The Poppy Rally 2015 attracted 58 teams to Poperinge, a town in Belgium, last weekend.
On the road in the Belgian maze
The route consisted of individual regularity tests where the participants had to maintain a certain average speed over a certain distance. The Belgian roads and paths are difficult to read, which was a challenge for many of the teams, and some participants were repeatedly surprised by hidden junctions and roads.
Caution? - A foreign word
Another feature of the Poppy Rally are the driving tests on closed road sections. Ditches and a variety of surfaces meant that sometimes caution is better than exuberance, but it seemed that many of the teams preferred the latter and gave the driving tests their all!
Rally action on a "paintball kart track"
After the start in Poperinge, the teams were put to the test for the first time on an old kart track, which is now used for paintball competitions. The grip was excellent and right from the start, a team placed further back took the lead. Jean-Christophe Hendrickx and his local colleague Aswin Pyck had a clear goal in mind and throughout the first day they increased the pressure on the front runners.
Quick finish
The first to retire from the race were John Abel and John Dennet, who had recently returned from the Tour of Cheshire in England. Their Sunbeam Tiger had to go their separate ways with its crankshaft pulley, as it had destroyed the radiator during the re-run of the "paintball test".
Thrilling ranked battles
Another team that had been considered the favorites were the Dutchmen Jan Ebus and Jan Berkhof, but an unfortunate slip-up towards the beginning of the rally saw them slip far down the order. Peter Naaktgeboren and Bart den Hartog, who were involved in a real tussle with Irish rally-cross legend Dermot Carnegie, paired as always with Paul Bosdet, were a source of delight for the spectators along the route. Both teams were driving a Ford Escort, Carnegie was clearly the underdog in terms of power, but not in ability!
By midday, it was clear that the fourth edition of the rally would be as close as ever. Paul Bloxide and his first-time co-driver Jess Dickson had had a terrific run and held on to sixth place overall. The diminutive Lotus of Hendrickx and Pyck ran at the front, but had strong competition from John Bateson and Iain Tullie, as well as last year's winners Peter Horsburgh and Anthony Preston.
When concentration wanes...
The compact nature of the rally meant that teams sometimes passed the same roads and stages several times and at different times. However, this didn't mean that it got easier over time, as the routes were already familiar, but the driving became increasingly challenging, especially when the lights went out and the already difficult routes required even more concentration and precision from driver and co-driver.
After the lunch break near the Belgian-French border, it seemed as if the food had dragged down the team Sybert van Groot/Jaap Jongman in their Datsun 240Z. A mistake in the Watou driving test cost them dearly and ruined their otherwise outstanding performance.
As the participants slowly approached dinner in Proven, a whole nine teams fell into a nasty trap. They had not read the instructions in a letter and therefore missed a turn-off that was not on the map. The wrong route was the same speed, but unfortunately these teams missed a hidden checkpoint and were placed at the back of the pack with a two and a half minute penalty.
Through Belgium's darkness with a flashlight
After the stop in Proven, the teams set off into the night for a regularity test. Before the next time check, the Henddrickx/Pyck team, which had a good run, ended up off the track, which put them back in a poor 44th place and the Belgians Dominique Holvoet and Bjorn Vanoverschelde in first place.
The "night specialists" then shone in the time control sections. Kevin Haselden and Ryan Pickering were among the best here, which unfortunately could not be said of Noel Kelly and Leigh Powley - they had missed a control and were therefore catapulted back to 6th place. Gerry Simpson and Martin Phaff, on the other hand, had real problems as they had suffered a total electrical failure, which meant that they had to master the next 85 kilometers by the light of a flashlight. However, they stayed in the race and were able to restart on Sunday.
Merciless battles for seconds
It was daybreak and most of the teams had only had around 5 to 6 hours of sleep. Ahead of them were the next regularity tests, which were traditionally before breakfast. The ranking during the last sections was extremely tight, the day started with a difference of 25 seconds between the top three, the two teams at the top were involved in fierce battles, with only one second between them! Bateson and Tullie were the first to ease off. They lost two seconds after the first GP, then a full 12 seconds after all the other stages. The coup de grace came at the second last GP, where Vanoverschelde was 18 seconds too early and Tullie 25 seconds too late at the controls. The time control at this regularity test surprised all but two teams, Carnegie / Bosdet and the Dutchmen Karel Kolman / Roland Heuff, who had fought on despite a fuel pump failure.
Tension until the end
It had become exciting, but even in the last section nothing was decided. In the end, Bateson/Tullie took sixth place, Holvoet/Vanoverschelde seventh and the overall victory went to the Belgian team. Patrick Burke and Elise Whyte took third place in their category and 10th place overall in their small BMW 1602 after an outstanding rally. Haselden/ Pickering had a terrific last day of rallying in their Mini Cooper S, which put them in the top five.
Paul Crosby and his partner Andy Pullan, who was in Belgium for the first time and struggled a bit at the beginning, but then got better and better. Also worth mentioning are Lesley and Johan Denekamp in a beautiful BMW 2002 Tii Alpina, who drove a good rally despite navigation problems and the fact that they had seen the Belgian landscape from closer than expected.
Comeback in 2017
Holvoet and Vanoverschelde may return to Bjorn in 2017 for a possible Hatttrick. However, strong competition from the other teams will be waiting for them and if Hendrickx and Pyck have their way, there could soon be a new name in the Hall of Fame.
Anyone interested in the Poppy Rally and other Hero Events events can find more information on the Hero Events website.
