ORCHARD PROPERTIES GRAVEL SPRINT 2003 "Courtesy of Grahame Wright" Anthony Wilmington proved his love of the Westcountry stages showed no sign of abating by keeping his one hundred percent winning record in tact. The man from Dorset took a seven second victory on Cornwall's first ever gravel rally sprint. The event organised by South Hams Motor Club attracted 30 entries and was held at the Halvanna plantation, near Launceston which hadn't seen a rallycar in action since 1985. The fast 2.6 mile stage was likened by the eventual winner Wilmington as, "A mini-version of the classic Welsh tests". Speeds of around over one hundred miles an hour were being consistently achieved by the top cars in certain sections. Competitors would tackle 20 miles in all, with four runs in both directions, with the fastest times each way counting towards the overall results. Having no navigator certainly had most of the top ten - littered with BTRDA and ANCRO regulars - admitting to near misses and moments, one particular bend caused no end of problems with even the four wheel drive machinery struggling and top two wheel drive contender Russell Spry (Mk 1 V8) spoilt a good run after losing twenty seconds when he hit a bank and completed a 360 spin. The overall battles were definitely a Mitsubishi affair especially after the demise of; Mike Raymond and Vaughan Stevens who wrote off their Escorts, Richard Fishleigh who lost his gearbox in the Subaru Legacy and Mike Reed whose Escort 4x4 broke a driveshaft on the first run. By the lunch break the top four contenders were separated by a mere four seconds with everything still to play for in the afternoon, Wilmington immediately turned up the pace, despite suffering from an iritating missfire all-day, posting the only sub 2 minute thirty time. Paul Jackson in his EVO 3 was next best with a 2:34, whose mind games with James Harvey certainly worked as the Subaru driver lost out to second overall by one second, after the two had posted equal times in the morning. Further down the top-ten their were some titanic battles emerging as despite the technical nature of the stage drivers were separated by seconds. Simon Cole lost out in the morning to Irishman Samuel Quinn who hadn't driven competitively in eighteen months. However, the Mitsubishi driver from Taunton clawed back his three second deficit to claim equal fourth and feeling much happier with his afternoons performance. A similar dice between Frazer Martin and Adrian Brown power their Escort and Subaru to ninth equal, with Adrian admitting feeling 'extremely nervous' in his first event since a big accident on the Somerset Stages earlier in the year In Class A Tim Hookway took his double driven Peugeot 106 to victory and a fine 12th overall; Kevin Hoare's Fiesta won class B and Russell Spry took Class D, after managing a clean-run without overshoots or spins, and overall runner-up Paul Jackson took Class F. Top Ten: 1.) Anthony Wilmington Mitsibushi Evo 6 4 mins 58 secs 2.) Paul Jackson Mitsibushi Evo 3 5 mins 05 secs 3.) James Harvey Subaru Impreza 5 mins 06 secs =4.) Samuel Quinn Escort Cosworth 5 mins 15 secs =4.) Simon Cole Subaru Impreza 5 mins 15 secs 6.) Russell Spry Mk 1 Escort V8 5 mins 19 secs 7.) Martyn England Mitsubishi Evo IV 5 mins 25 secs 8.) Paul James Subaru Impreza 5 mins 27 secs 9.) Martin Newcombe Mitsubishi Evo 6 5 mins 31 secs =10.) Adrian Brown Subaru Impreza 5 mins 32 secs =10.) Fraser Martin Escort Cosworth 5 mins 32 secs Report: Andy Ballantyne. |
