ASP / NETRC Pendragon Results 2014
Darren Doherty takes Pendragon podium. Autumn may not have arrived just yet but on the first Sunday in September a little mist on the Cumbrian fells suggested it wasn’t too far away. With a little dew underfoot; the changing colours of the countryside already starting to show; the sun occasionally managing to peep through the clouds and throwing long shadows onto the tight and twisty tarmac strips. It was rally morning again on MOD range roads of the former county of Westmorland. All signs that the next season is on the cusp but first we have a battle of the penultimate rally of our 2014 season to decide.
Reunited with Andrew Falconer for the first time since February, Doherty was looking forward to having another go on our annual visit to Warcop. Driving the John Pye Motorsport prepared Subaru Impreza; Darren produced a polished performance for what he felt was a perfect finish. He arrived at the end of the opening test to find that he’d stopped the clocks 3rd fastest and with no problems and no big moments, he just got on with the job and finished the event in third place overall as well. And with electing to play his Joker on the day as well, he jumping into the lead of the driver’s table in the championship.
Finishing a further 3 places adrift was Stuart Baillie in his slightly older version of Subaru’s famous world-beater. His day got off to a bad start when a drive shaft went about 2 miles into the opening run. After completing the stage, he then had to attempt the repeated 8.4 miles in 3-wheel drive before returning to service. After that it was all attack and only a wee moment as his front left tyre delaminated at about 100mph approaching the flying finish of SS4 was of any interest. His was pleased to take a place from the Lindsays on the final stage too.
This meant that that our reigning champions ended up in seventh overall. They must have had 3 Weetabix for breakfast as they shot off the blocks to be fourth fastest after the opening pair of stages. The little Pug dropped a couple of places as other more powerful cars picked up their speed, but held 6th for most of the day as Barry knew they were flying. Unfortunately, half way through the penultimate test the Peugeot 106 picked up a misfire that progressively got worse. It felt so bad that Barry doubted he’d make it through the final stage. A long wait for this stage to start, due to a later car going off after the Lindsays had gone through SS7, meant there was a delay before the action resumed. Initially after the lights went green, it felt as though things were better but as the heat built up in the car the misfire returned and more time was lost. Lots of short shifting at 4,000 revs and plenty of patience eventually got them to the finish. It was not easy to tell if our Lad and Dad champions were pleased to get to the end of the rally or frustrated at what might have been …
And certainly sharing such mixed emotions were Ian and Kathryn Forgan from Fife. Before the rally, Ian reflected on his struggle to manage a decent finish on this event and in the days leading up to the rally he’d invested in some different cams to help with lower end grunt for their Ford Ka. Once the rally was underway, the early times confirmed it was a good strategy as they were up to 11th overall until a rear shocker started leaking on the Toddygill stage. There was no identical replacement available so there was nothing else for it, other than to muster on for over half the rally with ‘funny handling’. If they’d been offered a 12thoverall finish before the start they’d probably have grabbed it with both hands. However, there were issues with some notional stage times following a couple of incidents and the Glenrothes crew felt they’d lost out and ended up 3rd in class – just 2 seconds behind the class winner !
Yet another driver with a headful of confused emotions was Alan Oldfield. It wasn’t because regular co-driver Ken Bills was on holiday, but similar to Stuart, Barry and Ian – a case of what might have been. On the very first run he picked up a puncture and stopped to change it. The timesheets showed him in 68th spot and seemingly out of it. On the repeated stage he was over 4 minutes quicker as he started his climb up the leaderboard. A relatively trouble free run thereafter would see him end up in 15thposition and having played his Joker as well, he’d still picked up some good points.
Next up was someone we hadn’t seen since April – Chris McCallum. Mechanically he’d had a clean run with no problems to speak of. Psychologically he was a little concerned starting a couple of the morning stages just 30 seconds before rally winner Peter Taylor. Chris felt he was watching his mirrors too much waiting for the ominous moment when the Fiesta’s headlights would be burning their way into his car. He did enjoy trying to follow the white Ford’s lines once it had gone by, but unfortunately he couldn’t do that for very long before it were gone again !
Mark Thompson and Phil Kenny were next in their Peugeot 206. Mark had some concerns about his clutch the day before the rally, particularly as the same item was his reason for retiring last time out on the Tyneside Stages. But he not have worried as it was no bother at all and he simply accepted that he just wasn’t fast enough on the day.
Stephen Bethwaite and Ann Forster were delighted to finish right behind the Peugeot in 22nd overall. Their only issue was with gear selection. During stage 6 they lost 1st and 2nd gear so had to complete the stage using the higher gears. The mechanism was rebuilt in final service and off they headed into the final two runs … only for it to fall apart again very quickly.
Next up were the local crew of Geoffrey Harkness and Caroline Lodge. Although it wouldn’t be fair to say they lived within shouting distance of the venue, Warcop was the one location with least travelling time. They have a mainly trouble free run in the little Vauxhall Corsa and although it sounded a little different at the finish, Geoffrey wasn’t too worried about the rattles. And it certainly didn’t slow him down at all.
Tom Middlemiss and Richard Stewart was next along in their Vauxhall Nova. The morning stages proved a little more challenging for the boys as Tom admitted to a couple of driver errors that resulted in them spending more time than necessary on the grass and in ditches. He settled down after lunch and enjoyed the rest of his rally. James Thomson and Alison Woodcock were another pair of Warcop virgins leaving the service area for MTC1. And within a couple of miles, their season long bogey of gearbox gremlins struck again. And so they struggled on for the remaining 70 competitive miles without 2nd gear … they were well fed up at the final control but still managed a smile. Our final scorers were Drew Barker and Shona Hale in the Vauxhall Corsa. A steady start at a new venue with new notes and it didn’t quite come together at the first stage split. The result was a collision with some substantial stage furniture (concrete blocks, straw bales, wooden sleepers) and luckily no major damage. A little change of shape to the nearside front wing but Drew agreed that they got away with that one, as there was no mechanical damage. The remainder of the event went well with no problems as they moved up the order to finish in 36th overall.
There were only 3 of our contenders who retired on the rally and the first to go was Alistair Hutchinson. He was forced to take a stage maximum on the opening run after a long visit into a ditch before he had a coming together with a Mini at the stage split of SS2. Damage to the front nearside wheel of his Renault Clio left him stranded in the stage. Mark and John Burton returned with their unusual Ford Fiesta XR2 refettled after it’s chassis damaging incident on the Solway. This time they almost made it to the lunch halt before the rotor arm exploded half way around stage 4 and stopped their progress. It was a shame as the son and father were running in 52nd place, which was a good improvement of 30 positions on their seeding. Neil Thompson and Katie Stimpson were going well in their 1600 Vauxhall Corsa and they went onto the fourth test in 18th overall before a rod ventilated the engine block.
Miles Whitelock and his team from Eden Valley, Kirkby Lonsdale and Northallerton Motor Clubs came up with yet another successful Pendragon Stages. Once again a simple format of 4 stages repeated and with low road mileage kept most competitors happy and provided another fine challenge for our championship.
Our final rally of the year takes place on Sunday 9th November. The Cheviot Keith Knox will once again be a joint promotion by Hadrian and Whickham Motor Clubs and I’m sure they come up with another great challenge for competitors over the Otterburn Ranges. Regulations are expected very soon so keep your eyes on the event website for more details of the rally www.cheviotstages.org.uk