{"id":655,"date":"2014-01-22T18:05:57","date_gmt":"2014-01-22T17:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asperformance.com\/?p=655"},"modified":"2014-01-22T18:05:57","modified_gmt":"2014-01-22T17:05:57","slug":"netrc-jack-frost-stages-2014-result","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/event-news\/netrc-jack-frost-stages-2014-result\/","title":{"rendered":"NETRC Jack Frost Stages 2014 result"},"content":{"rendered":"
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1400 class winners Andy Fawcett & Chris Purvis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Barry\u2019s back on top.\u00a0 After only 2 qualifying rounds, the championship already has a familiar look to it as our current champions are leading the overall tables.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s Jack Frost Stages was another reminder of how the Lindsays have this particular ability to push their little Peugeot 106 way beyond what other competitors seem to be able to come up with and give some big boys a run for their money.\u00a0 The morning\u2019s 4 tests were run in a clockwise direction of Croft\u2019s racing circuit and the weather stepped in to provide an equalising effect and let drivers of some of the less powerful cars show the fans their skills.\u00a0 The heavy rain experienced by some of the world\u2019s very best on the Monte Carlo Rally a day earlier, seemed to have moved north to cover the North Yorkshire skies on rally morning.\u00a0 Tyre choice was simple \u2013 just go on wets and do your best.<\/p>\n

Over the opening 5.9 miles, Barry and Michael Lindsay were 3rd<\/sup>fastest beating several fit Metros and Subarus to set up a fascinating battle.\u00a0 The pace was only slowed down on the last one before lunch when lady luck deserted the Spadeadam crew as they got too sideways on the grass and big marker tyres arrested their forward motion.\u00a0 A badly damaged driver\u2019s door was the cosmetic result but fortunately there was no mechanical damage.\u00a0 The timesheets showed they had dropped from 4th<\/sup>\u00a0to 6th<\/sup>\u00a0in a flash as they made their way back into lunchtime service.\u00a0 Normal service was resumed in the 4 afternoon tests run on a drying track and so allowing the more powerful cars to shine.\u00a0 The 2013 champions still managed to win their class by over a minute and take a well-deserved 7th<\/sup>\u00a0overall.<\/p>\n

Rumour has it that Barry\u2019s new seats made the ride more comfortable and helped him generate more speed but perhaps the new mountings have allowed him to sit closer to the important controls and push the accelerator pedal to the floor now \u2026<\/p>\n

Our next 9 contenders all finished consecutively from 9th<\/sup>\u00a0down to 17th<\/sup>\u00a0overall \u2013 some feat!\u00a0 First up were Mark Thompson and Phil Kenny in their 206.\u00a0 The Durham driver \u2018struggled\u2019 in the rainy opening tests as the screen demister was sometimes working and sometimes not.\u00a0 On one occasion, Mark was looking through an inch gap of clear screen trying to find the next stretch of tarmac.\u00a0 However, they were happily lying in 9th<\/sup>\u00a0overall at the lunch halt.\u00a0 Despite hoping for more rain in the afternoon stages, they actually managed to consolidate their top ten placing and it\u2019s good to see the local crew open their account with a great set of points.<\/p>\n

Joe Cunningham was our third man to round off the top ten.\u00a0 After his disappointing driveshaft issue on the Christmas Stages, Joe was re-united with Daniel Kennedy in the silly seat of the Peugeot 106 and hoping for a better result.\u00a0 It started well with 12th<\/sup>\u00a0position on the opening wet, stage and the youngsters just consolidated on every test up to the penultimate one.\u00a0 Over enthusiasm saw them lose a little time, but no places, after a little autograssing moment on SS7 before they calmed down on the final run and claim a splendid finish<\/p>\n

And completing our Peugeot 1234 finish was the 306 variant of Joseph Redmond and Luke Campbell.\u00a0 No real problems for the crew this time at Croft and their only \u2018complaint\u2019 was about catching slower cars. They felt that they’d suffered more than most on the day and would have probably lost in the region of 30 seconds. However, the jovial Irishman from Leeds never stops smiling and was delighted to finish in 11th<\/sup>\u00a0slot.<\/p>\n

Edward Todd and Andy Brown were next in the little GTM Coupe.\u00a0 The Durham boys were complaining of poor grip on the morning tests and at the half way were to be found in a lowly 22nd<\/sup>\u00a0place.\u00a0 Perhaps the drying afternoon runs suited them better or perhaps they found better grip as they moved up the leaderboard to finish in 12th<\/sup>.\u00a0 Or perhaps Ed had been driving like a girl in the morning again \u2026 \u00a0who knows but they were happy to get another solid result under their belts after a frustrating 2013.<\/p>\n

The Honda Civic of Nick Thorne was next up.\u00a0 Six o\u2019clock on rally morning and Nick found out that his regular co-driver couldn\u2019t make the rally.\u00a0 A few administrative tasks completed with the organisers, and now several pounds sterling lighter, James Stewart was promoted from service crew to co-driver and raring to go.\u00a0 He coped well with combining his new duties along with continuing to service the car after each stage.\u00a0 Nick just got on with trying different tyres as he steadily moved up the leaderboard from his poor start of 36th<\/sup>\u00a0after SS1 to finish in 13th<\/sup>\u00a0overall at the end of a trying day.<\/p>\n

Tim Finch is more often found preparing and running cars on rallies rather than driving them these days.\u00a0 However, after teaming up with Terry Martin for the first time, he set off warily into the opening stage.\u00a0 His Subaru was only 29th<\/sup>\u00a0but he set about improving that only to find that he had no 4th<\/sup>\u00a0gear at the halfway halt.\u00a0 With no new box to hand, Tim and Terry just decided to see how the box would hold up in the afternoon with the thought of losing more gears very likely.\u00a0 The surprised crew actually didn\u2019t have any further problems and somehow found 4th<\/sup>\u00a0gear again \u2013 maybe the driver had been trying to select a fantasy 6th<\/sup>gear earlier and just came back to earth after lunch !\u00a0 Smiling faces at the final control says they were content with 14th<\/sup>\u00a0overall.<\/p>\n

Next up were giant killers Andy Fawcett and Chris Purvis in their 1400 Vauxhall Nova.\u00a0 After the opening pair of stages they\u2019d pushed the little car into a fantastic 11th<\/sup>\u00a0overall.\u00a0 It all started to go wrong just before the end of the third test when they lost an argument when some tractor tyres and damaged the front end of the car.\u00a0 They managed to get the car into service despite losing water from the radiator.\u00a0 With no spare available, it took some gentle coaxing by Chris to persuade a fellow competitor to lend them his spare.\u00a0 Once the loaned radiator was fitted, they continued their test programme and managed to get to the end of the rally in a splendid 15th<\/sup>\u00a0place.<\/p>\n

Neil Raven and Ann Forster started the event leading the championship tables and hoping to rack up some more useful points.\u00a0 This time out was to be a steady day that started with a 16th<\/sup>\u00a0fastest and they ended up in 16th<\/sup>\u00a0overall too.\u00a0 No big issues to report with another reliable day in their Subaru Impreza for the team that were awarded the Best Mixed Crew award at the after rally presentation.<\/p>\n

The similar Subaru of Darren Wilcox was just behind in 17th<\/sup>\u00a0position.\u00a0 The garage owner from Stokesley had a trouble free day with his new co-driver and the pair were very happy to notch up another confidence building result.<\/p>\n

Finishing in 39th<\/sup>\u00a0place were the new Lad and Dad combination from Middlesbrough, Mark and John Burton.\u00a0 Their Vauxhall Nova behaved itself this time at Croft and they really enjoyed the wet morning tests moving up 6 places from the 45th<\/sup>\u00a0place on SS1.\u00a0 Mark\u2019s new to this rally driving stuff but this result will boost his confidence even more for his next outing on the North West Stages.<\/p>\n

Nigel Hepburn \/ Richard Clark were next in a Renault Clio Cup car.\u00a0 Nigel\u2019s only recently acquired the car and was struggling in the morning\u2019s wet runs as he only stopped the clocks in 73rd<\/sup>\u00a0place on the opening stage.\u00a0 As the day wore on and the track continued to dry out, they upped the pace to finish in 50th<\/sup>\u00a0spot.<\/p>\n

David Cox was next sitting in with the non-registered Luke Searle.\u00a0 David used to co drive for Luke\u2019s father in the very same Rover Metro GTi many years ago when they enjoyed lots of success.\u00a0 They recorded a clean run and were happy to take the 3rd<\/sup>in class for their troubles.<\/p>\n

Our final registered finisher was the effervescent Colin Butler.\u00a0 Colin enlisted the services of Alistair Hutchinson\u2019s son Joe for the pleasure of co-driving his Toyota Yaris.\u00a0 Joe stuck to his task and helping the little 1 litre powered car come home in a trouble free 60th<\/sup>\u00a0overall.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A quick mention of those who never made it into the darkness of the final control.\u00a0 First to go with damaged front suspension were Peter Stephenson and Ian Windress after their Subaru P2000 hit a wall neat the end of the opening stage; Andrew Grimstone \/ Rob Dawson retired from 46th<\/sup>\u00a0after the second test with mechanical woes; Alastair Hutchinson decided not to start the afternoon stages after he found some loose metal in the gearbox; Simon Stewart and Doug Levee stopped after SS5 with no gears and finally John Stone \/ Jack Morton when queuing for stage 6 as their Peugeot 206 decided it didn’t want to rev or even pull away and their rally ended when as they went OTL.<\/p>\n

Our thanks and a pat on the back for Terry Wright and his band of men from Darlington Motor Club for another well-organised Jack Frost Stages rally.\u00a0 And the pace of the events just doesn\u2019t stop with the next one being just over a fortnight away when we\u2019re off to the seaside.\u00a0 The third round of the championship is the\u00a0Legend Fires North West Stages<\/strong>\u00a0and this will take place on Friday the 7th<\/sup>\u00a0and Saturday the 8th<\/sup>\u00a0February.\u00a0 The Regulations were released before Christmas and the organisers have received all the applications for the maximum 100 entries available already.\u00a0 If you\u2019re still interested in competing on this one, it will be a good idea to contact the Organisers, as you never know if anyone has withdrawn.<\/p>\n

The rally is always well organised with fantastic facilities at the event HQ, the Norbreck Castle Hotel in Blackpool, with its unrivalled facilities enabling scrutineering, indoor parc ferme and champagne finish ceremony all within the hotel\u2019s own Exhibition Hall.\u00a0 The adjacent \u02bbRally Village\u02bc promises to be bigger than ever with trade stands, simulators and displays to entertain the supporters and spectators.\u00a0 Last year, the rally village was oversubscribed and once again interest is expected to be high.\u00a0 Similar to previous years, the hotel is offering very favourable accommodation rates for the 450 hotel rooms assigned to the event.<\/p>\n

The organisers are retaining their base at the Norbreck but will have a brand new service park that’s almost in the shadow of the seaside resort’s iconic tower. A deal has been struck with the local council to use the Promenade’s Middle Walk that will bring the event to the edge of the town centre and provide a better viewing experience for spectators.\u00a0 The move is a throwback to the sixties when the same area served as the Parc Ferme for RAC Rally of 1968.\u00a0 As for the competition, this will start with a Friday evening leg giving competitors some stages in the dark before a night in bed. The event continues with Saturday offering 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 150 road miles.\u00a0 The all creates a very demanding event for competitors, with no hanging around.\u00a0 For more information on this event, go to\u00a0http:\/\/www.nwstages.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

And finally, a little heads up about the\u00a02013 Awards Presentation<\/strong>.\u00a0 Unfortunately, this was postponed last November and we\u2019re hoping to have the usual extravaganza on a Wednesday night in February.\u00a0 More details to follow soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Barry\u2019s back on top.\u00a0 After only 2 qualifying rounds, the championship already has a familiar look to it as our current champions are leading the overall tables. Sunday\u2019s Jack Frost Stages was another reminder of how the Lindsays have…<\/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":[14,13,8,7],"post_series":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655"}],"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=655"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":657,"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655\/revisions\/657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655"},{"taxonomy":"post_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asperformance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_series?post=655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}