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| Mini Tempest Stages 2004 |
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| Sunday 28th March 2004 | |
| Update: | |
| The Final Results are now available, click on the link on the right to view | |
2004 saw the 17th running of the Mini Tempest Stages at Longcross and for the second year in conjunction with our friends in Hart M.C. The venue is, as previously, the demanding Test track at Longcross featuring high quality Tarmac with the demanding brows and seemingly endless corners of the "Snake" .
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| Event Report - Mark Welch | |
| Wilkes all the way. | |
| Despite a damp start and with many crews rubbing their eyes with the arrival of British summer time, 2 wheel drive cars dominated the 2004 Mini Tempest to the extent that a lot of people were still rubbing their eyes at the end! |  |
| After a very hard battle over 8 stages, David and Julian Wilkes emerged victorious in their quick 2litre RWD Corsa. | |
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They were hounded all the way by John Reddington and Bernard Glackin in their Mark 2 Escort, the gap at the end being 7 seconds. |
| In third were Will Nichols and Nick Broome in their very smart brand new Mark 2. Nichols drove with a great deal of panache but ultimately rued a spin on SS6, which cost him a chance of overall victory. He finished 8 seconds further back. |  |
| Fourth place and class D went to Mark Court and Adam Dunn in another Mark 2 Escort, 18 seconds behind Nichols. In fifth and remarkably, the first 4 wheel drive car home and class E winners were the Escort WRC of Dick Mauger/Andrew Street. Sixth was another 4-wheel drive car, the Mitsubishi Evo IV of Andy Vey and Jason Aplin. | |
| Last years winner, Kevin King in a Metro 6R4 retired after SS4 with gearbox problems, and another pre event favourite, Tim Wilson, retired his Escort Cosworth WRC with suspected low oil pressure after SS6. |  |
| Class A was convincing won by Mark Holding/James Lewes in a Mini. In class B, the Talbot Sunbeam of Kevin and Theresa Fossey took the honours by 4 seconds from Dominic Worsfold/Steve Chapman driving a Fiesta XR2. | |
| Richard Walsh and Lisa Pickard emerge as winners of class C in their Astra kit car. | |
| Once again, the Mini Tempest slickly organised by Sutton and Cheam Motor Club, provided a thrilling days rallying with the result never a foregone conclusion until the very end. A bit like the France/England rugby match the night before……………. | |
| Acknowlegement | |
| Many thanks again to Mark Welch and Mark Simms for their permission to reproduce this report and photographs from | |
| http://www.rallyingonline.com | |
| Please visit this site for many more reports and fine pictures | |