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Sweet Lamb Stages 2000

Ecurie Royal Oak Motor Club

17th September 2000

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Phil Squires/Michael Squires made it two wins in two years on the Sweet Lamb Stages, bringing their Mark 2 Escort home in front of more advanced but fragile machinery.

The Ecurie Royal Oak MC event had been delayed by a week due to the fuel crisis; the crisis having been caused by protestors blocking access to oil terminals.

The event provided competitors with 49.6 stage miles. It was split into three sections with four stages in each, two of which were in Tarenig Forest.

The Squires brothers set a blistering place from the start, leading the field by 33 seconds at the first service halt. Their main challenge was to come from the Subaru Impreza of Simon Redhead/Alan Thomas. Redhead, however, was only in fourth after Stage Four, a boost pipe had broken and the Impreza had lost turbo pressure. A charge on the next four stages saw Redhead take 30 seconds off Squires' lead and by the time they lined up for the last stage the difference was down to four seconds. Unfortunately for Redhead, the Impreza's turbo blew half a mile from the end of the stage and they were forced to accept second place, seven seconds down.

Gary Holmes/Jonathan Adams had to make an earlier than planned debut in their ex-Tim Ellis Escort Cosworth, their regular Sapphire having broken its engine the day before the rally. Despite minimal preparation, the car functioned without problems and Holmes came home third.

Jeff Wincott/Nigel Bailey would have been fourth but a turbo problem on Stage Ten cost them 30 seconds and they dropped to fifth.

There was a tight three way battle for the top spot in the Under 2000cc Class, those involved were the Escorts of Tim Freeman/Daryl Salvage and Brian Dunlop/Sammy Hamilton plus the Sunbeam of Darren Edwards/Richard Morgan. After the second section Freeman emerged as the leader and maintained the advantage to take fourth overall at the end; Dunlop was 25 seconds and two places behind. Edwards was hampered by punctures which used up his best tyres, but maintained a pace that secured eighth overall at the Finish.

Ex-Off Road Champion Tim Dilworth, guided by top co-driver Shaun O'Gorman, was making his rallying debut in a Peugeot 205; he put in an impressive performance coming home in ninth.

The Under 1600cc Class was dominated by the ex-Steve Hetherington Nova of Keith Parry/Martin Quant, they lead the class all day despite a broken rear brake disk on the penultimate stage.

The small engine class fell to the Escort of William Dawes/Daniel Stephenson, they made a slow start but overhauled the Nova of Chris Greenhall/Matthew Whattam and were over two minutes clear at the end. Despite an almost total lack of brakes Jamie Burton/Dave Dewson had led the class after four stages, but on Stage Five the gearbox, suffering from having to be used to slow the car down, failed.

A number of fancied runners were also on the retirement list. Wynne Pickersgill/Dylan Jones (broken drive shaft) and Andrew Pile/Pay Snow (broken propshaft) both failed to make it to the end of Stage One. The first run through Tarenig - Stage 4 - saw the demise of Gary Tomlinson/Richard Wilson (Sierra Cosworth), Richard Edwards/Di Brookfield (Vauxhall Astra) and Ian McQuillan/Ian Capewell (Sierra Cosworth), who all crashed out.

Steve Southall/Dave Southall were holding third place overall after four stages, but were forced out after an incident at the stage split for Stage Seven. The Sierra of Neil Andrew/Mark Spavin had overshot the split and they were reversing back to the correct route when Southall appeared, the Escort driver had to go off the road in avoidance. Southall's car sheared off a wheel and Andrew was excluded for his part in the incident.

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OVERALL RESULTS

	Pos	Driver	Navigator	Car	Penalty
	1	Phil Squires	Michael Squires	Ford Escort RS	57m 20s
	2	Simon Redhead	Alan Thomas	Subaru Impreza	57m 27s
	3	Garry Holmes	Andrew Yoxall	Ford Escort Cosworth	57m 53s
	4	Tim Freeman	Daryl Salvage	Ford Escort	59m 38s
	5	Jeff Wincott	Nigel Bailey	Ford Sapphire Cosworth	59m 50s
	6	Brian Dunlop	Sammy Hamilton	Ford Escort	60m 03s
	7	Martin Lowe	Stuart Wood	Ford Escort	60m 13s
	8	Darren Edwards	Richard Morgan	Talbot Sunbeam	60m 20s
	9	Tim Dilworth	Shaun O'Gorman	Peugeot 205 GTi	61m 33s
	10	Rob Archer	Peter Field	Ford Escort	61m 52s
	11	Martin Kenny	Steve Quine	Ford Escort	61m 59s
	12	Richard Hinton	Adrian Seabridge	Ford Escort Cosworth	62m 12s
	13	Keith Parry	Martin Quant	Vauxhall Nova	62m 24s
	14	Esmond Haslett	Kevin Kreighan	Ford Escort RS	62m 30s
	15	James Gloster	Allan Cathers	Peugeot 106 GTi	62m 46s
	16	Malcolm Hague	Dave Read	Ford Escort	63m 49s
	17	Iwan Evans	Stuart Lampkin	Toyota Corolla GTi	64m 17s
	18	William Dawes	Daniel Stephenson	Ford Escort	65m 03s
	19	Chris Gittins	Stuart Humphreys	Ford Escort	65m 32s
	20	Andrew Davies	Ieuan Thomas	Ford Escort	65m 36s
	21	Mark Fear	Chris Henley	Ford Escort	65m 58s
	22	Angus Lyon	Ian Stokes	Opel Manta	66m 10s
	23	Richard Naylor	Kevin Watt	Ford Escort	66m 12s
	24	Mark Jenkinson	Tony Rowt	Ford Escort	67m 33s
	25	Chris Greenall	Matthew Whattam	Vauxhall Nova	67m 38s
	26	Tim Arkinstall	Andrew Cookson	Honda Civic	67m 47s
	27	Anthony Harrison	David Harrison	Ford Escort	68m 21s
	28	Richard Morgan	Peter Morgan	Vauxhall Astra	68m 42s
	29	Phil Kendall	John Thomas	Vauxhall Nova GTE	71m 00s
	30	Martin George	Terry Yemm	Skoda Favorit	71m 18s
	31	Martin Payne	Hazel Payne	Vauxhall Astra	73m 32s
	32	Justin Warburton	Jonathan Nock	Ford Escort XR3	82m 49s
	33	Gwilym Roberts	Bill Robertson	Ford Escort RWD	85m 37s
	34	James Graham	Ian Graham	Saab 96	88m 41s

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