke (Ford Focus WRC)….1hr 07mins 29secs
2. Damian Cole/Jamie Edwards (Ford Fiesta WRC)….+26secs
3. Daniel Harper/Chris Campbell (John Cooper Works Mini WRC)….+2mins 15secs
4. Melvyn Evans/Mark Glennerster (Hyundai i20 R5)….+3mins 36secs
5. Wayne Sisson/Max Freeman (Mitsubishi Evo)….+5mins 57secs
6. David Morgan/Richard Suter ((Darrian T90 GTR)….+6mins 30secs
7. Richard Merriman/Kath Curzon (Darrian T9)….+6mins 35secs
8. Philip Turner/Simon Anthony (Mitsubishi Evo)….+6mins 37secs
9. Tony Rees/Geraint Thomas (Darrian T90 GTR)….+7mins 10secs
10. Terry Brown/Den Golding (Escort Mk2)….+7mins 59secs