Brechfa Rally - 10th Mar 2013
Reports: Mike Wells
Mike Wells travelled to the Brechfa Rally on March 10th, an event based near Carmarthen, this being the first round of the new 'All Terrain Rally Challenge'. Last year this was known as the Big Bike Rally Challenge but new classes have been introduced to allow all capacity bikes to be part of the championship.
It was the first outing for Mike on a KTM 500 EXC and things didn't start well, a flurry of snow and 2 off's on the sighting lap (new rad panel required and wiring ripped off the horn, saved a job though....doh!) The going was really varied with a good mix of fireroads and single track, with 2 separate mandatory routes marked for differing experience levels. Mike entered in his usual rally expert class and was given a starting position of No 16 of the 140 entrants. In addition to the sighting lap there were 3 timed laps with just one special test per lap. The timed laps were pretty uneventful and Mike finished 3rd in the 350cc - 574cc enduro bike class and 8th overall.
This wasn't the case for one of Mike's riding mates who decided in his wisdom to take an Africa Twin, bang on some CR500 forks and shock and go rallying. Bad choice, Rob spent 2 hours in Carmarthen General with a broken arm and now has a very bent, sad looking Honda. Too much weight for the handling, should have gone orange.
Round 2 of the ATRC is the Pikes Peak Rally on the Tarrennig going near the Sweet Lamb rally complex in Mid Wales. This is a one day event, April 28th. Give Mike a call if you are interested in travelling up together. More info to be found on the All Terrain Rally Challenge web site. No matter what type and size of bike you have you can enter these events. Other future events already open for entries are the Ryedale, Kielder and ISDT 3 day Centennial Rally in Carlise in mid August. Other events in the championship are the Cambrian, Hafren and Beacons rallies. Links will be on our Rally page as they become available.