On Saturday the 25^th of April, Burnham on Sea and Minehead Motor Clubs held their annual Somerset Stages rally. Competitors faced a total of 40 stage miles of smooth forest stages in and around the beautiful Exmoor National park, including two smooth tarmac stages on the Porlock toll road.

This year’s rally hosted a number of championship rounds, including the British Trials and Rally Drivers Association Rally Series (BTRDA).

 

The start, finish and rally HQ were based at the Butlins resort in the West Somerset town of Minehead.

Last year’s winners Will Nicholls, from the Isle of Wight, and co-driver Nick Broom returned to defend their title. They started as car 1 and were looking for a back to back win, although last year’s win did come at the expense of Andy Burton’s engine failure in the mighty Peugeot Cosworth hybrid car, putting him out of the running.

Andrew Burton, (Herefordshire) who had been victorious in Somerset on the previous seven occasions, returned this year along with co-driver Shelley Rogerson with one thing in mind, an outright win, thereby increasing his seven victories to eight.

 The Betta Somerset Stages rally proved to be a very popular event once again, with a full entry of 150 cars, including some local crews from the Shropshire area, and Ludlow Castle Motor Club (LCMC).

An early morning start saw competitors head to SS (Special Stage) 1 at Timberscombe, where last year’s winners Nicholls/Broom took an early lead.

By SS2 in Croydon Woods LCMC members Dave (The Flying Farmer) Brick/Rob Woodhouse were getting on the pace in the powerful Mk 2 Ford Escort, finishing the stage in 29^th position and 2^nd in class.

 Hereford’s Roger Chilman jnr and LCMC member Andrew Sankey in the Subaru Impreza were also very quick, keeping tight to the hairpins to avoid losing time by running wide. They finished SS2 5^th overall and 2^nd in class, just 2 seconds behind Burton.

Stage 3 was not a good one for Brick, the throttle cable broke and a lot of time was lost in the stage doing make-shift repairs. In true farmer fashion and with a bit of string the throttle cable was temporarily repaired, and they got out of the stage with co-driver Woodhouse controlling the car’s speed by pulling the string from inside the car. This dropped them to 120^th place going into Stage 4.

 LCMC members Adrian Allen and Mike Wilding in the Opel Manta gained 4 places on SS3, finishing the stage in 53^rd place.

The Chilman/Sankey crew finished Stage 5 (Knowle) in 5^th place and second in class, but their rally ended then as they never made it to SS6 due to front diff problems causing them to retire.

 Brick and Woodhouse fought back up the pack and by the end of SS5 were in 109^th place.

Rain showers throughout the day made Porlock Toll road very greasy, especially under the low trees, catching a lot of drivers out. The stage was stopped for half an hour at one point due to a car spinning off, and blocking the road.

Allen and Wilding lost a few seconds on Porlock due to a small spin, but continued on the next few stages and brought their Opel Manta home in 38^th place and 7^th in class.

Dave Brick and Rob Woodhouse put in some good times on the remaining stages fighting their way back to finish 54^th overall and 2^nd in class.

LCMC member and Voodoo Escort regular co-driver Chris Ridge, swapped seats to navigate for fellow club member Simon Rogers in the Mitsubishi EVO 6. They brought the car home in 15^th place and 3^rd in 

 

Gary Scott (Ludlow‘s G3RS Gravel Sprint sponsor) finished 47^th overall and 6^th in class in the Weaver Motorsport Vauxhall Nova.

 

BTRDA regulars Will Onions/Tim Hobbs from Shrewsbury finished a respectable 14^th overall and 1^st in their class.

 

The overall winner for the second year running was Will Nicholls and Nick Broom in their Subaru Impreza, with Kington’s Andrew Burton and Shelly Rogerson just 1 min 9 seconds behind in 3^rd place.

The Betta Somerset stages sponsor brought his car to the finish in 18^th place