Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship – Round 1

2023 Reed Group East Riding Stages 

Report and images by David Gowshall :DEEGEE: Motorsport Photography

Sunday, 23^rd February 2023



Only two weekends ago I was heading over the Humber Bridge to check out the action in the North Yorkshire forests for the Riponian Rally.

This weekend I made the same crossing over the Humber estuary, but this time to the wide-open spaces and rural landscape of North East of Hull for the first round of the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship. 

The Reed Group East Riding Stages, organised by the Beverley and District Motor Club was based, not surprisingly, in the market town of Beverley. Four Stages, all used twice made up the 45 miles of closed rounds around the village of Skirlaugh in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The 2022 winning pair of David Henderson and Chris Lees (#1) led the field from the ceremonial start from the town’s market place in their Ford Fiesta Rally 2 with Elliott Payne and Tom Woodburn. Competing in this year’s British Rally Championship, Payne and Woodburn were the Riponian Rally winners only two weekends ago so would be pushing Henderson and Lees for another victory.

The weather was simply stunning for the end of February with clear blue skies and no wind, providing spectators and photographers alike with perfect conditions.

The drivers, however, faced the fast stages with the problem of damp patches and in some places standing water caused by overnight rain. This made the morning stages particularly tricky.

Although a spectator stage was provided at Burton Constable Hall, many like myself got the Ordinance Survey maps out and chose to find a good spot on the myriad of tarmac roads that criss-crossed the countryside to view the action.

For fifteen of the first twenty crews the Fiesta was the “weapon of choice”, the only exception in the top ten runners being John Stone and Laura Connell (#7) in their immaculate Volkswagen Polo GTi.

The morning stages were completed without incident for the leading runners with car #19, the Citroen C3 of James Ford and Neil Shanks being rewarded for their exceptional pace, leading from the Henderson/Lees pairing by 3 seconds. David Wright and Paula Swinscoe #8 were a further 8 seconds back. 

A slow cautious start saw Payne and Woodburn in their brightly coloured yellow and green Ford (#4), occupy 7^th place. 

In an impressive 3^rd place was the Volkswagen Polo GTi of Kevin and Owain Davis (#37) who had been rewarded for four consistent top six stage times.

Not surprisingly, there were plenty of rear wheel Ford Escorts to keep the crowds entertained on the slippery sections.

The sun made the stages considerably drier for the afternoon runs and for the two pre-event favourites Henderson/Lees and Payne/Woodburn, who took full advantage of the favourable conditions with Payne and Woodburn absolutely flying as they recorded the fastest time on the first three repeated stages.

As a consequence, they completed the rally in 3^rd place with the impressive pace of Wright and Swinscoe resulting in a fully deserved second place. 

Despite recording only one stage win on the day, 2022 rally winners Henderson and Lees, who were consistently fast throughout the event, earned them the top spot on the podium, winning by just 3.6 seconds.

Further down the field Darren Atkinson and Mark Twiname (#21) led home the Ford Escorts, finishing 12^th overall in the process. John Indri and Claire Williams (#14) claimed an impressive 13^th place in their unusual bright yellow Mitubishi Mirage and Mark Jasper and Don Whyatt entertained the spectators who can remember the Group B era with their MG Metro 6R4 (#30).

There was a wide variety of rally cars taking part in the 140-car field and the large numbers of spectators bathed in unbroken February sunshine enjoyed the action.

One driver taking part in the event had a special part to play in the development of my photographic interest in rallying.

Rounding off the top ten was local driver Jonny Milner (#12) in a Toyota Corolla WRC car who was giving more than twenty years to the modern equivalent cars racing on the day.

Milner won the British Rally Championship twice in 2002 and 2003 in a Toyota similar to that in which he was competing on Sunday. He recorded a string of top twenty finishes in the RAC Rallies of the late nineties, driving for the works Peugeot and Ford teams with illustrious team-mates Gwyndaf Evans and Alastair McRae

It was through the Hull Daily Mail, reporting on Milner’s exploits during this period, that I was able to gain Media Accreditation. For a number of years I reported on his progress all over the country which reinforced my love of the sport and encouraged me with my photography.

It was great to see he still maintains his competitive edge as he pushed hard throughout the day bringing back memories of my days of capturing him for the Hull Daily Mail.

:DEEGEE: Motorsport will next be taking in more rallying action at Cadwell Park’s Alan Healy Stages in April. The PistonClick team will be out in force for this event. You can see more of :DEEGEE: Motorsport Photography here.