Manx Motorsport Youth Trust supported crew Andrew Leece (Onchan) and Rob Fagg (Port Erin) travelled from their Isle of Man homes to Builth Wells to compete on the Mewla National Rally, Round 5 of the Silverstone Tyres Ford Rallye Sport Ka Championship.

The morning of the event was contested in mixed conditions making it difficult for the crews to select the right tyres.   They could leave service with a dry set-up but by the time they reached the stage the rain could be falling.

Over the opening three stages of the event it was Tom Lunn and Ross Butler who

were setting the pace, with Leece and Fagg 18 seconds behind them.   In turn they hadpulled an 11 second advantage over the Scottish crew of Innes Clark and Ian Morrison.   The following three stages were a repeat of the first, but it was the Manx crew in the Euromanx backed NA Fargher Ford Ka that were fastest and reduced the lead of Lunn to 11 seconds; in turn they extended the gap to third to 22 seconds which was now Championship leader John Hanson.

With heavy rain falling before the final run over the 3 stages, Andrew decided on a set of full wets.   Unfortunately they dropped time to the leaders and found themselves 22 seconds behind after this loop, which also saw the demise of Hanson and co driver Jamie Forrest in an incident which thankfully no-one was injured.   At this point Clark regained third position but was almost 50 seconds behind, he appeared content with this and the points that came with it.

With four stages remaining the battle was therefore left to Leece and Lunn.   With two runs over the 15 mile and 1.8 mile stages it was still anyone’s game.   Lunn went fastest by 3.4 seconds on stage 10 before Leece pulled 1.5 seconds back on the very next stage.

Heading into the final two stages, the gap to Lunn was just 22 seconds but it seemed that unless he was to hit trouble he would hold on to claim his second victory of the season.   Leece had other plans though, and a fantastic drive on the 15 mile penultimate stage saw him reduce the lead to just 3.4 seconds.   The final stage was just 1.8 miles long and it was going to take another great drive to overturn the deficit, but Andrew rose to the challenge and took a further 6 seconds on Lunn to claim victory by just 2.6 seconds.  

On reaching the finish at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells, there were a number of shocked faces when the final stage times revealed that Leece and Fagg had snatched the victory from under the noses of Lunn and Butler.

At the end of a day where anything could happen with the weather changing every 5 minutes, Andrew was absolutely delighted with the result.

“Today has been just amazing, the event has gone without a problem for us, making a change” explained Andrew, “Rob did a great job, delivering the notes perfectly throughout the day and keeping me on the road.   The boys in service also worked hard as we changed tyres each time at the last possible minute to ensure we had the right tyre choice.   It was just an overall great event for the team.”

The event result sees Innes Clark take the lead of the Championship with John Hanson in second followed by Tom Lunn.   Andrew has moved up to 4^th in the point table and still has an outside chance of claiming the championship but he must take maximum points from the final two rounds and hope other competitors results fall in his favour.  

As the crews return to gravel for the Plains Rally on the 25^th September, Andrew will look to continue on from his success last time out, although due to prior commitments Rob will be unable to sit alongside Andy. 

They would further like to thank the following for their continued support: Manx Motorsport Youth Trust, Mark Higgins Rallying, N A Fargher Newsagents, Forest Experience Rally School, Ken and Eve Leece, Motivation Engineering, W.E. Postlethwaite Ltd, Silverstone Tyres, Manx Gas, Integrated Capabilities, Aon (IOM) Ltd and www.rallycodriver.co.uk

Co-ordinator
Robert Fagg Rallying
31/08/2004