ASP / NETRC Christmas Stages Results 2014
It’s the White’s Christmas. David and Matthew White made a great impression on their debut event of this year’s championship by taking a fantastic second overall on the Christmas Stages.
Our championship year got under way with the traditional blast around the Croft Circuit near Darlington in our usual slot between Christmas and New Year. Once the dawn had broken after a frosty Saturday night, crews were greeted with a white, polished racetrack to tackle and test themselves against the clock. A couple of top crews decided not to risk their cars and yet the big crowd of brave souls who’d come to spectate were ready for some entertainment.
David and Matthew White were our bravest crew as they stopped the clocks in a fine 2nd fastest on the opening 6.4 miles. Their Subaru Impreza never missed a beat all day and the boys from Barnsley were never topped on the leader board apart from the rally winner. Their only issue to report was on stage 3 when they hit a patch of ice and slid into a bale. This caused minimal time loss and only crumpled the rear passenger door.
The next points scorer was Andrew Roughead who’d picked a plum ride in the non-registered Graham Coffey’s Ford Fiesta WRC and finished just off the podium in 4th place. Paul Swift and Jessica Bell were out with their newly rebuilt Ford Escort Mk2. As ever the car looked pristine in a new colour scheme and hidden behind the steering wheel were a couple of paddle shifts too. Paul entertained the crowds as ever but still kept a pace that was good enough for 7th overall. His only concern was about the engine running a bit warm but he knew the reason for it and felt that this can be cured for the next rally.
Next along in a similar car were Barry Renwick and Steve Dargan. Their original plan was to use the recently acquired VW Polo but a problem with the gearbox / clutch the day before the rally meant the faithful Ford was forced into service. On the rally day Barry’s only problem was putting down too much power from his Millington engine onto the road. He found himself way down in 73rd at the end of SS1 but once the roads dried out he was able to charge back up the leaderboard to finish in 12th overall. Oh what might have been but for …
And 7 seconds behind Barry was our other Barry – this one from the Lindsay family. As ever this Barry had his dad sitting alongside him and like most he suffered on the opening run that found him back in 31st place. Barry was seen under the front wheel arch at the lunchtime service trying to find the source of some knocking and banging noise. He couldn’t find anything and hoped that lady luck would ride with them in the afternoon stages. And as we’ve seen so often, their little Peugeot 106 doesn’t always looks fast and on the edge of being out of control, but the Spadeadam driver’s commitment kept the car’s speed up and took them to yet another class win and a fine 13th at the finish. With some relief, they did make it to the final MTC and could start another lot of celebrations.
Stuart Walker was our next man up as he brought his new Skoda Fabia S2000 home in 18th place. He’s still learning about the car so despite kissing a straw bale on stage 4 that took off the front panel, he was happy with his day. Craig Pennington is a long time supporter of the championship and it was good to see him out once more in his vivid Mitsubishi Evo9. He too would curse that opening test as he ended up in 78th position after it but there was only one way to go from there. Suffering from a heavy cold wouldn’t help his cause, but he did finish the day in 20th place. Next along was Ann Forster sitting in a Mitsubishi Evo6 with the non-registered Dave Hornbrook and a steady run to 25th would see her pick up some useful points.
Four seconds behind were a couple of Corsa driver’s in a Ford Escort. Kev Monaghan was holding the steering wheel while Neil Thompson was shouting directions in Kev’s new toy – a Ford Escort Maxi. Not too sure if it was a dose of man flu that was holding the Tynemouth crew back or Kev might just have been a little careful not wanting to put a scratch on his shiny, new motor. Who knows but they were both still grinning at the final control. And right behind the Ford in 27th position was Neil Marshall. The Whitby man had a slow start losing a couple of minutes on the first stage but had a clean run thereafter in his pretty little Peugeot 205.
Next up were the Vauxhall Astra of Alan Cowan and Katie Stimpson. No problems to report after a good run; just a happy smiling crew at the finish. Bill Bates finished 16 seconds further back in his Peugeot 106. Bill was happy with his top 20 time on the opening slippy stage but lost out later in the morning when he gave a bale a heavy glance that damaged the radiator. He managed to borrow a spare from a fellow competitor but by the finish his engine was running on the hot side. Another son and father pairing of Mark and John Burton were 38th in their unusual Ford XR2. After a very cautious start, the Durham Auto Club crew picked up their pace and were almost 3 minutes faster on the rerun test. A steady run for the rest of the day helped them to yet another finish and a confidence building result.
Andrew Fawcett and Chris Purvis were next in the little 1400cc engined Vauxhall Nova. After stage 3 they were nicely positioned in 10th overall and it looked like another giant killing act was on the cards for them. Sadly a puncture on the next run meant they had to stop and change the wheel and thus incurred a stage maximum. They did fight their way back in the afternoon session but with over 4 minutes lost, they had to be content with 39th place. Next up was yet another ‘Dad and Lad’ combination, this one being Jimmy and Alastair Knox. They struggled a bit with a misfire on their new motor, a BMW 316. It lasted for most of the day and Jimmy only felt it was going well on the final stage. David Cox was out in a Ford Escort Mk2 again but this time with the non-registered John Cockerill. A steady run that was slowed with a few spins found them in 42nd at the end.
In 48th place were Mike Farmer and Charley Sayer-Payne. Their Ford Focus is pretty standard and with a lowly seeding of 101, they were one of the last cars to attempt the opening icy stage – it helped, as they were 16th fastest. However, as the track conditions improved their advantage was reduced and they slowly slipped down the order. Colin Butler and Joe Hutchinson brought home the little 1 litre engined Toyota Yaris in 59th. Ever smiling and cheerful, Colin’s only complaint was about the lack of power and he’s now away praying for snow for the Jack Frost Stages. Our final classified finisher was Lee Hastings in 66th position. Lee suffered badly with gearbox problems in the morning but managed to get out and set some good top 15 times on the afternoon tests.
We had several crews who were classed as retirements and the first to go were Geoffrey Harkness and Caroline Lodge when they found themselves with a gearbox full of neutrals in SS2; within sight of the flying finish of the same stage Trevor Gamble / Ron Roughead retired after bouncing off both the pit wall and garages; Alex and Katie Willan retired their Proton Satria after they found they had no brakes; Alastair Hutchinson and St John Dykes made it to stage 5 with their new Clio but called it a day after losing time with bad tyre choice, a snapped driveshaft and some front end/panel damage after attacking bales; Liam Walling and Phil Kenny were a sensation with the little Peugeot 106 and some amazing driving pushed the crew up to 14th after stage 6 before a driveshaft let go (again!) and Peter Stephenson was forced to retire from 12th in final service after gear selection/clutch problems. A final mention goes to Joe Cunningham, the pilot of the really smart Peugeot 106. The car wouldn’t start up when it was time to head for MTC1 and he and his service crew worked all morning to trace and fix the ignition problem. He managed to test in the afternoon stages and happily the car performed well setting some reasonable times – a very frustrated man.
Our thanks go to Ian Jackson and his team from Northallerton Automobile Club for another splendid Christmas Stages rally. Some great weather, fine stages, lots of spectators and close competition helped get our New Year off to a good start before the New Year.
Round 2 of the championship is the Jack Frost Stages in association with AUTOGAS 2000 and Cartersport and this will take place on Sunday January 19th. Entries have been coming in at a steady rate and the organisers now have received over 60 entries at the moment. If you are considering doing the rally, then you will need to get your entry in by Friday 9th of January for this one. The organisers are promising not to bank any cheques until Friday 2nd. More detail can be found at www.darlington-motor-club.org.uk/series_home.php?seriesid=48 So it’s back to Croft again in less than 3 weeks.
And before we get a chance to catch our breath, our third rally in 6 weeks is the Legend Fires North West Stages. The rally doesn’t take place until 6th and 7th February and the organisers have taken well over a 100 entries already. There Rally HQ will once again be the Norbreck Castle Hotel, Blackpool with its unrivalled facilities enabling Scrutineering, indoor Parc Ferme and Champagne finish ceremony all within the hotels own Exhibition hall. The adjacent ‘Rally village’ will feature trade stands, simulators and displays to entertain supporters and spectators. The popular format of recent years is retained with a Friday evening leg giving competitors about 12 miles of stages in the dark – including a spectator friendly stage on the North Promenade close to Rally HQ. The event will continue with a full day’s action on Saturday offering of a wide variation of stages at several different venues with about 75 miles of good quality sealed surface stages within a compact route of only 135 road miles. All in all, it’s a very demanding event for competitors with no hanging around. If you want to know more, then go to the rally website at http://www.nwstages.co.uk/