Dramatic climax to fifth round of the Morris Lubricants BTRDA 1400 Championship

A dramatic fifth round of the Morris Lubricants BTRDA 1400 Championship saw the two pace-setters retire with mechanical problems two stages from the end of the Rainworth Skoda Dukeries Rally in the quiet surroundings of Southwell, Nottinghamshire on Saturday.

Heavy rain arrived as the cars started the rally, which led to the stages becoming exceptionally muddy and slippery. The Dukeries Rally is renowned for its long, fast straights followed by sharp corners. Stopping the cars for the corners and keeping the cars on the straights was going to become an issue.

Mat Smith, with co-driver Giles Dykes, had taken their second win in the nine round series on the Welshpool-based Plains Rally three weeks earlier in their Ford KA and set off in exactly the same way by being fastest on the first stage.

Their nearest challenger was Tom Walster driving his Suzuki Swift who, with co-driver Jake Wade, were only on their first event of the year and were four seconds down on Smith. A further one second down were Malcolm Wilson Rally winners Dave Bennett and Alistair McNeil.

However, on the next two stages, Bennett reversed the positions in his Vauxhall Corsa by taking two fastest times to lead by four seconds over Walster and 16 over Smith. Smith’s challenge had not been helped when on stage three he overshot a corner at high speed, flying off into the trees, losing 20 seconds in the process before they could regain the road, thankfully without damage to themselves or the car.

Undaunted by this scare, on the next stage Smith and Dykes were fastest again and it was Bennett’s turn to have an incident, losing 17 seconds and the overall lead, but with just a one second gap.

Bearing in mind that the warring pairings were running first on the road, they were both having to face the very difficult stage conditions first in their two wheel drive cars, but neither was letting them slow them down. Over stages five and six the duelling pair swapped fastest times again and Bennett regained the lead but by just two seconds.

Inevitably things could not continue at this pace but it took mechanical issues to finally separate the duo. On stage eight, Smith broke a driveshaft on the KA and, with no service allowed before the next stage, he had to do both stages with just one wheel drive, not ideal in the stage conditions.

He lost a massive one minutes 22 seconds and one minute 47 seconds respectively to Walster who had been steadily following the pair thoughout these stages in third place in his lower powered Suzuki.

For Bennett and Dykes this should have been the chink in Smith’s armour they had been waiting for but stage eight proved an even worse disaster for them as the clutch on the Corsa exploded, rendering the car immovable and they were out. An unfortunate end to a fascinating battle throughout the day.

For Walster and Wade the dark clouds literally lifted and they found themselves leading the 1400s with two stages to go and a comfortable two minute lead. Moving into second and third places were Kieran Darrington / Pam Hilton in a Vauxhall Corsa who had also been having a daylong battle with Aberdeen’s Ryan Weston / Mark McCulloch in a Proton Satria and were just 13 seconds apart.

However Weston was not finished and on the final 5.5 mile stage the 18-year-old pulled back 15 seconds to grab second place by a narrow two seconds. For Walster and Wade it was a remarkable, if unexpected, result as they successfully negotiated the final stages to take their 1400 debut win and bring to a conclusion what had been the most exciting Morris Lubricants 1400 event of the year so far.

Current championship leaders, Marcel Freling and Karen Robinson, also fell foul of the conditions with a trip into the trees badly damaging their MG ZR. They managed to effect temporary repairs to keep going and finished fifth to maintain their lead but by a reduced seven points from Ryan Weston. Moving into third place is Clive Anstey from Chippenham but with a 19 point deficit to Weston.

For Ludlow-based crew, Dave Brick and Rob Woodhouse, the event proved another disaster. After retiring on the Plains when their Vauxhall Nova lost a wheel, they retired again but this time with gearbox failure on stage five.

Further details can be found on the Championship website www.btrdarally.com