HERO Challenge Two – Silverstone Golf Club and Hotel 31st May 2025

A quick glance down the extensive entry list reveals so many podium and title contenders that the results of HERO Challenge Two are too close to call or predict any winners!

HC1 winner and former HERO Cup Champion Stephen Owens is the Driver’s Challenge Championship leader, this time with the navigator who is 5^th equal in the points standings, Emily Anderson. Emily replaces Iain Tullie who was Stephen Owen’s winning navigator from round one. The jeopardy here is that Stephen cannot compete in the final round and Iain Tullie is not entered here, which could play nicely into the hands of the young pretender and Bob Rutherford Scholarship winner Miles Fieldhouse (16) from Ambleside, currently second in the Navigators Championship behind Iain Tullie.

In an astonishing start to his navigational career, after winning won the Bob Rutherford Historic Rally Scholarship for Young Navigators, Miles won his first HERO-ERA rally, A Novice Trial. He then went on to score a magnificent podium with driver Dave Alcock in HC1. For round two he is paired with none other than HRCR Champion and record breaking three-time winner of the RAC Rally of the Tests, Dan Willan. The crew will be competing in a 1979 Arrive & Drive Fiat 124 Sport Spider that previously finished sixth overall on the RAC Rally of the Tests.

They will clearly be contenders, but they are up against very strong opponents. Stephen Owens and Emily Anderson in the Porsche 365B and second place driver John King who has the former Golden Roamer Navigator’s Champion Pete Johnson alongside him. The pair are in the same Lotus Elan Plus 2 that John debuted on round one, defying its early rally flame throwing form to take second place. Confusingly, his Lotus navigator then and third place in the navigator’s championship is Mike Cochrane who decided to drive a Ford Cortina instead of pursuing the title, navigated by his former driver Angus McQueen!

Equally adept as a navigator but quick as a driver, is Nick Bloxham in his Ford Escort Mexico, in joint second place with John King in the driver’s title race, the sideways Escort driver has Nick Darkin alongside him. James Holt and Dave Maryon are on 10 points and in equal sixth place in the driver’s championship. Dave is with top navigator Andy Ballantyne who should keep him well within striking distance in the MGB, but James' navigator Alistair Leckie is a double HERO Challenge Championship Driver’s Champion who has now learned his craft as a navigator, so they will be a threat in the BMW. Alistair lies fourth in the navigator’s championship table.

To illustrate just how tight it could be at the top, you look at car 38 on the entry to see the quick husband and wife duo of Christopher and Claire Day in their Morris Mini Cooper S already with good points (10 each) after the first round, then 2024 HERO Cup and Golden Roamer Champions Dick and Harry Baines in their Mini Cooper S who could take a podium place. Add to that, the competitive crew of Mark Lillington and Mark Bramall in their MGB, Steve Farmer and Philip McNeelance in the Volvo Amazon and you have a very strong lineup. To underline the top line entry there is Sarah and Ken Binstead in their Austin Healey 3000, a crew who are regular podium sitters whether it be a one day or ten-day rally to Portugal.  

Those are some of the contenders but what will they have to contend with? Stanka Obermajerova, Deputy Clerk of the Course for HERO Challenge Two explained;

Stanka Obermajerova: “We've got some surprises on the road for crews and surprisingly, some are around Bicester! I didn't think we would find some tricks on the roads we've used for a while, but we have managed it. I believe we've done the best we can with some nice country lanes, albeit with some hidden corners for Marshals. So yes, I think all the teams are in for a challenging, but really good day’s motorsport.

“We've got six regularities and six tests with an overall distance of just under 150 miles and we do have a new venue we have never used before, but I’m not going to give it away entirely, although it's not a track, it's a concrete based venue. So hopefully, if there is a little bit of rain it might be very interesting in some corners!

“I think there are many who have a chance to win, they just need to do their best. I'm hoping our Bob Rutherford Scholarship winner Miles Fieldhouse will show us something again. I think he's close to winning as he did on A Novice Trial, however, we've got the Big Guns on entry list, so it's really hard to say”

George Mullins, Clerk of the Course, HERO Challenge Two continued to provide an outline of the rally: “Traditionally we’ve usually started some HERO-Challenges at Bicester, but had planned a different location previously, which is why we are based at Silverstone Golf Club and Hotel, not the race circuit. However, we're using a similar sort of area, getting almost across the Cotswolds, but not quite!

“We are using the Bicester Motion perimeter track, but as specialists and residents, we are very sensitive to and mindful of the dreadful accident on site, so we have made competitors aware in the Final Instructions. We will respect everyone’s feelings, especially the people who are connected to Bicester Heritage and Motion, but it has been opened up and cleared for us to use, so in a sporting but respectful way, that is good.

 “The great news is that our Deputy Clerk of the Course, Stanka Obermajerova, has been out and found a brand new venue, and worked really hard get it over the line. I've passed it many times and thought that’s cool, we could do something, but never pursued it! Stanka has got stuck in, talked to the people and made it happen. It's a venue that I don't think has ever been used before at Middleton Stoney. It's going to be a great test which we're using twice, once before lunch and once after. Stanka has put a huge amount of work into the entire route with the help of Julia Perry.

“I think the HERO Challenge series is really healthy, you've got that many people wanting to come out and take part. It reaffirms to me that if you do a good job on this type of one day event, it can work and I think we've pitched it just about right. It's not as hard as HRCR, and yet it still has a strong element of competition that keeps people interested. The fact that we've changed it so more experienced crews can come back and compete again now, I think, is also healthy.

“At the end of the day, you've always got to pitch yourself against the best, and some of the best are in there. So the fact that maybe some may finish eighth or ninth but have been beaten by some really top experienced crews, I don't think, deters from the more novice competitors. I think it gives them something to strive for and go out and get, so I'm delighted  by the fact that we can actually have a full range of competitors again.”

As the Masters Class has been dropped for 2025, opening up the series to the experienced crews to compete across the board, it is good to see more champions returning to the HERO Challenge Championship fray. Thomas Bricknell has his experienced relative and champion on both sides of the car navigating for him, Roger Bricknell, who was both HERO Cup and Golden Roamer Navigator’s Champion! Another HERO Cup Drivers Champion, Paul Bloxidge returns with his son James in their VW Golf GTi, James very rarely competes, but when he does, he usually wins with Paul! 

It is also good to welcome back some regular and successful international crews. Kurt Vanderspinnen and Guy Desmet from Belgium are in their Lotus Cortina, Kurt very nearly won the RAC Rally of the Tests in this car and is a former podium sitter on the Flying Scotsman. Paul O’Kane from the USA is a HERO-ERA rally fan and has competed at the highest level with success in a variety of cars in Europe, this time he will be in a Toyota MR2 with Simon Bentley.  

The lengthy entry list demonstrates a huge variety of cars and crews ready to tackle the 150 miles of country roads. From another possible podium sitter in the form of Darrell Staniforth and Richard Ekin in the Toyota Corolla there is John Dickson and Myles Castaldini in the very different rorty and sporty Lancia Monte Carlo. John and Myles are both racing drivers trying to build their rally experience, whilst there are more young stars determined to move up the ladder.

Daisy Walker who was runner up in the first ever Bob Rutherford Scholarship contest in 2024, will navigate for her father in their Alfa Romeo GT 1600 Junior and then at car 71 is the Ford Escort Mk2 of the Valentines, father and son this time. 15 year old Zac who made a great debut on HERO Challenge One, finishing 13^th overall and third in class with his Dad. Both Daisy and Zac are representative of HERO-ERA’s Youth policy as is Natasha Lomas who is navigating for her father John in their vintage 1936 Riley Sprite, Natasha is no stranger to the podium despite her young age.

For a variety of competition cars, there is a Hillman Imp of Ed Linton and John Youd, the Austin A40 of Chris Mockridge and John Varney and the lovely Lancia Fulvia of Paul and Sandra Heaney. Malcolm Dunderdale and Anita Wickens return in the crowd favourite, their Renault 8 Gordini and the rare Gilbern GT of Aileen and John Croft makes another welcome appearance on a HERO Challenge event.

Who will prevail? That is tough question to answer but one thing is certain, it’s going to be a great contest over a great route.