BRECON Motor Club was represented by five members in this year’s prestigious British Historic Rally Championship.

The championship consisted of seven scoring rounds with events in Wales, Cumbria and the Isle of Man. Conditions consisted of snow, ice, rain but rarely sunshine and this all combined to test crews to the full with the Brecon Motor Club members all performing at the forefront of the championship.

The first round was the Red Kite Stages and started from Llandovery using Crychan and Caeio forests. Crews were optimistic that the stages would be in classic condition but an overnight dusting of snow and then a frost left the stages in a treacherous state.

Builth Wells resident Jason Pritchard got off to the best possible start with an overall win in his Ford Escort RS1800 while in the classes there were shocked whispers as Tredomen man Malcolm Rich and Llyswen’s Jon Hawkins nearly won Category One designed for pre 1969 cars. His Ford Anglia kept out of trouble and a stunning first stage, Rich’s first for twenty four years, eventually left him and Hawkins first in class and second in category.

Second in the class were Blackwood crew Bob Gibbons and son Dale who enter under Brecon Motor Club in the Mk2 Ford Cortina, setting up a battle that was to last all season.

On the second round, the Mid Wales Stages, Pritchard fell back slightly with a fourth place finish while Rich and Hawkins were keen to keep up the momentum and take the fight to Gibbons.

Leading the class after the first stage the Rich Anglia was flying but disaster struck on the second test when a half shaft broke on a hairpin bend right in front of hundreds of spectators. Gibbons went on to take a fortuitous class win after throwing the big Cortina off the road in the Myherin forest stage.

A trip to Cumbria followed and the Pritchard challenge was thwarted by a failed clutch leaving him with work to do on the remaining championship rounds. Rich and Gibbons resumed their battle but an off road excursion cost Rich the class victory giving the Cortina duo another top score.

The Severn Valley Stages was next using local forests in the Crychan area and despite a small off Pritchard speeded up and took advantage of other crew’s misfortunes to finish second overall and grab a useful haul of points.

The Rich and Gibbons battle continued with the former leading the way in the diminutive Anglia before the latter succumbed to a blown engine and instant retirement. Rich eventually won the class and category paving the way for a showdown on their own clubs Harry Flatters Rally.

July dawned wet and windy for the clubs flagship event but Pritchard revelled in the conditions using a suspension set up that his father used more than 20 years ago. The North Road Garage Ford Escort looking and sounding great all weekend.

In the 1600cc class Gibbons used his Epynt experience to reign supreme and was looking good for the win until just one mile from the end a broken half shaft handed the accolade to Rich and Hawkins.

With just two rounds remaining with a double header on the Isle of Man’s Manx Rally there was still all to play for and all three crews knew what had to be done. Pritchard and Rich were in good positions and needed to drive their own rallies intelligently while Gibbons had to throw caution to the wind and hope that Rich suffered mechanical or driver related misfortune.

As it turned out Pritchard ignored the chance to win and turned in two consistent performance to become overall British Historic Rally Champion with his Ludlow based co-driver Phil Clarke.

Malcolm Rich and Jon Hawkins also drove a steady rally and won their class and category in the championship with Bob and Dale Gibbons giving it their all to win their class on the event but finishing as runners up in the championship.

It was certainly a tumultuous and exciting year and all of them represented Brecon Motor Club splendidly. 2016 looks equally exciting with Jason Pritchard intent on defending his British Championship title.

Malcolm Rich has decided to upgrade to play with the big boys and has purchased a Group 4 Ford Escort for the job. The car is not ultimate specification and the difference in power will be huge compared to the Anglia so the year will be a steep learning curve as a new co-driver will also have to be adapted to.

Their first event will be the Red Kite Stages on February 21 based in Llandovery and with entries already open Bob Gibbons and son Dale are on the list with the pretty Mk2 Cortina raring to go.