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Northern Road Rally ChampionshipBULLETIN NO. 5, AUGUST 2003 19TH
/ 20TH JULY – ROUND 6, RMT SLATING & TILING MATT RITSON
MEMORIAL WESTMORLAND RALLY, EDEN VALLEY MC 32 crews assembled at the truck services at Tebay for the most Northerly round of our championship. There was the usual competition for ‘worst shorts’ at the start, the jury is still out on the winner although I believe I won the ‘worst legs’ competition – the midges certainly seemed to like them, little beggars! Scrutineering was rather novel, being surrounded by Rolls Royce’s in varying states of repair. It was a bit on the slow side though, the poor chap could have done with some assistance. The start formalities over, discussion in the café was about how difficult the navigation would be, how many fords we would be going through and would we be going through Hardendale Quarry? All these questions would be answered during the night, but first we would head South onto map 97 for a run on roads used the opposite way in May on the Witch Way, including Fox’s Pulpit, Killington and then Barbondale as we went East onto map 98 and along Dentdale. Handouts were issued on each section during the night with only the next bit of route on, plus a rejoin point a few controls ahead. The first competitive had navigators not only searching for the organisers’ list of abbreviations but also needing a magnifying glass to read the extremely small print – fortunately the font size was a bit easier on the eye for the rest of the night! From Dent there was an easily cleanable section past a coach load of drunks leaving the Moorcock Inn, up the B road towards Kirkby Stephen and back onto map 91. The last section before petrol was a tricky map tracing, taking crews over Wharton Fell and via a ‘not as map’ triangle off the A683 before a sheep-infested narrow yellow to Ravenstonedale. Many crews should have dropped time here but the inexperienced marshals at the final TC gave you the time you asked for, even if it had already gone! It isn’t really fair to criticize, after all it was an excellent effort by Eden Valley to get so many marshals out and good to see some younger folk full of enthusiasm prepared to come out and have a go. Cars then made their way West back to Tebay to fuel up, where it appeared the top crews were penalty free, assuming they had all recorded the code boards correctly. The clean sheets were short lived though, as the second time card included two sections timed to the second, the first coming right after petrol to the East of Orton. Unfortunately I haven’t got a results breakdown, so can’t tell you who dropped what here, but nobody cleaned it, that’s for certain! The next section was a real monster: 26 minutes to tackle the twisty and hilly narrow yellow around Greenholme, up the middle of the M6 to a very hard to find and ‘not to scale’ ‘not as map’ passage check off the B6261, through the afore-mentioned quarry to another N.A.M. to the finish near Reagill. Many crews were grateful for the ‘extra 2 minutes included due to traffic lights at 575 125’, which didn’t seem to be there when we passed! Section 8 was another long one, the excitement this time provided by an enormous N.A.M. which seemed even less clear after we had done it than it did before! God knows how the poor chap at the PC in the middle coped, he must have had cars approaching from all directions!! Then it was onto the next section to the second, taking in the white through the ford at Rutter Force, again everybody would drop time. Card two was rounded off by a 25 minute section, the only one on the event with an intermediate time control, it proved to be a bit of a nightmare for some navigators. The route required you to plot and avoid a dozen blackspots, which seemed to block off every possible route. However, a reference was given for the intermediate control and this took you down a white where you had to ‘…follow arrows to join yellow road at Goodlie Hill…’ If you found the first slot right onto a white, you were greeted by a family stood cheering in their garden as the cars went through the ford at Helm Beck! Sections 11 and 12 looped East of Brough and by now it was daylight for the front runners as they tackled the final two sections, both of which were timed to the second. The first, from Kirkby Stephen, required you to visit two spot heights only, totaling 396, meaning a loop down to Waitby then North to Soulby. The second had a list of coded gird square departures and looped back very close to the previous section, taking in Leases Ford and Smardale. Due to the proximity of the routes I think there were one or two ‘near misses’ with crews taking wrong slots, but everybody made it through in the end. We returned to Tebay for a well-earned breakfast and it wasn’t long before the results from the first two cards were up on the board. As expected the second card had certainly mixed things up, a number of crews missing boards or even picking up early fails at neutral controls. Birthday Boy Jon Lawson was looking good with a 22 second lead, despite running at car 30 due to his late entry and with Nav Chris Pringle again failing to hold onto his dinner more than once during the night! When the final card went up it showed that the Legacy had gone supersonic in the last two sections to pull further away and take a well deserved win by just under a minute, repeating their 1998 victory. John Haden & Iain Tullie were delighted with 2nd on John’s first foray into the Eden Valley lanes, which he thoroughly enjoyed despite a long round trip up from Staffordshire. 1997 winners Les Percival & Richard Todd were a minute further back in 3rd, unable to make their local knowledge and undoubted speed tell on this occasion. Andy Beaumont & Mike Petch had a good run to 4th in their VERY STANDARD WITH NO SPOTLIGHTS Proton Satria (is that OK for you, Andy?!), but it was a mixed night for the other Beverley crews, Danny Robinson & Ian Gibbins finishing 12th and Andrew Howden & Angela Cammish making the finish but deemed OTL. Completing the top ten of our contenders were Sandie & Paul Taylor in 6th, Terry Martin & Simon Bentley in 8th and Dave Chapman & David Taylor in 9th. Malcolm & Richard Holdsworth would have had a top five finish without their fail, in the end they were 13th, while Nichola Hillier & Dave Broadley were also disappointed to get a fail, theirs due to missing a board with a police patrol car parked on top of it! They still had some consolation as 1st Semi-Experts and enjoyed the event, Dave has already sent me his customary email demanding that the event be in next year’s championship! Just behind them in 16th were Bill Chadwick & Alan Edwards, debuting a new 205, while in 17th Charlie Tynan was introducing Ian Guthrie to his first rally longer than 40 miles, another person promising to come back for more which is great to hear. David Howell & Stephen Taylor rounded off the ANCC experts in 18th place. Craig Whitehead & Lee Hudson scored a well-deserved victory in the Newcomers’ class, finishing fail free in their XR2. This event always throws up a dilemma as the Newcomers’ are not included in the overall classification, as they get different handouts, but I have awarded them points based on where they would have finished overall, as well as the 15 for winning their class. This seemed like the fairest way to sort it, please note that this does not demote any of the experts or semis – they still get points based on their overall positions in the published results. If anyone strongly disagrees with this, please let me know. Many congratulations to Jon & Chris again on their victory and to Tom Wilcox and all at Eden Valley for putting on a very enjoyable event, we are looking forward to next year’s already. As you can see from the enclosed tables, the win promotes Mr L. into a narrow lead in the drivers league and there is a great turn out of contenders on this weekend’s St Wilfrid’s so points will be hard fought I am sure! Next
bulletin will be out before the Hall Trophy, in the mean time see you in
Ripon and / or Selby, Iain FORTHCOMING
EVENTS
9TH
/ 10TH AUGUST – ROUND 7, MONKTON MOOR GARAGE ST WILFRID’S
ROAD RALLY, RIPON MSC Entries
have closed with over 50 crews lining up in Ripon. Marshals are still
needed, contact Doug Smith (01423 331105) or Steve Taylor (01423 505115)
if you can help. 23RD
/ 24TH AUG – ROUND 8, TBM CUTTERS THREE SWANS RALLY,
SELBY & DMC You
should have had regs already, if not call Ralph Jackson on 01904 425932.
120 miles on maps 100 and 105, starting in Selby, finishing at a
MacDonald’s just North of York – now there’s a first!. Less than a
mile of whites. I have two drivers looking for navigators on this event,
Danny Robinson (07880 717516) and Mick Monaghan (07811 150140). As ever
marshals will be needed, Alastair Crosby would be glad to hear from you
on 01757 618196. 6TH
/ 7TH SEPTEMBER – ROUND 9, HALL TROPHY RALLY, CLITHEROE
& DMC Regs
should be with you soon. Don’t be put off if you found the nav too
hard last year, Clitheroe have listened to some competitors’ comments
and won’t be producing any mensa challenges this year. 4TH
/ 5TH OCTOBER – ROUND 10, DANUM RALLY, LINDHOLME MSC Definitley
on, so let’s have lots of support for Lindholme both from competitors
and marshals. More details in the next bulletin. 2004 The
following clubs have not yet submitted dates to the ANCC for 2004 –
Lincoln, Mid Derbyshire, De Lacy & Beverley. Go and nudge your club
secretary if you are one of them and you want your event to be
considered for next year’s championship. |