Difficulties in the dark, including a spin, put paid to hopes of a win for the Bembridge duo of Richard Weaver and James Pink at Saturday’s South Downs Stages rally at Goodwood.
Fresh from an engine rebuild, Weaver’s Mitshubishi Evo VI was ready to tackle the 8 special stages of the rally at the famous aerodrome with the Isle of Wight crew having high hopes of a win, replicating their success in 2019.
It was very tight at the top, with Richard and his navigator James Pink leading all day. A win looked more likely as the lead widened stage by stage, but the last stage – which ran in complete darkness – proved that it isn’t over until it’s over.
Weaver and Pink lost some 13 seconds on SS8, which Richard puts down to a spin and difficulties seeing the way. Sadly, that was enough to lose the lead with the win taken by Ian and Oliver Hucklebridge in their Ford Escort Mk2, in a time of 0:38:28, securing a 9-second lead over the Bembridge crew.
Richard said:
“The game has moved on in the world of the auxiliary lights. What was state-of-the-art doesn’t cut it in the world of laser lamps. The others took time on SS7 and I spun on SS8. I was lucky not to drop to 4th”.
Ed Fossey and Steve Hobbs, also in an Escort Mk2, finished 3rd just 1 second behind Weaver/Pink with a time of 0:38:38, with Tony Robinson and Paul Spooner in a Skoda Fabia R5 just 1 second behind them in 4th – meaning just 11 seconds separated the top 4 competitors.
However, Richard and James did secure 1st in Class E.
2 other Isle of Wight rally crews also competed on Saturday, securing respectable finishes.
Wayne Hole and Chris Wilson took 11th place overall and 4th in class in their yellow Ford Escort Mk1, just 5 seconds short of a top 10 finish. Their time was 0:41:35.
Kevin Richardson and Katrin Herold improved on their seeding to finish 45th overall and 4th in class in their Mini Cooper with a time of 0:48:57.
James Pink the man that builds environmental friendly houses, but spend his weekend needlessly burning Fossil Fuels?