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Rally Report - Sunday 8th November 2009 UTS Cheviot Keith Knox Stages Rally It Rained on the Plain - and then Some! Otterburn is never the most hospitable of places, but Stephen Simpson and Mark Booth must like it. They won this year’s UTS Cheviot Keith Knox Stages second time out in their relatively new Subaru Impreza. Two years ago they won the event in a Hyundai WRC, but Stephen wasn’t looking too happy in the early hours of Saturday morning. “I’ve never driven this thing in the wet yet!” For them it was all about winning, for Adrian Spencer it was all about clinching the Richard Egger Insurance BTRDA Asphalt Championship, and a nail-biting run into 5th place did just that. But by heck it was dreich. And somebody up there was playing with us. Every time the sky looked as though it would lighten and brighten up, it swept around bringing more grey, wet stuff over the assembled throng down below. It was never torrential, just that incessant wet drizzle that seeps in everywhere – but hey, the crack was good! SS1 – Cottonshope 1, 17.4 miles. Wet and slippery with standing water. David Mann arrived at Otterburn with the intention of clinching the runner-up position in this year’s Richard Egger Insurance MSA National title. It didn’t happen. A good run over the opening 17 miler was spoiled by clutch slip as all the fluid drained away. Then, on just the second stage of the day, the Subaru’s clutch gave up the ghost completely, which also frustrated co-driver Alun Cook’s hopes of the Co-driver’s Championship title as well. That left Mark Jasper in front, but by only 4 seconds from Simpson. George Mackey was right on the case too with Andy Fenwick in a surprising fourth. Surprising? He was driving his new Seat Ibiza, and this was hardly the place to find out about FWD and standing water! Bob Grant was looking good too in fifth place and having looked at the others times aroundhim, reckoned he had been just a bit too cautious on slippery openers. On the second run through the first two tests, Simpson snatched back a full 20 seconds from the Metro on the third test, although Jasper matched him for times on the fourth, but it was now Simpson in front. Fenwick was up to third after four stages, but a big toothy grin spoke volumes about his progress: “That’s the biggest white knuckle ride ever,” he grinned. Bob Grant also slipped into fourth place, with Mackey a full minute off the pace: “A turbo pipe had come off and we crawled round the long one,” he said. At least he reached the stage finish. David Hardie in the Subaru got a puncture on the first stage and stopped to change it - then got another! SS5 – Silloans 1, 7.0 miles. Over the next four stages the bark of the flat four and the scream of the V6 pounded the hillsides echoing through the gloom. It was war out there. The leaders tied on the 5th, and when Simpson punctured on the 6th, Jasper scored a 17 second advantage. Simpson got a second back on the 7th and then a more telling 15 seconds on the 8th.This time it was jasper in trouble. The Metro had a sticking front brake calliper as they rolled back into service with steam rising from bonnets, brakes and brows! Also in trouble was Bob Grant. A tyre went down. No problem, just stop the car and get out and change it. Hardly! The wheel-change nut-gun had the wrong socket on it. (I would have paid good money to see Bob standing there in the rain with the wrong tool in his hand). Fortunately, by the time he got back to service he was looking a wee bit more cheery than the dark and overcast weather above. That put Chris Singer into fourth place behind Fenwick, who arrived back in service amidst a flurry of flapping fibreglass: “I locked up at the double chicane and slid up a banking,” said Andy, “it’s just pulled a couple of bolts out the front bumper.” Neither was Singer’s fourth place looking secure: “I lost all the brakes in that last one,” he said, “we’re bleeding the brakes and hoping that cures the wheel judder too, it was really hard to hang on to at times.” Mark Welch was another in trouble. When the front diff failed in the 8th test, it scuppered his hopes of the BTRDA title too. SS9 – Silloans 2, 7.0 miles. Overcast and still wet. By this time, darkness was starting to merge the sky with the hills, while the persistent drizzle continued to seep down neck collars and through boot soles. And light pods too started sprouting on the later numbers. It was now a straightn run for home, but with 30 miles of stages still to go, it was hardly a chicken run. Simpson was now happy with the car, and it showed. Four more fastest times fell to the Subaru with the Metro only able to match it on one. In a telling comment at the finish, Mark said: “That’s about as fast as I can make the Metro go. I can just about stay with him on the medium-fast stuff, but when it opens out he’s gone.” Fenwick still had the biggest grin. He was really quite chuffed with his third place ahead of Chris Singer whose brakes lasted the distance while Adrian Spencer heaved a huge sigh of relief at the finish line. The BTRDA title almost slipped from his grasp on the final stage: “Coming off the gravel on to the tarmac at the chicane, I clipped the grass verge, shot down a ditch and then hit a gatepost with the rear corner. I thought that was it all over, but the impact knocked me back on to the road!” Chris Marshall was looking good for a top six finish as the rally wound down through the gloom, but a bad misfire over the closing stages crippled the Lancer and he dropped back to 8th allowing Chris Jones and George Mackey to slip past. Michael Glendinning was top 2WD car in 9th place in the Escort ahead of the irrepressible Barry Lindsay in the wee Puegeot finishing 10th overall and clinching his fourth North of England Championship title. Simpson’s one minute victory looked quite emphatic at the finish but in reality the competition had been close right up till the final stages: “I was scared stiff this morning,” he said, “not having driven the car in the wet and having no idea what it was going to be like, and Jasper never let me relax for a moment.” The Classes: Richard Clews won Class N3 in his Fiesta, but Olly Marshall’s second place was not as close as he might have liked. He was under severe pressure to reach the finish. Co-driver Tom Cary needed the signature on his licence to qualify for the Rally of Scotland with Tony Jardine. Tony was originally down to do the Cheviot but when work meant he couldn’t do it, Olly stepped in to save the day – and he didn’t mark the car, which is more than can be said for Jardine’s previous outing on the McRae! Relief all round then. Mark I’Anson won Class N4 in the EVO8 and Christopher Rice didn’t. While flat out in fifth, the gearbox in is Subaru simply lost drive and he coasted into retirement. In Class 5 Martin Newson took the win despite a scary moment on the 7th test. He nearly lost control of the MG “when something snapped” on a fast downhill section and it oh, so nearly swapped ends on him and he just narrowly missed a big black coo while sorting it all out. Roger Donnan’s class win in A6 was a consolation prize as a hoped-for top ten finish was ruined by two punctures in one stage: “I haven’t had a puncture all year and then get two on one stage – and I only carry 1 spare,” said the Ford Puma driver, “but the heater wasn’t working either and the screen was misting up.” George Mackey scored a class win in A8 despite his earlier troubles and George Miller scored a win in Class B9 in the wee Peugeot despite intercom problems early on, while Bruce Hay’s efforts ended in a ditch. He explained later that he was “just too hot into a corner” and somewhere in midst manoeuvre his hopes failed to match up to his talent. He wasn’t alone. Two other crews were also off and got him out, but the Nova’s exhaust was flattened. David Phillips was also off at the same place in his Peugeot and Chris Daykin had to replace an alternator belt and then found a bit of play on the bottom pulley, but the replacement lasted until the final stage and he crossed the line on battery power. And on his first ever rally Donald McEwan was just delighted to finish in his Saxo, and he wasn’t last! Barry Lindsay won Class B10 from Gareth White who is rapidly getting to grips with the wee Citroen and then nearly lost his grip! On the penultimate stage the Citroen got away from him coming off the gravel on to the tarmac and he crossed a cattle grid sideways. Fortunately, he got away with it without hitting anything. David Conley’s Sunbeam was sidelined with water pump failure and Pete Gibson’s outing was curtailed when the Nova somersaulted twice in the opening test after encountering a patch of oil or diesel on the first stage. Fortunately the crew were OK and the car’s damage was confined to panels and a bent rear beam. Malcolm Holdsworth’s retiral could have been just as dramatic when the wheel studs sheared and the wheel bounded off into the gathering gloom and Chris Shield went rallycrossing at the Featherwood Triangle, retiring on S10. Graeme Sherry admitted to a couple of ‘straight ons’ in the Peugeot but survived. Michael Glendinning won a fairly action packed Class B11 from Kevin Knox who was knackered at the end of the day. He’s waiting for his Doc to call him in for his hip op (old age doesn’t come alone, does it, eh?), but the Doc didn’t know where he was on the Sunday! Both Vauxhall Astras of Stuart Egglestone (in Billy Bird’s car)and Richard Cook (easy to spot, he was the one with the stress ball!)retired with blown engines, and when Bill Lymburn’s Escort slid off on the 5th test, the car bent a strut too badly to continue and Mark Thompson finished 4th in class despite losing his power steering which he had to refill prior to each stage just to keep going. Dave Seed’s G4 had a fuel pump fuse blow on S4 and then 4th gear started sticking so he was using third and fifth for the last few stages just to get a finish while Jeff Malthouse managed to find his missing second gear in the Peugeot at service after S8 and he returned to the fray with a full set. Ron Hornshaw was on course to win Class B12, but was later excluded from the results. It was really unfortunate. His service crew had gone out to spectate. No tools and no trolley jacks, they really had gone to watch, but were spotted by officials in the wrong place. Geoff Wilson therefore took the win despite a broken exhaust manifold on S9 and a couple of ‘offs’ with Ian Storey in the runner-up position. Chris Singer won the big class from Adrian Spencer, as the top three were not eligible, but Ken Brown went off on the third test and Rob Skeogh broke his gearbox finishing S8 stuck in 4th gear. Billy Cowe was in subdued form on the day. After a succession of recent on-event troubles he just wanted a finish so 19th was mighty acceptable on the day. Keith Richardson managed to bend the steering when he went off, but finished. Michael Boak was pleased with a near miss in S5: “I just kept it planted when it went off - and it came back on again!” Doncha just love a happy ending? Brick & Steel Construction 205 Ecosse Challenge The highest finishing Peugeot 205 in the overall results was Garry Pearson’s new car built to replace the one rolled on the McRae. He finished 27th overall just 48 seconds clear of Sean Robson. Graeme Sherry’s car was third 205 home, but since he is contesting the four-event Autumn Cup he was not eligible for Ecosse Challenge points. After a bit of a kerfuffle at post-event scrooting, the results stood, but the uncertainties highlighted the need for all rally crews to ensure that their respective cars comply with the rules, even with regard to very minor non-competitive items of eligibiity! John MacCrone has already been confirmed as the Brick & Steel Ecosse Challenge Champion, but the runner-up places still have to be decided and this will now have to be resolved by the Stewards, before the final round of the series at Crail in two weeks time. Earlier in the event, Graeme Schonville broke his gearbox, Steven Smith broke his clutch and Luke McLaren slid off into a ditch. Jonathan Smith slid off and smacked something quite solid to the detriment of the Peugeot, while his brother Graeme Smith was towed in after three stages with a broken rotor arm and David Crozier got as far as the 7th test before he too was waylaid by electrical gremlins. **** UTS Cheviot Keith Knox Stages Rally, Sunday 25th October Class N3: Class N4: Class A5: Class A6: Class A8: Class B9: Class B10: Class B11: Class B12: Class B13: **** |