Rally Report

Last Sunday saw the 6th running of the Abingdon Carnival stages held at the former RAF Jaguar fighter base between Abingdon and Oxford. Over the past 6 years the event, organised by Sutton and Cheam and Farnborough and District Motor Clubs, has raised over £50,000 for the Army Benevolent fund and local charity, Stowford House.
The event was a round of the Rally 2002 stage championship, The CMSG, Heart of England and LCAMC championships.
As usual, the Carnival attracted an excellent field; at car 1 was last years winners, Tom Lambert and Peter Keel in their Darrian, at 2 an on form Tony Janetta and Lee Carter in their immaculate Metro 6R4, and making the long trip south from Scotland was Tom Morris and Neil Chambers in another Metro. Another potential winner was Mark Lane co-driven by brother Rob in a Darrian at 4. With 12 stages on offer (subsequently shortened to 11 due to weather based delays) and 90 competitive miles, the scene was set for an excellent days Motorsport!
SS1 got underway under heavy grey skies, and after 11 fast miles, it was Morris and Chambers at the head of the field, holding a 2 second advantage over the Lanes and Janetta/Carter tying for second. In fourth was Lambert, 1 second further in arrears. Simon Mauger and Keith Hounslow in an Escort Cosworth, managed 12th fastest despite a puncture and lots of flailing bodywork.
Spectacular as ever was the husband and wife pairing of Stuart and Teresa Fossey in their glorious sounding Escort BDG - they held seventh after SS1. One crew who had a nasty moment were Steve Colville and Fiona Thornton in a Renault 5 GT Turbo, that shed its left rear wheel sending them spinning into the undergrowth!
The pace stepped up for SS2 with the Lanes taking 4 seconds back from Morris and the lead by 2 seconds. Janetta was third fastest a second down on Morris and holding third. A half spin from Lambert saw him lose valuable time, he still held 4th but was now 13 seconds behind the top 3. Snapping at Lamberts heels was James Hoseason and Oliver Pearson in a Darrian GTR and Mauger was on the move, taking 3rd fastest on the stage and now up to 6th. Casualties at this point were Paul and Mark Brocklebank with turbo woes in their dramatic Fiesta Turbo, and David Nutt/Shelly Nutt also with turbo problems in their Escort Cosworth.
This may have suited David who was due to attend a hospital appointment at 6:30!!
As the crews thought about SS3, the heavens opened which was great news for the 4-wheel drive contingent, but bad news for the Darrian pilots. This was reflected in the stage times. After 4 stages, the leader board had a different look. 1st was Janetta, 4 seconds up on Morris. 37 seconds down were the Lanes. Obviously enjoying the conditions, Chris Davies and Brandon Parker in another Darrian progressed up to 4th.
At the halfway point, things had stabilised. The 2 Metros were disappearing into the spray and having their own Battle Royal. Morris had sneaked ahead of Janetta by 1 second. Now a minute down, the Lanes held 3rd but were tied with Mauger in his Cosworth.
Davies and Parker held 5th and trying hard to join them was Hoseason in his V8 version of a Darrian, just 7 seconds behind. In 7th were Donald Fowler and David Muir in a smart Corsa kit car, 3 seconds ahead of Geoff Bennett and Tim Chapman in an Evo 5. 9th was double spinning Lambert just ahead of the Fosseys rounding out the top 10.
Class leaders were in A, Julian Wilkes in a Nova, B was the rapid Chris Dillow in another Nova, and C was Guy Wigley in his ex works RS2000 kit car.
2 more stages in monsoon conditions could not separate the 2 Metros who were tied after SS8. Mauger was alone in 3rd after the Lanes retired on SS8 but really flying taking fastest time for the stage, with Davies now 4th, Bennett making good use of 4-wheel drive in 5th, and Hoseason 6th. The Fosseys were obviously enjoying themselves and had moved up to 7th, with Paul Hodges and Justin Brooks getting used to their new 6R4 in 8th.
The next 2 stages saw changes nearly as dramatic as the weather that had gone from monsoon to bright summer sunshine with almost no clouds!
Gearbox problems slowed both Metros - Janetta dropping down to 3rd and losing almost a minute to Morris on SS9, necessitating a quick gearbox change prior to SS10. Meanwhile, Mauger was still charging and he moved up to second place, the meat in a Metro sandwich. The drama continued as the Morris' leading Metro started to stutter with transmission woes getting caught by Janetta (who had started 30 seconds behind him) close to the end of SS10. With 1 stage to go, a grandstand finish in was in prospect.
Morris' gearbox continued to play up, and a blistering final stage saw Mauger take an excellent victory and drive of the day. Morris just held off Janetta who came in 3rd. 4th place and 1st in Class D went to Davis in the Darrian, 5th and 1st in Class E went to Geoff Bennett in the Evo 5, and 6th was a distant Dave Jacobs in an Escort Cosworth.
Class A honours went to Julian Wilkes in his Nova, and another Nova, that of Chris Dillow took class B. Paul's King and Hollingham had a good afternoon, winning class C and finishing ninth overall.

   

Many Thanks to Mark Welch for this report copied from www. Rallyingonline.com

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