MORRIS TAKES IT BY JUST ONE SECOND!!

It went down to the wire at Fulbeck, with the Escort’s of Stefan Morris/Jack Bowen and Andrew Turner/Ross locked in a duel that was to swap and change all day, until Morris clinched it on the last stage by just one second.

There were 12 Heart of England crews out on Worksop and DMC’s eight stage event, with locals Turner/Green taking the initial lead with a five second lead over Class C rival Morris.

Stephen Moyses was co-driving with Craig Stevens’ Escort and was a further four seconds down, while Harry Pinchin/Colin Jenkins’ Citroen C2 had a four second cushion over Class B rivals Gary/Yvonne Powell’s Citroen Saxo.

Morris had managed to pull back a second on SS2. “A great start, no dramas, ” said Turner. “We hit a bale on stage two, but are changing to soft tyres for stage three,” Morris replied.

Although Stevens/Moyses couldn’t match the lead pair, they were consolidating third place, “we did get held up quite a bit on the first stage though,” they explained.

But back in fourth Powell had edged ahead of Pinchin by six seconds. “There were quite a few moments on the first stage, but we sorted them out for the second stage,” Powell admitted.

“The car is fine, but a bit slippery on SS1 and then we got held up quite badly on the second run and lost the place,” Pinchin added.

Although Matt/Ade Walk’s Fiesta was in sixth, and leading Class A after usurping Ryan Wilding/William Carlyle’s Nova on stage two, they had just one second in hand over Chris Woodhouse/Lucy Wilding’s Peugeot 208 R2.

“We were a bit cautious at the start and were hitting the rev limiter,” said Walk. “We got held up twice on stage two, so lost a lot, the second there was a car off,” added Wilding.

But Woodhouse/Wilding were playing catch up, “it wouldn’t come out of road mode until the end of stage one,” they explained.

The first lead change came after SS3, when Turner’s six second lead became a two second deficit. “I got held up at split and then the ignition kept cutting out,” he said.

Morris was now ahead, but there was a change for third too, after Stevens/Moyses picked up a puncture and were forced to stop and change it.

But Turner was firing on all cylinders again for SS4, which saw the lead change again, giving him a five second lead over Morris.

Powell was in third, but had hoped to increase his advantage over Pinchin. “We were flying and then stage was red flagged and we got a notional time,” he explained. But Pinchin suffered too, and lost a place to the recovering Woodhouse/Wilding.

There was still slight threat of rain in the air, but on stage five the lead pairs were split on tyre decisions. “We went for hard on the rear,” said Turner, we stayed soft al round,” Morris replied.

Turner managed to add two more seconds to his lead, but it was all change behind again. Pinchin had retaken Woodhouse, but both had taken Powell too, in a three way fight for Class B.

It continued to head for a dramatic finale, with stage six ending with the lead pair just one second apart, as Morris had the upperhand once more.

“I went off at the chicane and stalled, “Turner admitted, before he took it back a stage later, to start the finale with just one second in it.

“It had been nip and tuck all day, swapping places, but on that last stage I gave it all and nearly threw it off into the trees. I even took the spare wheel and jack out to make the car lighter,” said Morris, after sealing victory over Turner, by just one second.

Pinchin took third overall and the Class B spoils, having successfully kept class rivals Woodhouse/Wilding at bay during the afternoon.

Powell was third in Class B and fifth overall, “after we lost the places, we just went steady to the end,” he said.

Stevens/Moyses recovered to take sixth on the final stage for fourth in Class C and Walk won the Class A duel over Wilding, for seventh overall with 19 seconds to spare.

Mark Turner/Bob Wiggins were the only runners in Class T and edged out Massie Piggott/Julian Monkley’s Class C Escort G3 in the closing stages. “We struggled for grip early on and didn’t know where to push, then at the end we had a loose damper,” Turner explained.

Paul Wild/Graham Wride’s Class E Impreza completed the finishers, after Ian/John Dove’s Nova had clutch issues and then suffered diff failure.

Published by Peter Scherer for Heart of England Rally Championship, August 5th 2024