North of England Tarmacadam Rally Championship – Pendragon Stages

A polished performance on the Pendragon Stages saw Bob Grant and Pete Carstairs take another fine win. Kirkby Lonsdale Motor Club, Eden Valley Motor Club & Northallerton Automobile Club joined forces again to run the annual visit to the Warcop military ranges and Lowther Park. Based around Penrith’s Truckstop, 83 miles of competition would provide a stern challenge to all comers.

And setting out his intentions from the start was Bob Grant in his superb Subaru Impreza. Bob with Pete Carstairs in the hot seat, stopped the clocks on the first 9.5 miles of Warcop with a time 22 seconds faster than his nearest pursuer – Michael Glendinning. This would be a battle continued from the last championship rally on Otterburn where Glendinning took the spoils by a mere 4 seconds. But this time out the Scottish crew had no intentions of seeing a repeat finish. They would continue to push so they would enter first service with a lead of just over 1 minute. And on the second loop of similar 6 stages they continued their progress to extend this lead by another 42 seconds despite having a huge moment with all 4 wheels completely on the grass in the very fast section of the long Lowther stage. With the prospect of rain for the last visit to Warcop, Grant opted for an intermediate tyre choice. Unfortunately, the very few drops of rain meant that slicks were the better option and Glendinning managed to take back 3 seconds over 10 miles but it was too little too late. Back at the finish, the time difference would be a comfortable 1 minute and 58 seconds in favour of Grant / Carstairs. The only sad part of the day was they had led the rally overall from the start and were only pipped on the penultimate stage by the ex McRae works Ford Focus – but to finish just 5 seconds down is no shame.

Michael Glendinning and Andrew Roughead would take second championship points after a fine run to 4th overall. They were unconcerned about the distance to the winners as they hadn’t contested this rally for a few years. They continued to impress the crowds with their usual style and commitment and their only problem was a puncture on stage 16. They were unaware that the tyre was almost flat as they started their run, but luckily for them, the stage was only 2 miles long. The offending corner was replaced and they were on their way with negligible time loss.

Taking third championship points was Barry and Michael Lindsay. Running their reliable Peugeot 106, the current champions produced yet another impressive run that would earn them the class win and 9th overall. Their only real incident being a huge lock up on the spectator stage when the pilot appeared out of control – but he wasn’t really !

Next up was the CitroenC2R2 of Gareth White / Callum Atkinson. The youngsters from Melrose enjoyed a mainly trouble free day apart from dropping about 30 seconds on the second visit to Warcop – problems with a chicane being the reason for their slower time. Fourth up was the Durham driver Mark Thompson in his Peugeot 206. Mark started the day badly with a misfire but once this was cured he enjoyed his day to finish a fine 18th overall. Malcolm Davey and Paul Slingsby had a good run to claim some useful points and move up the championship table. Andrew Fry / Michael Hunter were another crew enjoying a long day’s rallying without any problems. Paul Dolan and Derrick Fawcett continue to keep smiling whenever they’re using the newer version of Mitsubishi’s Evolutions and once again scored well on their first visit to the rally.

Stephen Bethwaite and Ann Forster were pleased just to make it to the finish of the event. Trying to solve ‘engine woes’ at first service took longer than expected and they just made it to the Service Out control with 3 seconds to spare. They then had some concerns about the gearbox, but it held out. Oh and they didn’t make contact with the scenery this year either ! Barry Thomson / Andrew Irving used their pristine Peugeot 106 again on the rally and it nearly went home in a box. The local crew were doing well on the last Warcop stages and going flat in 4th gear when they hit a patch of oil on the road. The driver became a passenger as the car spun so much but luckily for them, they didn’t hit a thing. An earlier problem with the oil cooler was solved at first service when they managed to bypass the offending radiator. Chris Clark cycled from York to start the rally in his Ford Ka. He blames that effort on his slow start to the rally but once going he had no problems – apart from dreaming of a few more horses in his little 1400cc engine – it would make going up some of those hills a bit faster.

And turning to those who retired; Nick and Heather Stamper stopped at first service with a burst intercooler pipe; Alistair Hutchinson / St Kohn Dykes retired on the second visit to Warcop – the early championship leaders returned to form after their engine troubles from the previous rally and were running in a comfortable 13th place. Unfortunately, they slid wide on some loose gravel in stage 7 and a driveshaft pulled out; Geoffrey Harkness and Caroline Lodge were forced out with gearbox problems on stage 2 and finally poor Chris Anderson and Chris Thirling retired on stage 13. Their Ford Fiesta crew from Durham were having a good run and they managed to get into the top 20 at second service. It all went wrong once back to Warcop though and the car left the road, hitting a bank and put them out on the spot. When will their luck change ?

Michael Glendinning has now extended his lead in the driver’s table from with Barry Lindsay, Bob Grant, Paul Dolan and Alistair Hutchinson. In the co-driver’s table, it’s a similar story as Andrew Roughead continues ahead of Michael Lindsay, Pete Carstairs, St John Dykes, and Callum Atkinson. So with just 1 round of the championship to go the mathematics say that any of the top 3 can win their overall category, so it will be all to play for on Otterburn

The Cheviot Keith Knox Rally is the final event of the championship and will be run on the revised date of Sunday 10th October 2010 – remember that this is 2 weeks earlier than originally planned. Although they have been restricted purely to the eastern side of the Ranges, the organisers have come up with an event containing 88 miles of special stages and with less than 5 road miles ! The short public road sections have, in turn, kept the Road Traffic Act insurance down to just £15 per car and the entry fee will be a total of £325. This figure includes the provision of numbers and it has also been decreed that the recce fee element will be donated to the ‘Help for Heroes’ charity. Regulations and entry forms are available now to download from http://www.wdmc.org.uk and in the near future from the ‘Competitors’ section of the event website – http://www.cheviotstages.org.uk – or from the Entries Secretary who is Gordon Bradford – telephone : 0191 301 6650 or you can e-mail him at: cheviotstages@btinternet.com