by Geoff MayesWayne Radford suffered a rally to forget when a dark cloud appeared to follow him around Wales Rally GB, culminating in a rally ending road accident caused by a civilian crashing into him on day two.
The opening day of the event began with a run through a very foggy Port Talbot. Despite the fog though, Radford was relatively pleased with his pace, less than 5 seconds off some of the top MSA British Rally Championship regulars.
The Sheffield-based man was revelling in the tricky conditions and another quick time through the second stage showed that he as having fun. Unfortunately a heavy landing in stage three broke the front bolts on the sumpguard forcing him to stop and remove the guard. Not having any suitable tools the pair resorted to some primitive methods by utilising a rock to smash the bolts off, costing them chunks of time.
If he thought day one had ended badly then Radford could not believe his start to day two. After suffering a road accident during the recce for the 2006 event when he took evasive action when another competitor appeared over a brow on the wrong side of the road, he could not believe his bad luck when a car, which should not have even been allowed into the service area, turned out of a junction without checking it was clear.
It slammed into the CPP hired Mitsubishi Evo, doing massive amounts of damage, and temporarily putting co-driver Paul Drew into hospital.
“This event really does not like me! I don't know what to say really,” Radford reflected. "Obstacles are put in our way to test us, but how much more testing do I need?
"If I crashed the car because I was going too fast I can accept that, but to have a 'numpty' drive into me is a bitter pill to swallow.”
