NETRC Pendragon Stages Results 2013
Darren and Phil take first points. Darren Atkinson with Phil Sandham alongside took an excellent 3rd overall in their Ford Escort Mk2 on the recent Stobart Rail Pendragon Stages. The rally was run over the Warcop ranges near Brough where Atkinson was in the groove from the off and claimed 3rd fastest on the opening 8.4 miles test. He remained in that position all day to take his first maximum score in our championship having retired on the Tyneside Stages.
Just 3 places behind in 6th overall was our next contender – Jim Sharp. Jim could only manage 9th fastest on the first stage but was up to 6th within 2 stages and the Machars man would be happy to end the day in that place.
Right behind was the Lad and Dad pairing of Barry and Michael Lindsay. Barry felt that he drove the little Peugeot 106 to the limit and sometimes beyond but was well chuffed to finish a fantastic 7th overall. There’s also a rumour that he scared his Dad once or twice during the day too on their way to first in class and first front wheel drive awards.
Nick Thorne / Ian Murray were our next finishers in 12th place, an excellent result for them in their Honda Civic. In 21st and 22nd places overall were a couple of Vauxhall Corsas and they were only separated by the smallest of margins – a single second. First up were Geoffrey Harkness and Caroline Lodge and they were followed by a new pairing of Neil Thompson / Katie Stimpson. Alan Cowan was our last points scoring driver in his Vauxhall Astra while our final points scoring co-driver was Kari Bates in a Peugeot 205.
We also lost a few contenders during the day – the first being Darren Doherty. He took his Subaru Impreza to 2nd fastest on the opening run before hitting a wall on the next test. Kev Monaghan and Chris Purvis retired their Vauxhall Corsa after SS3 when they discovered that the newly rebuilt engine was getting hot so they decided to call it a day and investigate further at home. Jon and Alison Trenholme went off on stage 3 as well and although they did minimal damage, they lost loads of time trying to get the car driveable by the side of the road and they went OTL. Lewis MacDougall was next complaining of diff problems in the Corsa; Mark Thompson and Phil Kenny retired when they tried to leave service after lunch. They heard a nasty rattle and so killed the engine quickly. Our final retirement was the Ford Fiesta of Chris Anderson and Chris Thirling. A brief summary of their day was a quote that a fellow competitor ran them off the road whilst they attempted to pass. “The said competitor must have thought he was in the Warcop Touring Car Challenge and not on the final stage of a championship deciding rally!” The offside rear wheel was torn off with the impact against a large rock.
Thanks go to Miles Whitelock and his merry men and women from Kirkby Lonsdale Motor Club, Eden Valley Motor Club and Northallerton Automobile Club. They came up with another slick rally and coped well with the problems on the opening 2 tests of the rally,
Our final rally of the ‘year’ is the Cheviot Keith Knox. Whickham and District Motor Club will co-promote with Hadrian Motor Sports Club the UTS Cheviot Keith Knox Stages on Sunday 20th October 2013. This year Andy Kobasa and his team are running 13 stages covering 90 miles on Otterburn’s military ranges. Entries are open now and the organisers already have over 20 crews singed up. This year competitors are being given the chance to do 2 recce laps on the day before the rally, Saturday 19th, and this will start at 10:00. Anyone thinking of contesting the rally has until 10th October when entries close for seeding – there’s lots more information about the rally at www.cheviotstages.org.uk