A DRY and sunny day greeted the HRCR crews taking part on the first round of the HRCR Mintex ‘old STAGER’ Asphalt championship on the 20th March the Paint Worx AGBO stages rally.

The event got underway with the excitement that a record number of thirty-two HRCR crews will start the event. This was helped by the nineteen Minis taking part in the event. The surface was a mix of tarmac and gravel, giving the crews some interesting braking points during the day.

Category One was won by the TR4 crew of Stephen Hall/Aggie Foster who were very grateful to get to the end of their first event for several years. The pair were pleasantly surprised when they were asked to pull up next to the other category winners as they came across the finish line. Throughout the day crews swapped times with each other.

The Mini Spares Mini of Peter Horsburgh/Graham Carter clipping a straw bale in his determination to increase the lead over Geoff Taylor / Steve Greenhill in the Imp. Shane Gamble’s day was over after the first stage when the recently rebuilt engine failed he had plenty of time to consider his options on the walk back to the service area. Pushing hard all day whilst suffering the effect of a cold Peter Ellerby / Phillip Swanborough had their maiden finish and even managed to keep the car on all four wheels.

Geoff Taylor / Steve Greenhill finished the event sandwiched between two minis in the results. It was overheard in the service area of Steve stating to Geoff "Come on Geoff are you getting into the Car or am I Leaving without you?" unfortunately the other Imp crew of brothers Matthew / Dan Evans had to call it a day when the oil pressure cried no more on one of the stages.

In Category Two Andrew O’Hanlon/ Ryan Taylor’s day was over after stage 3 when the rotor arm failed, they did however carry on in the trophy rally to finish the event.

Clive King / Anton Bird went on to win the category in the Mini Sport Mini, even though Clive was feeling unwell before and during the event. The Porsche RSR of Tony Robinson had a big off on to some grass on the third stage after failing to negotiate a bale chicane, not doing much damage but nether the less calling it a day after that.

Jon Ford had something to say about his start number of No 13 after coming out of a 90 right and ending up putting the car well up in to the air after hitting a large hole on the exit.

This resulted in two punctures but with only one spare tyre is was game over for the crew. Doug / Mike Harrison débuted their Lancia Fulvia HF and John Worthing / John Cadwallader brought their recently rebuilt Ford Escort Mexico out, John putting in excellent stage times to beat off Dick Mauger in the Ford Escort RS1800 and Adrian Kermode in his quick Mini Cooper ‘S’.

Simon Malins/ Colin Tombs in the Wizbang Engineering Vauxhall Firenza were pleased to complete the event after its rebuild over the winter but suffered brake issues during the day and were only narrowly beaten by Lee Sellars in the overall results in his Triumph.

In category three the Crown for Cat three went to the crew of Stuart / Jack Anderson in the Vauxhall Chevette. 18th overall and 8th in class the final results after a performance to be proud of with the car not faltering all day, beating many modern rally cars in the event. Lee Sellers / Peter Alldread had a good day in their Triumph 2.5 Pi in battle with the Firenza whilst Dick Mauger showed the spectators how an Escort RS1800 should be driven.

The winner of the Mini Sport Mini Challenge event had a lot of competition with nineteen Minis taking part.

Clive King / Anton Bird took the crown after a long hard fought day between all the crews. John / Nigel Bennett took the open class after surviving the same hole that claimed the HRCR crew of Jon Ford / Peter Thomas. Jim Brindle had a lucky escape after hitting a tree stump when his brakes failed on the clubman on a later stage in the day.

Mini crew of M & H Motorsport / Cancer Research Martin Melling and Carmel Venables came in to service with trim hanging off the car after a little contact with a bale during that last stage, Carmel explain “it always the Co Driver’s side that gets hit”, this was consolidated with the pair winning the draw for a pair of Yokohama tyres.

Many of the Mini Crews struggled with heat problems throughout the day with Eric Davis taking the grill off his Clubman to improve air flow, perhaps making use of the cutters he won in the ‘Snap On’ draw.

The next round of the Championship takes the crews to the daunting Epynt Ranges for the South Wales Automobile Club organised Dixies Historic Challenge on the 1st of May.

Results CAT 1 – Triumph TR4 crew of Stephen Hall / Aggie Foster CAT 2 – Mini Cooper S crew of Clive King / Anton Bird. CAT 3 – Vauxhall Chevette HS crew of Stuart / Jack Anderson

Mini Challenge Clive King/Anton Bird 1st mini home First open class Jonathan/Nigel Bennett.