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Another set of top points for Andy Davison and Mike Curry on Sunday\u2019s UTS Cheviot Keith Knox Rally.<\/p>\n
Driving his usual BMW M3, the Northallerton lad claimed he had a steady run over the Otterburn military ranges as he aimed to repeat his championship performance on the Tyneside Stages in July.\u00a0 However, this time he managed to improve on his 5th place with a fantastic 4th overall in a top class entry.\u00a0 It\u2019s true his car didn\u2019t show the same amount of contact as it had endured with the straw baled chicanes as last time out but he had several \u2018moments\u2019 on a testing day.\u00a0 He also found out during a spin coming out of the dry ford at Yardhope, that it was possible to get the big BMW fully broadside on the very narrow road and not slip off onto the grass.\u00a0 Quite a bit of time was lost there as the crew shuffled back and forth to get going in the right direction again.\u00a0 The result also meant that Andy\u2019s good run in the second half of our season would reward him with an excellent 4th overall in the championship.<\/p>\n
Next up in our championship was Paul Swift driving his Ford Escort Mark 2.\u00a0 Continuing his practice this year of learning the ranges, Paul enlisted the services of yet another new co-driver, this time the vastly experienced Ken Bills.\u00a0 Before the event had started, Paul knew that no matter what result he left Otterburn with; he was assured of 2nd overall in the championship.\u00a0 And so he concentrated on his education of the twisty, undulating and narrow roads without paying any attention to the regular results updates.\u00a0 Like most crews, he suffered from a couple of small spins in the greasy morning stages and was delighted to reach the final control in a fine 8th overall with no major problems.<\/p>\n
And finishing next in 13th overall was David Conley in his Hillman Avenger.\u00a0 Once again the Bardon Mill based driver was forced to run in the up to 1600cc class, as his \u2018other\u2019 engine wasn\u2019t ready for the event.\u00a0 And it proved to be another successful day in that he would take the class award too.\u00a0 Partnered as usual by Mike Scrimgour, the boys had a quiet day by their standards with only a couple of spins, an overshoot and an indiscretion with a chicane bale to slow progress.<\/p>\n
And to add to their day, they would record the achievement of beating the Lindsays. Barry felt he was having one of those days where he just couldn\u2019t get into the driving \u2013 and even wondered if he was getting too old for this game.\u00a0 It\u2019s true that the stages probably suited the bigger engine motors, but out on the stages our new champions looked to be in their usual committed, tidy and fast style as always.\u00a0 They still had a few close shaves as they tried their hardest but at the end of the day, 15th overall and 2nd in class was no bad show for an old Peugeot 106 Cup Car !<\/p>\n
Chris Anderson and Chris Thirling in their Ford Fiesta were just over 40 seconds adrift of Barry and Michael Lindsay. The Durham crew have had a mixed year at Otterburn with some great stage times on both the Tyneside and Lindisfarne Rallies but only a 19th overall and a DNF to show for their efforts.\u00a0 The Cheviot would get off to a great start for them as they stopped the clocks on equal 9th fastest time.\u00a0 Once again they settled into a good rhythm with regular times just outside the top 10 keeping them in class leading 12th place overall going into stage 10.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the car\u2019s gremlins struck again and the car stopped in mid stage.\u00a0 This time Chris managed to coax the car back to life, while the other Chris swore in frustration, and they managed to get back to service.\u00a0 A time loss of 2 minutes meant they had slipped 5 places down the leaderboard but were still in the rally.\u00a0 The car behaved itself through the final stage and the boys were relieved to finish in 16th overall and take the class victory too.\u00a0 It also meant that the younger Chris secures 3rd placed driver in our championship while Chris The Elder, leaps from 4th to 2nd placed co-driver.<\/p>\n
Dave Seed was another driver with a new co-driver for the day as Colin Tombs stepped up when Mick Morpeth cried off due to work commitments.\u00a0 Dave blamed brand new tyres for his poor start and his times improved on the repeat of the first stage as he went 38 seconds faster.\u00a0 A few spins in the morning kept the crowds entertained but they always managed to get back onto the road with no damage.\u00a0 A puncture on stage 9 would lose them just over a minute but they were another happy Durham crew at the finish.<\/p>\n
Two places behind in 22nd overall were the husband and wife pairing of Chris and Katherine Singer.\u00a0 They are another crew who\u2019ve had good results spoilt by an accident and reliability issues this year.\u00a0 And the Cheviot almost fell into the same category as their Citroen Saxo had a drive shaft go on stage 4.\u00a0 They lost over 5 minutes but managed to coast over the hill and down into service.\u00a0 As this was the shortest stage of the event, a maximum time actually helped their situation.\u00a0 The local crew who live just off the military ranges managed to replace the shaft and get out once more.\u00a0 A steady run the afternoon helped them learn more about the car and they recorded their first finish of the year.<\/p>\n
Kevin and Jimmy Knox were next along in their unusual Ford Sierra.\u00a0 The Honda engined car was suffering from the off with a misfire.\u00a0 It took a while to find out that the cause was a faulty wire in the loom and the boys were grateful to someone else\u2019s service crew for their expertise in locating the problem.\u00a0 Despite not having the right tyres for the stages, they continued in their tradition of enjoying the day\u2019s rallying and finished 28th overall.<\/p>\n
The father and son team of Michael and Josh Davison finished in 37th overall.\u00a0 And after their character-building day, they were very happy just to get to the finish.\u00a0 It all started after the car was taken off the trailer in the morning and refused to fire up.\u00a0 Many frantic minutes were spent trying to identify the problem and with 5 minutes to get to MTC1, they found a dodgy relay.\u00a0 The Proton Satria was running in 39th place after 2nd service before they were forced to take a stage maximum on stage 6.\u00a0 Half a mile into the test, Michael was so concerned about the car\u2019s handling that he stopped to check but couldn\u2019t find anything wrong.\u00a0 Another mile up the road and he stopped again to find loose wheel nuts and once tightened up he was fine !<\/p>\n
Ann Forster was our last registered co-driver home as she partnered Andrew Irving for his first visit to Otterburn.\u00a0 And right behind them was Paul Bank driving his N1 specification Peugeot 106.\u00a0 Paul has been across the ranges in the co-driver\u2019s seat several times, but this was his first time pushing the pedals and holding the wheel.\u00a0 He thoroughly enjoyed himself despite a few spins and found the stages faster than he remembered them to be.<\/p>\n
So what about the 4 championship crews who never made it to the finish ?\u00a0 Michael Glendinning and Paul Hughes started at number 2 in the Subaru Impreza and put on the expected show with a tremendous run for the first 7 stages and were just 1 second behind the rally leader.\u00a0 However it all went wrong within 200 yards of the start of the next stage when the car gave out a loud bang and left the crew with a gearbox full of neutrals.
\nPeter Taylor and Andrew Roughead were another crew hoping to build on their recent good finishes.\u00a0 After the first lap their Renault Clio was lying 10th overall but they never made it back into service.\u00a0 Approaching the final chicane of the fourth stage just a little bit quicker this time would have been fine if it hadn\u2019t been raining heavier this time around.\u00a0 They locked up and almost made it though before the rear quarter clipped a bale and sent them off the road.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t far from the tarmac but the incline on slippy grass proved too much and although the car wasn\u2019t damaged, they were out of the rally.
\nAlso suffering were Ed Todd and Andy Brown.\u00a0 The lads started their GTM Coupe from number 35 and after the first pair of stages, they had moved up to 24th overall and 2nd in class.\u00a0\u00a0 Unfortunately yet another broken drive shaft halted their progress and they recorded another non-finish
\nAnd finally, it was Kev Monaghan \/ Chris Purvis\u2019 cruel luck to be our final retirement.\u00a0 Driving the Vauxhall Corsa, the Tynemouth lads were having a steady run just outside the top 20 for all of the day\u2019s first 10 stages.\u00a0 It all went wrong half way through the final stage when after a heavy landing the car stopped with a holed sump.<\/p>\n
It was another good\u00a0UTS Cheviot Keith Knox Rally.\u00a0 Once again Andy Kobasa and his team from Hadrian and Whickham Motor Clubs were restricted in their use of certain roads across the military ranges.\u00a0 However, despite this fact and the need to have several changes in stage layout and direction, every stage started on time.\u00a0 The Cheviot continued to provide a stern challenge and the rally was well received by competitors.<\/p>\n
The final \u201cevent\u201d of our year will once again be the Awards Evening.\u00a0 The final details are still being sorted out but it will be at the usual venue of\u00a0Pelaw Grange in Birtley\u00a0and the date is\u00a0Wednesday the 23rd November.\u00a0 Put it in you calendars now and more information will be announced in the near future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Another set of top points for Andy Davison and Mike Curry on Sunday\u2019s UTS Cheviot Keith Knox Rally. Driving his usual BMW M3, the Northallerton lad claimed he had a steady run over the Otterburn military ranges as he aimed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14,8,7],"post_series":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":386,"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions\/386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383"},{"taxonomy":"post_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_series?post=383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}