Mark Baulch, ACSMC Rally Championship Coordinator, writes:
Having been unable to make it to Bovington, it was great to be at the third round of the Championship and to see so many ACSMC Competitors enjoying the event, with all but one making it to the very end. Unfortunately, as you all saw, I was very busy helping with the stopline time control, so I was not able to come and see you all for your stories in the Service Area. However, with a total of twelve competitors in attendance, I am sure that you have some tales to tell, so please do share them with me and I will send out an updated version of this brief report.
Sadly, SS2 was as far as Kevin and Daryl Ambrose could make it in their Vauxhall Chevette. But ACSMC Competitors seemed to buck the trend of cars failing. Joseph and Daniel Duffy were back out in the Lotus Elise and claimed 3rd in Class, together with 12th overall, making them the top ACSMC Competitor at this event. Nigel and Catherine Brain were out for the first time in their new MX5, which Nigel described as ‘slightly slower’, but they were clearly having fun and brought the car home 10th in Class, 31st overall.
Paul and Ben Garraway looked to be having a lot of fun in their Talbot Sunbeam Ti and the result of 5th in Class and 29th overall at one of their ‘Joker’ events sees Paul jump to second overall in the Drivers Championship in a year that is looking to be very hotly contested. Scott and Darren Stutchbury were back out in their Renault Clio RS3. They brought it home 9th in Class, 33rd overall. Dave Hockaday and Steve Frost were back at Abingdon in their Volkswagen Golf GTi which had frustratingly let them down a few times in the earlier events. They therefore looked absolutely delighted to end the event 14th in Class and 43rd overall, putting some strong points on the board after an unlucky start. Jon Bray and Darren Styles were competing in their MG ZR 140 and continue to understand that car better, with a great result of 2nd in Class and 51st overall.
Pete Wilkins and Caroline Brampton have competed in this Championship for some time now and were clearly enjoying the stages in their BMW M3. 13th in Class, 47th overall saw yet another consistent result score them enough points to move to the very top of the Championship tables. They still have one Joker to play and there are only 11 points between the top four, so the rest of the season looks set to be very exciting.
Stephen Hall was driving his Ford Fiesta Mk1, with Luke Palmer in the co-driver seat for this event. In the last few stages, Stephen was clearly having fun and overtaking quite a few cars on the stages as he told me with a big grin. They finished 13th in Class and 58th overall.
Joining the 2025 ACSMC Championship at this round were Ryan Stutchbury and Gemma Sinclair-Willis in their Peugeot 205 GTi. An unfortunate incident early on left them without a nearside headlight, meaning that the car looked like it was permanently winking for the rest of the day! They did very well to continue though and still finished the event to score some points, so congratulations for that.
Freddie Death in his Renault Clio, with Keelan Watkins in the co-drivers seat, was continuing to learn the car and climbed the leader board from a seeded 84th to 34th overall and 10th in Class, grinning happily all the way!
Stuart Hook and Aaron Brimblecombe were also looking happy in their Peugeot 205 and finished 15th in Class, 46th overall.
In a day which seemed to see quite a few struggling, including some top seeds with punctures and wrong splits resulting in extended stage times, Darren Taylor and Steve McNulty did not seem to put a wheel wrong in their Ford Focus WRC. Well, apart from giving a pallet a good slap right in front of us at one point! They led from start to finish and won by a comfortable 15 seconds. Chris Woodhouse and Lucy Wilding kept them honest in their Ford Fiesta R5 and looked quick all day whilst Mike and Lewis English finished third in their Ford Fiesta R2 and still within the same minute overall.
My congratulations to all of the Competitors that took part at the CAR-nival stages. If you have stories that you would like added to this newsletter, please do let me know. It seems a long way away right now, but the next round is at Bovington on the 15th & 16th November.
Posted by Geoff Wade, FDMC Media