Rally woes for Ludlow drivers

Joe Price and Chris Brooks were tackling the daunting tarmac roads of Epynt for the first time in their Ford Escort MkII, the pair hopeful that they could have a clean run after their problems on the previous round. Unfortunately it wasn't to be as gear selection problems raised their heads again on the 1st stage and a plug lead came adrift on the nd stage forcing Price to stop to replace it. The resultant time losses dropped the pair well down the field, however, Price can be satisfied with a second fastest time on the last stage which helped him to climb to 16 th overall and 7 th in class.

Last year's event saw Phil Clarke take the victory spoils alongside Jason Pritchard in his Ford Escort MkII and they were the top seeded Historic crew. The 1st stage saw them drop six seconds to Melvyn Evans/Patrick Walsh in a similar car, however, with Evans not registered Pritchard/Clarke were the top Championship crew. With a change of tyre compound on the front in an effort to reduce understeer they were looking to consolidate their Championship advantage, but they posted their 3rd non-finish on the trot when their engine blew up halfway through the nd stage. If they wish to retain the Championship they now need to finish the remaining four events and finish well up the field - a tall order.

To round off a poor day for the Ludlow crews Dave Bennett/Gareth Price retired their Ford Escort on the first stage when the brakes went on fire.

A number of crews also took part in the Pacemaker Rally a navigational road event organised by Knighton Motor Club and taking place in the lanes of the Powys South Shropshire border.

Top seeds were Will Maddox and Geoff Lowe in Will's Golf at number 34. They were closely followed by Andrew Price/Will Hough at 35, Price being forced to borrow his son's Proton following issues with his Suzuki Swift in the run up to the event, both pairs were running in the Semi Expert Class. Brother and sister team Frazer and Fiona Moss wheeled out the Peugeot 205 and were the top seeded Novice crew.

Price/Hough settled in quickly considering that Price was driving an unfamiliar car and this was Hough's first rally for a while and at the halfway halt in Churchstoke they were 13th overall and 2nd in class having dropped 13 minutes and 38 seconds with Maddox/Lowe 17th overall and th in class on 17m 25s.

Heading back towards home ground both crews were looking to improve their positions until clutch problems intervened for Price/Hough whilst Maddox/Lowe suffered with an engine that cut out. Despite the issues they made it back to the finish in Knighton with Price/Hough in 11th overall and 2nd in class with Maddox/Lowe 1 th overall and 4th in class.

Meanwhile the Moss's were having a character building rally, they suffered with electrical problems early on, to the extent that the car cut out and refused to start for half an hour, losing them lots of time. They carried on to gain experience until they got stuck in a ditch and retired.

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