North of England Tarmacadam Rally Championship – Tyneside Stages

A hard fought victory goes to Michael Glendinning and Andrew Roughead on the Tyneside Stages. Driving their Subaru Impreza this weekend, they would battle with Bob Grant and Pete Carstairs in a similar Subaru all day long – with the outcome uncertain right up to the very last stage.

Once again Alnwick and Berwick Motor Clubs would join forces to run the opening rally of the year over the infamous military ranges just north of Otterburn. Two stages of almost 9 miles were set out to be run twice in each direction before one final test would link up both stages to give about 17 miles of fast and furious competition. And the weather for the day was very untypically warm with equal measures of sun and cloud.

Grant and Carstairs opened their account in fine style over the first 2 technical stages on the east side of the ranges by opening up a 16 second gap to Glendinning and Roughead. The next 2 stages were more open and Glendinning would retaliate by taking back 5 and 8 seconds respectively. Stage 5 would see him take another second back with both of them recording the same time on the sixth run before Grant took stage 7 just 1 second ahead. So with 2 stages to go they were separated by a mere 3 seconds and with a bit of a push on the penultimate stage Grant found another 8 seconds. Glendinning wasn’t sure why as he’d driven well but still he’d lost time. And so with a monumental effort Glendinning and Roughead would travel the last long stage faster than they’d ever been across the Army roads to stop the clocks 15 seconds quicker than Grant / Carstairs. The Scottish crew were surprised to lose out after leading all the championship contenders from the start, feeling that they had never made a mistake but were just not quick enough on the day.

Such was the pace at the top that finishing almost 3 and a half minutes behind in third place were Rob Hornshaw and Dave Boyes. The boys from Harrogate were running their usual immaculate Ford Escort Mark 2 and their only concern was some oil smoke getting into the car on the first stage. Once they sorted this out in service, they would record top 10 times on every stage to finish 10th overall and pick up lots of championship points.

Next up would be the battle for the 1600cc class as Kev Monaghan / Chris Purvis would lead off Barry and Michael Lindsay. Although this duel wouldn’t be of the same intensity as the Subarus at the sharp end of the pack, both crews put in just as much effort. Monaghan accepts that his Vauxhall Corsa just isn’t as quick as our current champions over these military roads but he was well pleased that he started AND finished every stage with the Peugeot 106 right behind him ! Things were a bit interesting on the long stage as they did exchange roads positions not once but twice just to keep things exciting. Neither crew experienced ‘problems’ once the Peugeot’s brakes bedded in after the first stage and the Corsa’s misfire was cured at first service with a change of plugs. At the finish, Barry would take 4th while Kev ended up 6th championship driver. And neatly sandwiched in between them was Paul Hughes in his Mitsubishi Evo VI. Paul’s day was largely trouble free as he acclimatised to a new co-driver and his times just improved as the day progressed.

So how did some of the other finishers get on ? Stuart Baillie’s hopes of another good run in his Subaru were dashed after he went off on the 3rd stage and dropped over 2 minutes. Unfortunately, the repairs in service took longer than anticipated and he lost time at the next main control as well as suffering on the remaining stages too. The damage to the rear end turned out to be more than cosmetic and the handling never felt right over the final 6 tests. Andrew Fry / Michael Hunter were back to winning ways again and took the up to 1400cc class victory. After their engine failure on the previous rally, the boys from Dumfries were happy with a trouble free day again. Stephen Bethwaite / Ann Forster returned to the series and were glad to finish although the terrain did not suit their underpowered 1400cc Vauxhall Nova. Paul Dolan will remember this rally in days to come as ‘character building’. Driving on Otterburn for the first time, using notes for the first time and with a new co driver, Giles Dykes, and all in a Mitsubishi Evo X. His problems include going off through a fence on the second run through Yardhope as well as picking up a couple of punctures later on; but he made it through to the finish.

And the not so lucky crews this time include Chris Grieve whose Peugeot 106 suffered with problems on his crankshaft sensor between the second and third stage. They struggled on after service but retired on stage 5; Dave Seed and Mick Morpeth’s run got off to a good start on the first stage before the steering rack came loose after a heavy landing on stage 3; Malcolm Davey / Paul Slingsby retired their Ford Escort Mark I at second service with clutch problems; poor Chris Anderson and Chris Thirling’s bad run of luck continued as their Fiesta stopped on stage 2 – electrical gremlins are suspected this time; championship leader from day 1 Alistair Hutchinson retired with engine problems – he discovered oil sprayed all over the engine bay after the first test but stopped near the start of the second one; David Tait and David Crosbie whose Peugeot 205 retired with clutch problems on stage 8.

We now have new leaders at the top of both the drivers and co-drivers tables after Alistair Hutchinson / St John Dykes have led from the start. Michael Glendinning leads the driver’s table from Hutchinson with Barry Lindsay, Bob Grant and Paul Dolan in close attendance. While in the co-driver’s table we see that Andrew Roughead is now ahead of St John Dykes, Michael Lindsay, Pete Carstairs and Chris Purvis. There are just 2 rounds of the championship left to run and not one award winner in the classes or overall is confirmed yet. Everything is still to play for as we head into the home straight so it looks like being a close finish again.

The penultimate rally of the championship is next up on Sunday 29th August 2010 – the Pendragon Stages. Northallerton, Eden Valley and Kirkby Lonsdale Motor Clubs will be organising the Stobart Rail Pendragon Stages. Based around the Penrith area, they will utilise the Warcop Ranges and Lowther Park to provide about 84 miles of stages. Regulations have been available for a couple of weeks now and already they have received 52 entries. The rally is part of 6 championships and is always popular with competitors – full details can be found at the event’s website, www.pendragonstages.co.uk