Championship News

2007 REVIEW

Another year over and now comes a time to reflect on what has been an eventful time for all in the F1000 club.

First I would like to congratulate Peter Jones/ Paul Griffiths and Meilyr Evans/ Lynden Jones/ Bryan Glass on winning the Tarmac and Forest Championships respectively. We all know how difficult it has been and I would just like to say "WELL DONE".

This year saw the first ever split of the Driver's Forest Championship with Meilyr and Lynden having both only dropped 2 points throughout the year. We saw fit as a club that they should both share the prize as letting one of them down seemed somewhat unfair.

The Tarmac season started back in March at 3 Sisters. Few can forget the epic battle between Stephen Johnson and Stephen Brown with the latter narrowly taking a well deserved victory. Ohh yes, the F1000's where back to their old ways.

Next came 1 of 4 new venues to the F1000 series at Mira. This proved to be the most problematic event of the entire year as almost every F1000 car had some kind of problem. With stages of 8 miles and longer any problems cost people dearly. Getting to the stages would have been nice though for Ben Thomas as he became the first F1000 in history to fail Noise!! Having to revert to desperate measures to compete.

Matt Gregory's season went from bad to worse here though as an engine failure put him out having had a commanding lead. However worse things were to come....

Steve King had a problem with the crank pulley and Lewis Roper hit the only Tree in site. This left the way clear for Stephen Brown to once again take victory and take a commanding lead in the Championship standings. He wasn't however problem free as he had to fight back from early clutch problem.

Onto round 3, another new venue for the F1000's at Millbrook. This saw the best turnout of the entire season with over 15 crews turning out to tackle the "challenging" stages.

Millbrook saw the return of last years champion and runner up. This added more spice to the event, not that it really needed it.

Sideways rain greeted everyone and these early tricky conditions proved treacherous. Ben Thomas' season continued on a downer as he hit the Armco on the opening stage. He wasn't alone though, as Nick Reynolds hit a wall a couple of corner further on.

Tristan Dodd suffered visibility problems throughout the day as "Barbie's hairdryer" packed in after 2 years of service.

Phil Scholes showed great pace and ended up a very respectable 3rd.

The battle of the titans stole the show though. Peter would take a couple of seconds on one stage before Haydn took them back on the next. Finally the event would be decided in Peter's favour as Haydn made a small overshoot. This was Peter's first win of 5 he would take during the year.

The biggest suffers of the day though were the co-drivers. 2/3 of them had to deal with motion sickness(lovely) along with all the co-drivery stuff you need to do.

Swinderby saw several "debuts" for F1000 members competing in a different discipline. Chris Shaw overcame car difficulties to finish 6th.

Paul Stringer however wasn't so fortunate. Despite setting some blisteringly quick times, SS7 was his undoing as he rolled and severely damaged his windscreen.

Sadly Swinderby won't be available next year as housing developments will be there instead. This is a shame as everyone who competed thoroughly enjoyed the day.

It was a welcome return for Keith "Rocket" Markham who despite a missed split(which meant he set fastest stage time, good effort) set times that anyone would have been proud of. There would be more to come from the Rocket.

The spoils would once again go to Peter Jones who led from start to finish.

The F1000's old event would be the mid point of the season. The Ranges helped shake up everything. A DNF by Peter meant others could gain some vital points.

Points wouldn't be something Matt Gregory would be able to get however as on SS4 he rolled over the finish line. He did however set 2nd fastest time in the process which was a small consolation. It was also the 2nd roll in succession for Haydn Williams who was proving to be unlucky in the silly seat.

The Ranges saw the return of our 2005 champion Simon Povey. Never one to disappoint he showed why he was champion taking 2nd.

No-one could the stop the Rocket. Although hard to believe this was his first ever win and boy did everyone hear about it!

Twyford had quite a low turnout but still the buzz was present. Despite being rather rough all crews had a great day, well almost. Stephen Brown suffered endless punctures which dented his chances of victory and gearbox problems meant Tristan Dodd would be forced to retire.

Peter Jones had a point to prove on this event, and believe me he did!!

He dominated the event and left safe in the knowledge that he was back in the title hunt.

After a date change, Wilbarston was the next event in the calendar year.

Problems for Matt Gregory seemed to sum up his season as his chances of claiming the driver’s title were ended. He however set some very competitive times when all the problems were sorted.

Newcomer to the Championship, Jon Payton, had his rally cut short when he hit a pot hole and bent the chassis.

Once again it was Peter Jones who won now making him the favourite for claiming the title.

Rounds 8 & 9 saw a return to Anglesey after a year away due to a new track being built. And what a track it was giving everyone involved a challenging weekend’s motorsport.

The first day saw torrential rain yet somehow 3 driver’s ended SS1 one on exactly the same time. As the day wore on Stephen Brown eked out a slender lead over Peter Jones. This would all be turned on its head on the last stage as Peter flew through it to win and all but guarantee the title.

Day 2 started badly for Stephen Brown as a wrong split meant he had to try and recover an extra 45 seconds from somewhere. At least the weather was now dry.

It was a valiant attempt but Stephen could only manage 3rd.

The win on day 2 went to Stephen Johnson, his first of the year. Now Steve was going well, don't get me wrong however a flier of 30 seconds helped him to this win. It wasn't spotted by any of the F1000 crews and would therefore mean 2nd O/A in the championship would still be up for grabs.

2nd on the day was more than enough for Peter Jones who in his 2nd year of trying managed to secure the Driver's title. We expect to see him out next year in the forests.

Perhaps the best thing about the whole Glyn weekend was Dave Barnes and co for their excellent hospitality. Acting as club reps they had all sorts available. From tea's and coffee's, to donuts and even an F1000 DVD. It provided a great area for everyone to congregate and discuss their "moments" on stage.

Dave then improved this already fantastic facility buy adding Muffins and hot chocolate to the list of available treats at Weeton Camp.

And finally came the last round of the Championship. Having been moved from September because of a date clash, Weeton Army barracks would prove to be a wet end of season rally.

Having rained almost solidly during the week leading up to the event needless to say a speed boat would have been more use. With water as high as 10 inches in places, preventing it from causing damage proved a difficult challenge.

Matt Gregory's season ended yet again on a downer as, having caught a fellow competitor, the displacement of water from this car simply overwhelmed the poor Peugeot and left him stranded and out of the event. He calculated that the event cost him approximately £100 per mile.

Several people questioned using this piece of road as almost 1/2 the entire field retired.

The last few stages were in complete darkness giving many crews a new challenge.

The final event of the year was won by Haydn Williams. He finished a fantastic 15th O/A and would have won the 1400cc class by nearly 5 minutes!!

After all was said and done it emerged that the Tarmac series had increased its number of competitors during a time were rallying is struggling.

The Forest Series started on the Wydean event. Slightly Snowy(about 7 foot drifts) would be an appropriate way to describe the event. Anyone who finished should count themselves as winners as several failed.

The spoils would however go to Lynden Jones. He not only won F1000 but topped B8 and finished an amazing 4th in the BTRDA 1400's.

The second round of the year saw competitors travel north to compete on the Humberside rally. Widely regarded as the best event they did all year, the F1000's are looking forward to returning next year.

With a DNF by Lynden Jones and Meilyr Evans winning it meant advantage Meilyr in what would become the biggest see-saw battle the F1000's have ever seen.

Somerset proved to be a bit far for the F1000's to travel and a low turnout was slightly disappointing.

However an unfortunate retirement by Meilyr whilst leading meant the championship was once again wide open. Gemma Wheeler recorded her best ever finish in 3rd and Nick Rowland went one better, also getting his best ever finish in 2nd.

The eventual winner was once again Lynden. He didn't have it all his own way though as Nick reluctantly let him past.

The 4th round of the championship seemed to swing the championship back in Lynden's favour. Both Meilyr and Nick Rowlands rolled on the same corner the latter being able to continue and recover to third place.

Justin Warburton showed great improvement and secured 2nd. Gemma Wheeler appeared to be having an unlucky time of things. A maximum early on dropped her down the order. Without this 3rd was a certainty and 2nd was highly likely.

It was Lynden however that won comfortably now meaning a 2nd place on either of the remaining 2 events would guarantee him the title. Simple, or so we thought.

The penultimate round of the year saw competitors tackle the forests of Mid Wales. This was to be the most action packed event of them all. It would once again make the championship wide open.

The first stage, the Woodyard, proved the downfall for many. In particular Lynden Jones who rolled. Although he continued the damage was to serious. Another to retire was Keiran Darrington, rolling on the morning stages. He, like Lynden, also decided to retire at Service.

The spoils went to Meilyr again. He however had far from an uneventful day. Rolling in the same place as Lynden he was more fortunate and suffered less damage. Even more impressive was the fact that he went on to win the 2 mile stage. On top of that he also took B8 honours for the stage. Truly remarkable!!

So it all came down to the Cambrian, the final round of a very topsy turvey Forest year. 4 people could still win and the likelihood of a tie had the shortest odds. The promise of a scrap to the end sadly didn't appear. Meilyr stretched his lead as each sage went by and came home a comfortable winner. This meant that he was Champion. The only question was whether Lynden had finished 2nd? If so he would also be champion as the pair would have a tie score.

He did, and thus gave us our first ever Driver's tie score.

The forest championship proved to be closer than in any other year and it was only fitting that after such a dramatic season ended with a tie score.

Role on next year!!

Of course there have been several other things going on during the year. We've had several Junior training days and are hopeful that soon they may be able to compete on selected Single venues.

We had our first ever Navigator training day.

We had Forest test days.

We had a BBQ, amazing considering this year's summer.

And so onto next year, what's in store? Well, we have a new championship(S1000), we will have more training days trying to encourage newcomers, we now have an experienced Clerk of Course so we are able to put on all sorts of events, there will be a few surprises, ohh and how could I forget, we'll have both the Tarmac and Forest Championships again.

It should be GREAT!!

Club Info

Last weekend the F1000 club hosted a junior training and adult test day at Shropshire Rally School.

Almost all the Tarmac regulars turned up, including Matt Gregory is his freshly restored Green Pug, which if I might say so was looking very tidy indeed.

Although an old venue, this time around the F1000's where given a new area in which to conduct utter lunacy in their vehicles, some more controlled than others. I demonstrated this almost immediately by spinning right in front of everyone!!

The excellent stage layout was partly down to Haydn Williams who also offered his services as instructor for the juniors. Both juniors had zero experience when it came to gears, however with a bit of guidance from Haydn, they soon picked it up and started progressing very quickly.

After lending his services to the juniors, Haydn then concentrated on some of the adults, giving help and advice to anyone who wanted it.

As mentioned above, Matt Gregory got in some much needed testing of his restored Pug and after failing to kill it himself handed it to Neil Pridding(Fiat Cinquecento Man expected to compete next year, hopefully) who again failed in his attempts at finding a problem with the car. What's more for everyone else, the Pug looked dangerously fast and will undoubtedly be a big contender at Wilbarston on the 21st October.

Matt's car wasn't the only restored vehicle being tested after an upside down moment!  Paul Stringer showed off his Micra and really began to develop his speed and consistency. He came a close second in the most number of laps completed and this experience gained will hopefully be of a benefit to him up on Mull.

Stephen Brown got most value for money out of the day. He completed several thousand laps(well this might be a slight exaggeration, but he did a lot!) and made full use of any gaps that appeared out on track.

The day was nicely rounded off when Sam Hesbrook did a couple of laps and Steve King gave his yellow Sunbeam a blast round.

Everyone left happy having had a thoroughly great days entertainment.

Written by,

Alistair Dodd

At the top! [top]

Forest Championship

Drivers

1st= Lyndon Jones, 1st= Meilyr Evans, 3rd Nick Rowland

Navigators

1st Bryan Glass, 2nd Jonathan Nock, 3rd Steve Coles

Tarmac Championship

Drivers

1st Peter Jones, 2nd Stephen Brown, 3rd Stephen Johnson

Navigators

1st Paul Griffiths, 2nd Jon Richardson, 3rd David Barrat

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