Odyssey Challenge Round 2 goes down to a penalty shootout

Tight at the top as competition hots up in the 2022 Odyssey Challenge

Words: James Watts Pictures: Tomasz Jarecki

The Viking 4x4 Club travelled west to Buildwas, near Telford, for the second round of the 2022 Odyssey Challenge. Sponsored by Llama 4x4, this was just two weeks after another major winch event and two weeks before yet another, so the organisers were concerned that numbers might be a worry – however their planning and hard work was rewarded by an excellent turnout of 24 vehicles.

Buildwas’ terrain features a ravine which is the ideal place for setting out a winch challenge. Even when the ground is dry, it remains very boggy down here. The ravine is very tight and steep in places, too, putting a lot of strain on the vehicles.

Despite this, there was a good variety of punches – some nice and easy, some nice and diffi cult! Each event in the Odyssey Challenge series also features a mandatory special section; for this event, this took the form of a trials course with European-style rules dictating a 500-point penalty for every cane knocked over.

This forced competitors to balance speed with accuracy. Many of the teams had to take several shunts to get round without penalties, while others were very fast. About half the fi eld picked up penalty points, which made for very interesting results.

Trialling was of course the lifeblood of off-road motorsport back in the old days, when farmers would turn up on a Sunday to compete in their Land Rovers. In today’s winching environment, a lot of the cars you see taking part are purpose-built bespoke spaceframe specials – however this even saw a good selection of Landies giving it a go, which was great to see.

The Viking 4x4 Club prides itself on never losing touch with the grassroots and is always welcoming to newcomers. It’s brilliant to see some older cars still on the scene – not least because they’re a reminder of where it the scene started all those years ago.

Holly Evans competes in one such Defender-based truck, along with co-driver Zac Dambraukas. She bought it late last year and this was only her second ever event. The fi rst was February’s Nightmare Challenge, where she had a great result – and she looking set to repeat the trick on this occasion.

That was until about halfway through the day, when the team had a small mishap. All competitors put massive trust in their equipment, in particular the ropes they rely on when getting to punches and pulling the car around. Holly had a rope snap – as they often do, but she was unlucky in that it happened when lowering down a hill to a punch. The car sustained some damage as a result, bringing their day to an early end – by the time everyone else fi nished, they were already planning the fi xes that will bring it back better and stronger. We will see them again soon!

Round 1 winners Simon Ward and Leigh Jefferies were among the favourites going into this event and sure enough they were going very well indeed for most of the day, picked up nearly every punch to fi ll their fi rst card and get started on a second. But they disaster struck when, on one of the hardest punches, they had a roll and ended up with their vehicle on its side. While it was there, with the engine still running, oil found its way into the air intake – and by the time they got back to the service area, the damage was done. Unable to cure what was now a poorly running unit, he had to call it a day.

Scott Haines and James Watts, also in a Defender-based vehicle, were also doing well – until around midday, when they broke a CV joint. In an effort to keep running, they went off-site to get spares, losing a lot of precious time – but it was worth it, because they managed to fi t a replacement part and get back out there for the last two hours of the event.

Mat Bain and David Burton, meanwhile, who always do well at these events, suffered a very unusual problem when they collected as old wire fence that had been lying in the bottom of a bog and became completely tangled up in one of their front wheels. Having struggled in the mud to cut it free, they fi nally managed to get to the pits where they could wash the area down and see what was actually going on. When they did, they discovered that the fence had damaged a brake caliper – all fi xable, but an unexpected and very unwelcome waste of time.

Rob Curling and Paul Hitchman needed to stop for a bit of maintenance too, having to refi t a belt which they lost early in the day. Worse was to come when they broke their rear winch housing, rendered the winch useless, but they battled on with just their front winch to pick up some more points.

In what must have been the most entertaining part of the day, Clerk of Course (and star photographer) Tomasz Jarecki lent a helping hand when one of the competitors needed to get out of the competition for a return to the pits. The problem was that this meant winching themselves on to the main track – which is where Tomasz’ truck was parked, so he allowed them to use it as an anchor point. Next thing you know, Tomasz’ truck is stuck in a bog and needs rescuing. So he gets out… and immediately sinks up to his knees. Various other competitors jumped in to help rescue both vehicles – once they had fi nally fi nished laughing…

No-one was laughing at Richard and Lianne Evans, on the other hand, who were there for their fi rst ever event – something every club should always welcome. They were nervous and also tired, as they had just fi nished building their car the night before, and a few small teething issues were to be expected. Even with a branch knocking off their power steering hose, however, they had a great time – and got 18 punches, which is a very respectable score on your fi rst time out.

So respectable, indeed, that a score of 2532 points meant Richard and Lianne fi nished third in Class 1. Georgie Smith and Will Baker came second with 3292, but the winners – even after their dramatic mishap – were Holly Evans And Zak Dambraukas on 3818. Considering this was only Holly’s second ever event, and that they missed a good chunk of the day, to win their class was an amazing result.

In Class 2, Paul Curling and Andrew Rossiter dropped a clanger during the day when they ran out of fuel – but they still managed third place on 3266 points. Rob Curling and Paul Hitchman didn’t let the small matter of a broken winch get in their way, taking second on 3759, but Johnny and Tracey Johnson completed nearly all the punches to lead the others home on 5107.

The scoring was close throughout the fi eld in Class 3, with third place going to Craig Allignton and Tom Wilson on 7675 points. A much better result for the pair after their small disaster at round 1. Challenge teams always fi ght to the very end and that’s what Mat Bain and David Burton did after fi nally untangling themselves from the rogue fence; with 9488 points, second in class was their reward.

This did leave them to ponder what might have been, however. Because in one of the closest fi nishes in the history of the Odyssey Challenge, they ended up tied on punches with Scott Haines and James Watts. These two had their problems to work through too, but having done so it came down to the teams’ scores on the timed special stage – the Viking 4x4 Club’s equivalent of a penalty shoot-out. Scott and James had completed this a little more quickly – meaning they sneaked into fi rst place by a mere 50 points. By such fi ne margins are fates decided at the top end of the challenge game!