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Bulletin – 05/09
Following the loss of the Riponian Rally as a round of the 2009 S G Petch ANECCC Stage Rally Championship the Malcolm Wilson Rally became the 2nd round of the 2009 championship.
After the stages in the North Lakes at first service in Penrith it was all very close for the lead in the ANECCC championship, 4 cars were covered by 7 seconds. Marcus Noble/Helen Hall (Escort MkII) led from Charlie Taylor/Steve Bielby (Escort MkII), Charlie was using his Historic class car which meant he was running between the 1400 cars and the main field, which for the early stages he thought was a disadvantage due to the slippy surface in the early morning.
Third were Richard and Edwin Cook (Vauxhall Astra), despite having to replace a rear shock absorber between stages, with Geoff Wilson/Sean O’Neil in another Escort MKII 4th. Next was Peter Thornton/Stephen Thompson (Subaru Impreza) who had broken a rear drive shaft in the 3rd stage, with William Jarman/Mark Fisher (Subaru Impreza) just 15 seconds of the championship lead.
In the smaller car classes Des Campbell/James Braithwaite (Peugeot 206) were leading the 1600 class, which had already lost Dave and Steve Nicholson (Vauxhall Nova) who had broken a driveshaft Greystokes. In the 1400 class things were equally as tight with Sian Beaty/Vicki Martin (Ford KA) leading Martin Breen/Simon Graham (Peugeot 106) by 1 second. Andrew Benn/ Malcolm Irving were 3rd in their recently acquired Vauxhall Astra. The 1400 class had already lost 2 cars with Andrew and Reg Irving (Peugeot 205) rolling on stage 2, with Amanda and Derek Cornforth (Ford KA) stopping on stage 4.
It was all change after the 2 Grizedale stages, Charlie Taylor/Steve Bielby reported no problems and pulled clear, Richard and Edwin Cook dropped 4 minutes with a puncture. Despite the car misting up on both Grizedale stages William Jarman/Mark Fisher jumped up to third, also reporting a misting up car on these stages were Darren Grimston/Richard Ross (Escort MkII), in the 1400 class Martin Breen/Simon Graham pulled ahead of Sian Beaty/Vicki Martin. Through the last Greystoke stage the only changed was the retirement of Peter Thornton/Stephen Thompson.
So at the finish it was Charlie Taylor/Steve Bielby clear of Marcus Noble/Helen Hall with William Jarman/Mark Fisher 3rd. In the Co-drivers championship maximum points went to Richard Cooke who was co-driving for Paul Benn (Focus WRC) who finished 7th overall. This leaves the current championship standings as follows:-
Drivers: - Richard Cook 26 points, Charlie Taylor 20 points, Des Campbell 18 points, Kev Dunn and Marcus Noble 15 points.
Co-Drivers: - Edwin Cook 24 points, Richard Cooke 20 points, Steve Bielby 17 points, Giles Dykes 15 points and James Braithwaite 14 points.
With the Riponian Rally having been re-scheduled for the 15th March, taking the slot in the calendar that became available when the Robin Hood Stages was cancelled; this meant there would be three S G Petch ANECCC Championship rounds on consecutive weekends, even when times were good I don’t believe many people could afford three events in three weeks. Therefore the Riponion has unfortunately been withdraw from the 2009 S G Petch ANECCC Stage Rally Championship. If there are any ANECCC competitors that can support the Riponian the organisers would appreciate your support, for 2010 they plan to revert to their mid-February date, when they will again be a round of the ANECCC championship.
The next round is now, the Border Counties Rally on the 21st March in Keilder forest are also available on the rally website www.bordercountiesrally.co.uk
This year’s events will once again be based in Jedburgh, host town for the tenth year running with the addition of a new Rally HQ in the newly refurbished Town Hall next to the start in Abbey Place. The rally will have 45 stage miles in 5 stages with a road mileage of 95; all cars in up to 1600cc, 2.0 litre 8 valves and Historics will run at the front of the field .
There is then a gap to the 4th round of the championship, the Tour of Hamsterley on the 10th May, regulations will be available mid March on the rally website www.tourofhamsterley.co.uk. This event was cancelled last year due to lack of entries and after discussions with competitors the following changes have been made to the format. The new date is in a less congested time of the year, the rally is based in Barnard Castle where the start, finish and service will be based, and this addresses the issue of the poor service area in Hamsterley. The rally has moved away from being a map event with the availability of Paterson Notes. The event format is now 3 stages in Hamsterley, service in Barnard Castle, 2 stages in Stang, service in Barnard Castle, with a return to Hamsterley for a further 3 stages, this gives approximately 40 stage miles with less than 70 road miles. This rally has not run for the last two years and if it doesn’t run this year Hamsterley will probably be lost to rallying, so the support of as many S G Petch ANECCC Stage Rally Championship contenders is required to ensure its continued availability.
The S G Petch ANECCC Stage Rally Championship has been asked to participate in a pilot scheme called for GoMotorsport.tv, which is a website being set up by the MSA to enable championships and clubs to upload videos of competitors/members. If and competitors have any suitable video clips, either in-car or stage side that you would like upload please contact me.
If anyone has any questions please contact.
Gordon Dundee
S G Petch ANECCC Stage Rally Championship Coordinator
Home - 0191 3773228
Mobile - 07799 140427
E-mail - gordon@dundee.fsworld.co.uk.
Posted in Bulletins on: March 9th, 2009