DAVIES’ DARRIAN ON TOP AGAIN

Tony and Martin Davies’ Darrian T9 once again proved to be unbeatable on the Brawdy Stages. After a nine second lead on Stage one, they finished the second stage on Saturday evening exactly a minute clear of Oliver Davies/Jack Bown’s Ford Escort.
But Oliver had started the day with early dramas, “we broke a stub axle on stage one, the had no brakes on the second,” he said.
Ben Williams had Andrew Sankey navigating his Escort for the first time and were just one second ahead of Joe Piggott/John Fellowes’ Citroen Saxo, but by the end of SS2 they had gone eight seconds clear.
HOE navigator Yvonne Walton was fifth best overnight, sharing Ieuan Griffiths’ Escort, while in sixth were Wyn Lewis/Rhys Griffin’s Impreza.
Further down the order there had already been a few issues. Jason/Ceri Evans had struggled for grip with their Peugeot 205 Gti, “it was our tyres, we struggled for grip, it was like ice,” said Jason in ninth place.
But Harry Pinchin/Colin Jenkins’ Citroen fared worse. “A driveshaft popped out, we had no drive turning left, but it was OK turning right. We tried to fix it and finished SS2, then a helper offered to fix it and it was an hour back to his workshop, but we had it ready to restart on Sunday morning,” Harry explained.
The top six all managed to consolidate their places on Sunday’s opening stage, the gap between the Davies’ at the top of the leaderboard increase by another three seconds, “we hit a tyre head on and stalled,” Oliver explained.

Ryan Wilding/Colin Bartl’s Vauxhall Nova was out of the event however. “We had a good first stage, but Colin felt ill after the second, so we pulled out,” said Wilding, who had led Class A on SS1.
Piggott was up to third on the next stage, after Williams had clutch problems. “It started to slip, so I had to start taking it easy and less aggression,” said Williams.
Griffiths and Lewis were still fifth and sixth but behind them the battle for Class B had started to settle down too, with Chris Gravestock/Mark Harmer’s Citroen, having increased their overnight lead to 39 secs over Ryan Lloyd/ James Wardle’s Saxo, who had Gary/Yvonne Powell’s similar car another 21 secs back, after they had led the Class on SS1.
The Davies’ continued to dominate the second half too and by the end of the eighth and final stage were 1m47 secs clear of Oliver Davies’ Escort as they topped Classes C and D respectively. “After the incidents on the first three stages, it went well for us,” said Oliver.
Piggott’s hopes of third however were dashed on the penultimate stage. “We had no problems and then put harder tyres on for SS7. I think they were still a bit cold but we kept pushing, then got it wrong and went head on into the bales and damaged the radiator,” he explained.
So having started SS7 24 secs down on Piggott, Williams was back into third and despite nursing his slipping clutch, he consolidated his place to seal second in Class D too.
Yvonne Walton came in fifth co driving the Griffiths Escort, which saw her take second in Class C, but Lewis’ Impreza had mechanical issues on SS5 and retired.
Gravestock took Class B from sixth overall, following Piggott’s exit, while the Evans’ Club Classic Peugeot ended a troublesome day with seventh. “We had problems all weekend, the brakes went completely for the second half, they had boiled. So we relied on gears and the handbrake,” Jason explained.
Evans had been pursuing Lloyd’s Class B Saxo on Sunday morning, until, they retired on stage five.
“The stages were a bit too fast for our car, but we were pushing on. Then we took the same line into the same corner, but there was mud on the road. We went into an embankment and hit a concrete post and did a lot of damage,” said Ryan.
Tony North/James Hood’s Class E Impreza moved ahead of Powell’s Class B Saxo from stage five and settled in seventh at the end, “no problems at all and a great event,” said North.
Powell was ninth and took second in Class, with Class A duellists Thomas/Paul Alderton and Kay Thompson/Reece Brookes completing the top 10, in their respective MG ZR and Nissan Micra. “Apart from going off on stage three after locking up, everything was Ok, said Kay.
Pinchin persevered after his early dramas to take third in Class from 11th in the HOE, while Massie Piggott/Julian Monkley’s Escort G3 had recurring gearbox issues, but still made it home and Lucy Wilding/Lilia Innes’s Peugeot 205 Gti made it home too after missing the first two stages.