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West Glos & Dean Forest
Motor Cycle Club

Celebrating 71 Years of Motor Cycling 1953 - 2024

Rally Events 2013

Words: Colin and Mike Wells

This is now our main Rally page where you may find links to previous Rally related stuff.

Latest:

After the results were out from the Hafren it is clear MikeW has an unasailable lead before the last round at the Cambrian where his nearest rival could win and still be 6 points adrift.

Hafren report to come but we know Mike took the social option of riding with Mike Allen and Chris Haines who both had good rides but were seeded lower down meaning Mike was having to pass up to 8 riders on each test to stay on his normal pace but the resulting 9th place was enough to secure the win. Current Standings

Updates from Mike Wells - 15 Nov 2013

All Terrain Rally Challenge (ATRC) 2013 - Update 15.11.13 (formerly Big Bike Rally Challenge)

Mike Wells has now clinched the overall Rally Lite class in the All Terrain Rally Championship. This class covers road legal enduro bikes between 350cc and 574cc. He has been riding his KTM 500EXC and finished the season on 100 points, 26 points ahead of 2nd placed finisher Calvert Jones on his M&P Kawasaki KLX450.

For those readers unfamiliar with UK forest based motorcycle rallies they generally consist of 1 or 2 day events, usually multi lap ( 100 – 150 miles in total ) and have between 1 and 3 special tests per lap, timed after an initial sighting lap. There are other classes covering engine capacity, two stroke or 4 stroke, trail, rally, big bike singles and big bike multi-cylinders, anything goes.....except for converted motocross bikes.

Riders are self graded on the entry system from beginner to expert. Most of the going is hard based forestry tracks with a low proportion of muddy single track (roughly 80% / 20% split), this is to allow the big bikes to get around (KTM 950 Adventures / BMW HP2's etc.) The ATRC is run over 8 events with the best 6 results to count.

Mike's results for 2013
Brechfa – 3rd in class, 8th overall
Pike's Peak -  2nd in class, 5th overall
Rally Moto Sprint -  3rd in class, 6th overall
Kielder – 1st in class, 4th overall
Ryedale – not attended
Carlisle Centennial – 1st in class, 3rd equal overall
Hafren ResultsHafren Rally - 9th in class 22nd overall
Cambrian Rally – did not enter

The season opener was the Brechfa rally in West Wales where Mike finished 3rd in class and 8th overall. This was followed by the Pikes Peaks rally and the Rally Moto Sprint events, both run in mid Wales near Llangurig (Sweet Lamb rally complex, TV's Top Gear testing ground for their rally car outings and Bentley test). In June Mike travelled north to the famous Kielder Forest for the K2 rally, another favourite for car fans with fire roads that the Rally of GB utilises, well known for it's fast, sweeping but often dangerous corners.

Mike's next rally was the Centennial Rally based in the city centre of Carlisle. This one-off event was to celebrate 100 years of International Six day Trial, Carlisle was chosen as this was the venue for the first ever ISDT in 1913. The actual rally consisted of 3 days riding, 2 days in the Kershope Forest (150 miles per day) and 1 day in the Kielder covering 200 miles. This was one of the fastest UK rallies with speeds of over 100mph on the forest roads, with some very twitchy moments. Next was the Hafren Rally in September where Mike knew he just needed a 10th place finish to grab the title. Mike cruised to a 9th in class, knowing that he could not be caught in the overall championship, even with one round remaining.

Overall an excellent championship, the bike was faultless and no personal injuries, can't get much better. Until next year......

The All Terrain Rally Challenge has a web site – http://www.bigbikerallychallenge.co.uk/content/events Alternatively see Enduronews.com